Why and how to be part of Birmingham’s Big Help Out

What is the Big Help Out?

From June 7th – 9th 2024, Birmingham is coming together for the Big Help Out, a weekend of volunteering action to support local people, communities and good causes across the city. We’re inviting local charities, voluntary and community groups to get involved in three ways:

By offering volunteering opportunities in and around Birmingham over the weekend of June 7th – 9th.
By hosting a Recruitment Fair or Taster Day to show potential volunteers how they can support your work and give them a feel of what volunteering is like, with the aim of fostering long term engagement.
Use the campaign to promote ongoing volunteering opportunities – if possible, new volunteers recruited through the Big Help Out will start their role or complete their induction between June 7th – 9th.

Why be part of it?

The Big Help Out is a great opportunity to:

Reach and recruit a new audience of volunteers, diversifying your volunteering programme
Raise awareness of your work to new supporters
Experiment with new types of volunteering roles and involve volunteers in different and innovative ways
Add value to your Volunteers Week (June 3rd – 9th) engagement

The aim of the Big Help Out is to raise awareness of the benefits of volunteering and provide opportunities for people to experience volunteering and make a difference in their community. It’s a great way to expose new volunteers to your work and invite people to see it for themselves, in the hope they go onto become long term volunteers or supporters.

What makes a good Big Help Out volunteering opportunity?

Ideal Big Help Out volunteering roles are those that are:

Accessible
Low commitment
Impactful

These types of volunteering activities are sometimes referred to as Microvolunteering, which can be defined as; “A short term, low commitment, easy to access opportunity that enables people to complete specific actions or tasks and give their time, skills and energy to do something that contributes to the goals of your organisation.”

There are lots of activities that could make great volunteering opportunities for the Big Help Out and support the work of your organisation. Below we’ve listed some ideas, but we encourage you to think creatively about the microvolunteering opportunities that you could offer. They could be roles that support service delivery, raise awareness, fundraise or contribute to the running of your organisation or group through practical support or giving feedback.

One-off practical activities

Sorting or collecting donations
Helping with selling donations e.g. in a charity shop or online using Vinted/Depop/Ebay
Environmental activities e.g. litter picking, conservation activities or nature spotting.
Maintenance e.g. organising, cleaning, painting or gardening.
Serving or distributing food at a foodbank, community pantry or surplus food project.
Supporting at events e.g. setting up, packing down, greeting guests, serving refreshments etc.

Raising awareness and communications

Leaflet drops
Running stalls at exhibitions or events
Writing cards to supporters or clients
Volunteer Ambassadors who raise awareness of your work amongst their family, friends, colleagues, communities.

Campaigning actions

Signing and/or distributing a petition
Flashmob

Fundraising

Community Fundraisers who organise quiz nights, dinners, bake sales, do sponsored sporting activities etc.
Distributing collection boxes

Research and feedback

Inviting volunteers to complete a questionnaire and share it with their friends, family, colleagues and neighbours.
Inviting volunteers to give feedback on new things you’re designing e.g. products, campaigns, webpages, resources etc.

If you want some more ideas of effective microvolunteering roles, Young Lives vs Cancer and the Alzheimer's Society have some great examples.

There is no right or wrong opportunity for the Big Help Out. Whatever your volunteering looks like, the Big Help Out can help you recruit volunteers.

What next?

To learn more about Birmingham’s Big Help Out, visit the website. If you are ready to start recruiting volunteers for the Big Help Out, you can register your volunteering opportunities on the Community Noticeboard. Please make it clear in the information that you provide that the volunteering opportunity is part of the Big Help Out. We also encourage you to register your opportunities on the national Big Help Out platform.

If you have questions about getting involved, contact Becky – Vision for Volunteering Implementation Manager, at [email protected]

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