A fresh look at Staff Volunteering...

Over the next few weeks, the blog will be looking at staff volunteering from number of different angles. The blog will be taking a behind the scenes look at who we are, what we do, how we carry out our work, where we carry out our work, and of course why staff volunteering is so important. In a series of posts, we hope to therefore make clear the aims, objectives, practicalities and history of our work.

A reminder of what we do...

The Staff Volunteering and Outreach team supports staff members who wish to participate in the Durham University Employer Supported Volunteering scheme. All staff can participate in the project and can apply to volunteer in work time for up to 5-days per year. Volunteering opportunities take the form of Team Challenges, one-off volunteering events and long-term volunteering placements. The scheme therefore makes it easier for staff to engage in one-off projects, as well as sustain a long-term interest, or commitment to, a community project.

The SVO team works with a growing number of departments across the University to facilitate student  (as well as staff) placements as part of degree programmes. Through these projects, groups of students work together to tackle a real business problem faced by a community or third sector organisation and offer practical solutions to these issues. Some of the most successful projects have so far seen groups of Computer Science students work with a large number or local organisations, and students studying at Durham Business School delivering marketing and business plans for community groups in the North East.