Guide to Running a ‘Be A Champion’ Volunteering

Project!

If you as a sports card holder or sports club have an idea which will benefit the community in some way KUSU Volunteering will support you to run it! This guide explains what Be A Champion is, what qualifies for funding and how much money you’ll get. Most importantly it’ll tell you how to take your energy and ideas and turn them into a real-life volunteering project. What is Be A Champion? Be A Champion is about using the inspiration of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to create your own legacy. As a sports card holder or sports club, you can access up to £300 to plan, develop and run your own community volunteering event! You bring the idea and the commitment and we provide you with training, advice and funding to enable you to get your idea off the ground.

Whether you’re passionate about sport, love art and culture or are dedicated to spreading the message about creating a sustainable environment, there are opportunities to suit everyone. We want you to find something that suits you and your passion!

Previous students have: -Painted an Olympic-themed mural on the walls of a school gym. -Run Cheerleading and Rugby workshops for Kingston Young Carers. -Taught primary school children how to play American Football. -Run a ‘try dive’ for a local youth cadet group. -Removed rubbish from the Thames in Kingston through an underwater river clean. You can read about these projects on the KUSU Volunteering Blog. Want more ideas? Why not: -Get your sports club to help tidy up a community organisation’s garden! -Run an arts workshop for elderly people, young people etc! -Rally several KUSU Sports Clubs into running a week of fun sports sessions for a local school. What will I get out of it? There are so many benefits to running your own volunteering project. Running a volunteering project through your club gives you the chance to bond more as a club. You’ll make a positive contribution and give something back whilst also building your own self-confidence. You will discover your strengths and talents whilst responding to community need. You’ll also develop valuable job-related skills (leadership, teamwork, organisation, time management) and learn lots about yourself (make new friends, push your boundaries)! Who can I get help from? You can get help from your sports club - from the committee members to the team-players! Why not get several clubs involved in your project? You’ll also get lots of help from the volunteering team in the Students’ Union. I’m here to guide you through the process from start to finish and can provide as much help as you might want (without actually running your project for you!). My email

is Jemma.Houghton@Kingston.ac.uk and my work contact number is 0208 417 2548. I can give assistance with project planning, setting a budget, completing a risk assessment, recruiting volunteers, booking rooms within the university, access to a telephone, postal address, meeting space and help facilitate meetings with community organisations/charities. Finally although your project is your own, if you decide to work with a charity or community group it’s likely they’ll have advice they can give you too. What are the rules and regulations? To receive funding and support from KUSU Volunteering you must register as a KUSU Volunteer and your project must...

o Benefit a local community (external to Kingston University). o Be led by a Kingston University Student(s) Sports Card Holder / Sports Club. o Represent good value for money and be kept within an agreed budget. o Reinforce at least one of the Olympic or Paralympic values of Respect, Excellence,

Friendship, Courage, Determination, Inspiration and Equality. o Not replicate an existing project or be used to fund a project that is already running. o Not form part of an assessed (credit bearing / placement based) piece of academic work. o Not promote a religious or party political belief.

You will also be required to write a blog about the experience afterwards which will be hosted on the KUSU Volunteering Blog, as well as fill in an evaluation form. Please note the core function of the project cannot be to fundraise or campaign. How much funding can I get for my volunteering project? Up to £300 is available to run your volunteering project. You can apply for funding for the running costs of your project. This can include: training, equipment, resources for participants, stationary and your expenses. If you want to run your project more than once or on a regular basis we will look at the funding allocation on a case-by-case basis. How do I decide what project to run? To help you decide what kind of project you would like to do, ask yourself what issues you feel strongly about, what talents and gifts you’d like to share and what you find interesting. You’ll need to do some research (the internet, libraries, talk to people who have similar projects, and those who will benefit from your project) to see what is already out there so you don’t clash with, or duplicate other services and also to identify a need for your project. We might be able to help you with this as we have links with local schools, charities and other organisations that might be keen to receive a Student-Led Volunteering project. Finally your project is as big as you make it. First and foremost you’re here to do a degree so you need to think about what sort of a commitment you’ll be able to manage alongside your university work. You’ll need to plan ahead, taking into consideration essay submission deadlines and exams. Why not check out the Student’s Experiences page of our website to see what kind of commitment students who have run projects gave and what they got out of the process.

What’s Next? Obviously this timeline is one size fits all to give you a guide as to what to expect. Your own projects timeline will be unique to your project and we’ll talk about this during the planning.

I’ve read this document and got a great idea.

Download a Project Proposal form from the website, complete it and submit it to Volunteering Coordinator Jemma.Houghton@Kingston.ac.uk KUSU Volunteering will then contact you with regards to your proposal and invite you in for a meeting.

Don’t panic if it hasn’t met all of the criteria – we’ll contact you to discuss why and help you make changes.

On-Going Planning. Keep the KUSU Volunteering team up-to-date with your progress. Submit final project budget and have this signed off.

Risk assess your project.

Project takes place. This could be one day or over a number of weeks or the rest of the academic year.

Evaluate your project.

Write a blog about your project experience to go on http://kusuvolunteering.blogspot.co.uk

If you’re worried about anything come and talk to the KUSU Volunteering team. We’re here to support you!

Download from the website.