Sharing Skills

Community organisations often need external assistance to support their existing staff's skills and abilities. Recent studies have demonstrated that community workers value and benefit from input and advice from the business sector on their work.

As most community organisations have limited funds, hiring external consultants is often prohibitively expensive.

Assistance the corporate sector can provide ranges from: answering a one-off query related to your field of work; offering an hour each week to engage in problem solving or offering support; to providing a regular commitment as a member of a board or committee.

The types of assistance most frequently requested are:

• IT / database
• Marketing & Publicity
• Financial / Accounts
• HR
• Business & strategic planning
• Legal
• Trustee

What are the benefits for a volunteer?

• Personal value gained from working with community organisations
• Personal development through transfer of knowledge and expertise across sectors
• Exposure to new ways of working and issues outside your usual working environment
• Developing a greater understanding of the skills you possess

Next Step... Contact City Action!

The value of having someone's independent advice and guidance, without the vested interest of being paid for ongoing IT work, is enormous. Ian Adams, Southwark Pensioners Centre