"My advice to other organisations considering using volunteers for the first time is to go for it"

The Blue Magpie Foundation was founded in 2016 and carried out its early programmes using education to empower children who had been disadvantaged by war in Sri Lanka.  

Now a team of over 30 passionate volunteers, the Foundation’s current focus is on supporting 5-25 year olds in the local community in Harrow, North West London to realise their full potential.  

Working in close collaboration with local charities, community centres and council estates, the programmes they run bring education directly to the doorstep of those who need it most. The programmes teach life skills, offer career mentoring, and provide support for employment opportunities with the aim of using education as a catalyst for transformation, and breaking the cycle of disadvantage. 

The talented volunteer team has been recruited mainly through the Reach Volunteering platform. Here, BMF’s Founder Thomas ‘Kish’ Ananthan speaks about the impact that volunteers have. 

“After the success of our first programmes in the area, we formed a partnership with Harrow Council to expand the reach to cover the other Estates in the area. As an organisation with no paid staff, the biggest barrier to doing this was funding and capacity. I found out about Reach Volunteering through an internet search and I’ve used them extensively to help shape the team I have today.  

“When I identify a role that’s needed, I try to recruit three or four volunteers to deliver the role as a team. This allows me to bring in a mix of different experiences and skillsets and I’ve found that this really helps everyone to get the best from volunteering. We always have open conversations about how much time they have to give and I try to ensure that what they are asked to contribute fits within this and that they don’t feel overwhelmed. They support and learn from each other and I’m happy to provide training opportunities, so there’s personal development for them too. By working as a team, the responsibility is also shared and they can often cover for each other if life gets busy.  

“I’ve been really impressed with Reach. Being able to see people’s volunteer profiles and interact directly with them has been so helpful. I’ve found that people have responded to new roles fairly quickly and I’ve also been proactive at searching the platform for potential volunteers whose vision and goals align with ours. It’s really important that they feel passionate about helping children through education.  

“For some roles I’ve had upwards of 50 applications but others, like fundraising roles, have proved more difficult to fill. Altogether, over the last few years, I’ve probably recruited around 50 volunteers. Some have just carried out a specific piece of work and moved on fairly quickly and other have stayed on board longer term because they like the organisation and the way we do things.

Access to specialists can open doors

“I’ve found some amazing people through Reach who have had a transformative effect on BMF. For example, one volunteer who had worked for ITV and had 20 years experience, produced a 10 minute video showcasing our work in Sri Lanka. This raised so much awareness of what we were doing and it was all accomplished with very little input from me, which was ideal.  

“Another video editor worked with us to produce a film about our work on our Next Gen Dev project in Harrow. He interviewed some of the young people we were working with and seeing how a video was put together was, in itself, another education opportunity for them. They were fascinated by it all.  

“Another one of our volunteers knew an experienced fashion professional who came in to talk to a group of girls about opportunities in the fashion industry. That session was beautiful to watch. It was so engaging and the girls were brimming with questions and enthusiasm. It really broke down barriers between them and the professional world. All this was achieved because of volunteers and their networks. 

“It’s not exaggerating to say that volunteers have really expanded our horizons at BMF. Having access to a vast pool of professionals who are specialists in their fields has opened so many doors for us and the real impact is on the young people we support who have been a bit forgotten by society. 

“I will definitely continue to use volunteers as the Blue Magpie Foundation grows. My advice to other organisations considering using volunteers for the first time is to go for it. Use Reach Volunteering. Not every volunteer will work out, but out of those that do, some will have an amazing impact.”