Volunteer team creates a tailor-made database

Move Mates is a walking buddy project which pairs volunteers with people who would otherwise find it difficult to leave their homes so they can go for a walk together. With the aim of improving physical health, reducing isolation and increasing happiness and wellbeing, the project, which started in York, has now grown to cover York, Leeds, Durham, Selby and Pocklington and the charity had big ambitions to grow further.  

One of the biggest challenges for growing the project was finding an effective, affordable technical system to support the recruitment, training and day-to-day management of the volunteers and co-ordinate the pairings. The ideal solution was a scalable system with a robust database, the ability to automate tasks and a portal to allow volunteers to log in and engage with the project. But with limited financial resources and technical expertise, the challenge initially looked insurmountable.  

Here, acting CEO Libby tells us about how they used Reach Volunteering to get the project off the ground and delivered successfully: 

“We thought that we could potentially afford to employ a developer to build the system in-house. But with no web development expertise, we didn’t know where to start to identify the right person with the right skills and ensure the technical viability of their work.  

“Having previously used Reach Volunteering to recruit a trustee, we turned to the volunteer platform to help solve this issue. We advertised for a Technical Advisor who could help us scope and understand the project and create a brief for the right type of developer.  

“Even the ad for the Advisor was vague but more than one person applied through Reach and we were delighted to find Rob.  

“After briefing him on the project, he asked if we wanted the project to be evolutionary or revolutionary.  It was the latter of course! He then decided that he’d like to take the project on – not as an advisor, but as a lead developer.  

“His idea was to use Reach Volunteering to recruit a team to make the project happen. This would entail bringing onboard a team of volunteer junior developers to do the work and they would be supported to upskill by experienced developers acting as volunteer mentors. 

“We were excited by this novel approach to resourcing the project. Not only would it deliver a tailor-made system to meet our needs, but it would also provide skills development and training opportunities for the volunteers while ensuring high standards through the expertise of the mentors.  

“Within three months we recruited four junior developers and two mentors to work alongside Rob. This included a new graduate looking to build experience and a refugee wanting to use this volunteering experience to find a first UK job in the digital sector.  

“With a team of seven outstanding volunteers, all recruited through Reach Volunteering, we were able to create the system we needed that we thought would cost us many thousands of pounds.  

“We already knew about the power of volunteering as our Move Mates are volunteers too, but getting volunteers with this level of expertise and willingness to donate their professional experience for a good cause has astounded us. 

“And of course, the real impact has been on the people we’re supporting in our local communities. We already know that there’s a big need for projects like ours to help reduce isolation and encourage people to improve their physical health. Having effective scalable technology behind us will enable us to support more people and open up projects in new areas. It’s an exciting future. All made possible by volunteers and by Reach Volunteering.”