Volunteer & Support

During his year as Deputy President, Alan Pollard has secured the Trustees' approval to run a pilot programme aimed at encouraging BCS members to get involved in volunteering and using their professional and technical skills to help the voluntary sector. If this pilot is successful it is envisaged that the BCS will set up a Volunteer Forum as a community of interest for BCS volunteers.

The BCS volunteering initiative won't be another volunteering organisation with all its administrative, legal, financial and other overheads though. The vision is that the BCS will be able to create a register of volunteers and skills that can be accessed and called upon by many established voluntary organisations. For the duration of the pilot, BCS will be working with the leading UK IT volunteer matching service, iT4Communities and encourage BCS members to volunteer using its mature matching and support process.

Member benefit

The benefits to the third sector would be access to a large number of BCS members willing to contribute their time and effort, and the confidence that such contributions will bear the hallmarks of professionalism and come from a recognised professional body.

Promoting computing

The benefit to BCS members is the opportunity to apply their skills to a rewarding end and open up other potential avenues for networking and employment. Most significantly, the initiative fully meets the BCS charitable objectives set out in our Royal Charter which require the Society to focus on the benefits that the BCS can bring to society as a whole, by promoting the study and practice of computing and using its skills and expertise to advance knowledge and understanding of the subject.

IT can help

The BCS already has the IT Can Help (ITCH) community aimed at those with physical difficulties in accessing IT. The new volunteering initiative will not replace this but ITCH may become a main part of, or even a model for, the BCS Volunteering Community (Forum). It is also recognised that many of the BCS members already undertake voluntary work through established volunteering bodies. The BCS initiative is not intended to compete with these bodies or upset or confuse the links between members and these bodies. We realise that many BCS members already help out in their communities on an individual basis. If they so wish, these volunteers will be able to avail themselves of the support and additional opportunities presented by the BCS Community. In order to gauge the members' feelings on this issue a questionnaire will be sent out nearer to the time.

Article supplied by BCS. You can download a PDF version

22nd January 2008