Opportunities of the Month

All the Volunteer Opportunities listed below were 'Available' at the time the Volunteer Newsletter was put together. If, when contacting the charity, they tell you that a volunteer has started work on the Volunteer Opportunity, please ask the charity to contact info@iT4Communities.org.uk so that we can assist them in assigning the volunteer to the Work Package. Once the charity has assigned a volunteer, the Volunteer Opportunity state will be changed to “In progress”, and taken off the iT4C website.

Please go to www.iT4Communities.org.uk, then Log in and Search for volunteering opportunities - for these and more ‘Available Volunteer Opportunities’. Alternatively simply go to each Volunteer Opportunity using the live links under the Volunteer Opportunity Name (you will need to login en route).

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Opportunity Name: Young website needs a secure/creative future! [This is a short task]
Skill Type: Website
Region: South East
Locality: Ashford
Postcode: TN23
Virtual: No

Description: This community advice centre was able to build an exciting young persons advice website with some funding received over a year ago. It has been very successful but difficult to keep maintained due to ongoing hosting costs. They are urgently looking for a volunteer to advise about their hosting options which are not entirely straight forward as the site uses active server pages and is database driven. The centre would like to ensure that it continues to serve young people but they need it to be a) more affordable and b) for them to be able to update it. In addition they would like to be able to have more general information about the centre (bureau) sitting alongside this website that currently is aimed only at young people. They are looking for a volunteer who can look at what they have, help them source more affordable hosting and how feasible a move/updates would be and to talk to them about their options for a more general website (a few information pages).

Opportunity Name: Voluntary group needs Web 2.0 advice - starting with a simple website
Skill Type: Website
Region: South East
Locality:Crawley
Postcode:RH10
Virtual:Yes

(This is a short task)
Description: This purely voluntary group, provide a forum for people of all ages, who have an intolerance to Gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, oats and rye. They are a young organisation (formed January 2007) and very active with around 40 members and some key achievements in their work with supermarkets already under their belt. They are very keen to harness the potential of the Internet to share and provide information and to network with each other and other similar organisations across the world. The group has registered a domain, has content ready, and needs this turning into a simple website. Their objective is to be highly visible to other groups - this disability needs a worldwide network of similar groups. Once the simple website is in place the group already have a blog - but it is not yet reaching the audience it needs. This is a project for a volunteer who is enthusiastic about web 2.0 technologies and can help the group with the task of worldwide information sharing.. This opportunity is revised following work by another volunteer to provide the blog and some initial difficulties in creating the simple website.

Opportunity Name: Overseas PC setup & teaching
Skill Type: Technical Support
Region: East Midlands
Locality: Milton Keynes
Postcode: MK8
Virtual: NO

Description: This UK-based charity is empowering the poorest people in developing countries so that they can work themselves out of poverty. They need help in setting up PCs in Nigeria. They are now shipping 30 PCs plus printers. This is a projects for an experienced professional ready for am overseas project who can do the initial PC set-up, install software and prepare the environment. The project is planned to take 6 weeks from the arrival of the PCs to full operation so this will need the volunteer to commit 8-10 weeks at least. They will also need one or more volunteers teaching basic IT - Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Corel Draw and Internet research.

Opportunity Name: WPTraining1467.1318
Skill Type:Training
Region:East Midlands
Locality:Leicester
Postcode:LE1
Virtual:NO

Description:This support organisation providing a helpline for men and women affected by domestic violence requires a volunteer IT trainer for the 14 staff & volunteers of their organisation. They have identified a need to become more skilled in their use of Outlook, Powerpoint and Excel to improve their working practices, their presentations and their reports that enable them to remain funded and active. They would like a volunteer trainer to design and deliver a one off series of group training to build on their existing skills. Trainer

Opportunity Name: System health check
Skill Type:Technical Support
Region:Yorkshire & Humberside
Locality:West Yorkshire
Postcode: BD1
Virtual:NO

Description:This charity is a participatory arts organisation based in Bradford. They work in disadvantaged communities running projects using art forms such as dance, drama and film-making to inspire local people and provide opportunities. They work with all sectors of the community and promote issues such as health awareness. They also organise creative training programmes. The charity received funding in 2003 that enabled them to set up a small server-based network. However, they don't have the knowledge internally to support this network. The server is running MS Server 2003 and the nine PCs all run XP Professional. They use Outlook 2003 to manage their diaries and Office 2000. The charity would like a volunteer who can give their system a health check and identify any problem areas. They would like some assistance in documenting procedures that they can carry out themselves such as setting up new users and also to understand when they need to call in an expert. They would also like advice on how to agree a support contract with an external provider. What do they need from such a contract and how much should they expect to pay?

Opportunity Name: One to One training - Powerpoint & Publisher
Skill Type: Training
Region: London
Locality: London
Postcode: E1
Virtual: NO

Description:This City Farm would like to use MS Powerpoint and Publisher to produce marketing information. They have a member of staff who would like to work with a volunteer who is able to give one to one training. This staff member has good MS Word skills but would like an overview as to how to best use Powerpoint and Publisher. Please note: the best times to contact the Charity are Tuesday and Thursdays.

Opportunity Name: Improve interactivity of website
Skill Type: Website
Region: North West
Locality: Manchester
Postcode: M15
Virtual: Yes

Description: This Manchester based charity works to address inequalities in service provision and policy for drug users and their families from BME communities. They would like to add more interactive features to their existing website and would like to work with a volunteer to scope this and start development work on the improvements. They would like to use a forum, to put their videos online and provide a map of local services so that they can provide an improved service for their clients. This would be an opportunity to demonstrate how online technology can be used creatively to help those who may be disadvantaged and how it could really make a difference. The organisation is very committed and enthusiastic about making this a large part of the way they work.

Opportunity Name: Urgent help needed to keep IT Centre open
Skill Type: Training
Region:West Midlands
Locality: Earlsdon
Postcode:CV5
Virtual: No

Description: This IT centre provides basic computer training to blind and visually impaired people in Coventry. This well used and valuable service is under threat of closure as they have lost a member of staff. They are looking for willing volunteers to help keep the centre open by providing centre users with support during the drop in times. If you, or anyone you know with patience and good computer use skills, can spare a few hours a week to work with people who may otherwise be excluded from computers and the Internet please request details.

Opportunity Name: Website Advice & Guidance
Skill Type: Website
Region: North East
Locality: Middlesbrough
Postcode: TS3
Virtual: No

Description: This charity has a website but it is looking rather dated. they have a member of staff with basic Dreamweaver skills who would like to work alongside an experienced web designer to refresh the website and make it accessible to DDA guidelines. The charity works with local communities using alternative methods to conflict resolution. It is an exciting & successful project whose website does not currently reflect that, your expertise is required!

Opportunity Name: Advice on setting up IT suite
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: North East
Locality: Morpeth
Postcode: NE61
Virtual: No

Description: This charity provides support to people who have suffered from traumatic brain injuries either through accident or disease. They run a day centre and provide outreach services, such as support workers to assist clients on social outings. They also provide support and advice to families and friends of sufferers. The charity is about to create an IT suite so that they can teach people with disabilities. They are looking for a volunteer to help them specify the hardware and software for this IT suite. They are hoping to have four PCs with broadband access and they would like advice on how to set this up. They plan to install software designed specifically for disabled users so if the volunteer had any experience in this area it would be useful. Although the charity is currently based in Morpeth the new IT suite will be in Blyth and the volunteer will probably need to visit that site.

Opportunity Name: System health check and help with procedures
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: West Midlands
Locality: Burton on Trent
Postcode: DE14
Virtual: No

Description: This charity based in Burton on Trent operates a community centre promoting social and economic activity in a deprived area. Originally simply a community hall they now have additional facilities including a SureStart creche and a small IT suite. The equipment in the IT suite and their office has been set up by a number of volunteers. Their network was recently re-configured to introduce a server although this work was only half completed. They now need a volunteer who can advise them/help them with finishing the server set-up or going back to the peer to peer network. They also need assistance with a XP software upgrade (all purchased but installation needed). The aim is to: 1) ensure that the network is secure and that users in the IT suite cannot access the office PCs. 2) set up a backup procedure and automatically run anti-virus software.

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Please go to www.iT4Communities.org.uk, then Log in and Search for volunteering opportunities - for these and more ‘Available Opportunities’. Alternatively simply go to each Opportunity using the live links under the Opportunity Name (you will need to login en route).