South West Database Project of the Month
P1306 Swindon, Wiltshire
This charity uses arts projects to improve the life of social excluded people such as the homeless and disadvantaged young people. They run music, crafts and other arts activities at sites in Swindon and also have a mobile workshop in a converted double-decker bus. They are currently undergoing a Quality Assurance process and would like to streamline the way they record information to be reported to their management committee and to funding bodies. They'd like to start recording information in an Access 2002 database so that it can be reported in a standard format. They envisage two parts - a client database including demographic information and details of attendance at sessions; a stock control database. They'd like advice to help them decide the information to record, to design the database and to implement an application with user-friendly input forms. They'd like to work with the volunteer so that they have an understanding of the database so that they could develop their own queries and reports in future.
Database
East Anglia Training Project of the Month
P1334 Norwich, Norfolk
A charity that enables disabled people, and people with severe mobility who are on low incomes to join in with and contribute to the communities, would like some general PC support. They would like a volunteer to train them in general PC maintenance and fault finding skills. Also the charity relies on MS Publisher, however they have problems with this occasionally and would like a volunteer to support them with day to day problems they come across with this package. This would suit a volunteer with general software/hardware skills along with a working knowledge of MS Publisher.
Training
North East Website Project of the Month
P1340 Grangetown, Middlesbrough
This charity is a community-led regeneration programme based in Middlesbrough. Their main aim is to regenerate the region by getting local people into employment and they run training projects and youth projects to help people improve their skills. They also provide transport for the disabled and maintain a small community park. The charity had a website developed for them a few years ago but was unable to maintain the site themselves and it quickly became out of date and inaccurate. They would like a volunteer to develop a new site for them. They have a logo and a corporate colour scheme but are open to all suggestions about the design of the site.
They envisage the site having about five sections each with a couple of pages plus a newsletter that is published bi-monthly. They want to be able to update the site themselves to add pictures and news stories as they happen. The charity has a registered domain name but will need advice on a hosting package for the new site.
Website
London Technical Support Project of the Month
P1328 Hackney London N8
This organisation is an after-school club for children in Hackney. Running five days a week they provide arts, crafts and other activities for up to 30 children at a time. They would like to involve the children in a project to create a calendar that they can sell to parents and supporters to raise money to buy more play equipment. They imagine that the children would produce paintings or drawings that would be used as the artwork for a 12-page calendar. They have the facilities to scan in the artwork and to print and copy the finished calendar. However, they're not sure how to incorporate the scanned pictures into the calendar. They would like a volunteer with experience of desktop publishing to advise on the process involved. They have a number of PCs running Windows XP but are not sure what software they have which would be suitable for this project.
Technical support
London Website Project of the Month
P1347 Slough Berkshire
A charity that promotes contemporary opera and music theatre throughout the UK would like their website improved. They envisage a new site where they can manage the content easily as they need to update the site on a regular basis. The charity feels that the current site is very flat and that they could carry the charity forward with a website that is better designed, more informative and more pleasing to the eye.
This project would suit a volunteer with web design experience who can advise the best way forward with the current site and content.
Website
London Training Project of the Month
P1270 Ealing, London W5
This organisation provides charitable housing for people with disabilities, the elderly or people who cannot get housing for other reasons. This particular scheme is a group of elderly tenants living in a sheltered housing scheme in Hayes, Middlesex. They have a PC with broadband access for use by the tenants. The Scheme Manager would like the tenants to get best use of the PC but most of them have no previous experience. They would like a volunteer who has the patience to educate the tenants in very basic PC skills - how to turn on the PC; how to use the mouse; how to access the Internet; how to navigate websites; how to search for information. Some tenants have also shown an interest in using the PC to write letters and at least one has a digital camera and would like to try some basic image manipulation. Ideally the training sessions should take place during working hours. Initial thoughts are that the sessions would last for about six weeks.
Training
Buckinghamshire Website Project of the Month
P1350 Aylesbury, Bucks
A charity that supports prisoners and their families both within prison and on release, would like a volunteer to help them with updating their website. The main request is for a volunteer who can change specific content on their site, from background colour to adding images. In total there is about 4 hours work in order to meet the charity's requirements. This project would suit a volunteer with some web design experience who is able to change the static content of the charity's site. However, the charity is open to the idea of managing the site themselves, if they are given the guidance and training.
Website
If you would like to volunteer for any of these Projects of the Month, please go to Volunteer Opportunities.
