Opportunities of the Month

Opportunities are listed on this page because we've recently talked with the charity and they've told us that they are desperate for a volunteer to help them. Are you that volunteer?

If you contact the charity and they tell you that someone else has recently started work on the opportunity please ask them to contact info@it4communities.org.uk so that we can assist them in assigning that volunteer to the opportunity. Once a volunteer has been assigned the opportunity will be automatically removed from the iT4C website.

For these and more volunteer opportunities sign-in to your account and "Search for Opportunities". Alternatively click on the link on the opportunity name below to go directly to the opportunity you're interested in.

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Opportunity Name: Urgent help required for IT Plan (situation becoming critical)
Skill Type: Advice
Region: South East
Locality: Brighton
Postcode: BN1
Virtual: No

Description: This Charity is run entirely by dedicated volunteers. It has been well established over the years and has a director who is very enthusiastic about how ICT can help them to do more and do it more efficiently. When they are fighting with technology they could be doing what they actually do which is very successfully support single parents in the South East (and increasingly, nationally). They require a volunteer who is able to dedicate some time to helping them develop an IT plan. A volunteer with detailed experience of databases (particularly sharing them online) either Business Contact Manager and/or Access is needed and also someone who can advise about working remotely. The small team is made up of home working volunteers - can you help them share information? All their information would ideally be online (some publicly accessible and some private). Experienced consultants/advisors please.

Opportunity Name: Basic PC training - long lead time
Skill Type: Training
Region: South East
Locality: Reading
Postcode: RG30
Virtual: No

Description: This charity provides support and therapy to people affected by MS in Berkshire. They provide therapies such as physiotherapy, dietary advice and counselling. They can also provide information through books, videos and information packs. The charity has a number of members who are interested in using computers and who would like some basic IT training in using email and the internet. They would like a volunteer who can provide training to small groups of members. The members have different levels of IT literacy with some needing to learn how to switch on the PC. Others may be interested in basic word processing or accessing the Internet. The charity has a network of three PCs running Windows XP available for the training sessions. The PCs all have MS Office installed and broadband access. Some members are disabled due to their illness but the PCs are adapted for their use. The charity has run a similar project in the past and still has some training materials available or the volunteer may wish to develop their own. They would like to run one 2 hour training session each week during the day but the charity is flexible about their exact timing. They have a lot of members, so training sessions will be advertised in their quarterly newsletter, and there might be a longer lead time than usual before the first session. This opportunity may be most suitable for someone who's retired or works part time, or whose employer will offer the time off to provide training for the charity.

Opportunity Name: Website with CMS and joining form linked to PayPal
Skill Type: Website
Region: London
Locality: London
Postcode: SW15
Virtual: No

Description: This small local charity supports schools, libraries, and parents with dyslexic children, and adults with dyslexia in southwest London. Their activities include lectures, workshops, and helping parents get support for their children. They're looking for someone to build them a mainly brochure-type website to show people what they do and what they are about. They'll need links, a contact form, and a joining form linked to PayPal to help them increase their membership. They would like to be able to gather site statistics as well. As much of their audience is dyslexic, the website will need to be very accessible, particularly with regard to accessibility for dyslexia. They need to be able to update the website and add new pages after you've gone, so they'll need an appropriate CMS. They would also like to solicit donations via PayPal. They have a rough idea of what they want, however they'll need guidance with the layout and structure. You'll need to: define the website content and structure in detail, assist them in choosing and registering a domain name, guide them in signing up for suitable hosting, build the website, implement a CMS, and train them in its use and provide usercodes and passwords for access

Opportunity Name: Design skills and ideas for interactive features required
Skill Type: Website
Region: London
Locality: Brent
Postcode: NW10
Virtual: Yes

Description: This charity provides services for homeless people in the Brent area. Services include housing advice, counselling, advice on health issues and drop-in facilities. They have a very successful website which was developed by a previous iT4C volunteer. However, they are now looking to add more interactive features to the site to reflect the positive changes that are taking place in the organisation. They are currently re-branding and they'd like to redesign the site to take that into account. They are looking for a volunteer who can work with the IT manager to identify features such as forums, blogs, etc. which could be added to the site. They want the best possible site and if necessary they are happy to change the technology on which the site is based although they wish to stay with a UNIX/LINUX host.. This is an opportunity for a volunteer to help a charity make good use of the latest in web technologies.

Opportunity Name: Strategy for small charity
Skill Type: Audit/strategy
Region: London
Locality: Ilford
Postcode: IG1
Virtual: No

Description: This is a small Christian charity providing training to the local community in Ilford. They provide training in English and in basic IT skills. Training is available to people of all ages and is aimed at those who can't access traditional educational facilities. The charity has a small IT set up with a couple of PCs and a laptop. They would like a volunteer to help them put together an IT strategy. They would like the volunteer to audit their existing system and help them identify areas where the system could be more efficient and where additional support and training would be appropriate.

Opportunity Name: Help well organised charity define strategy
Skill Type: Strategy
Region: London
Locality: London
Postcode: NW10
Virtual: No

Description: This UK-wide charity provides help and support to victims and families of victims of road traffic accidents. They can provide bereavement counselling and operate a seven-day-a-week telephone helpline. They lobby for legislation changes to make roads safer and campaign for justice for victims. The charity is quite well organised in terms of their IT with regular support from an external company. They have a network of 6 PCs running XP and two staff have remote access from home. Their equipment is all fairly new, however their server crashes about once a month, and Outlook 2003 also crashes occasionally. They'd like a volunteer to help them put together an IT strategy, particularly with regard to backup. Much of this is probably already in place but an experienced volunteer could help by giving a fresh perspective and helping them document their plans and procedures.

Opportunity Name: Provide guidance on updating website or implement CMS
Skill Type: Website
Region: London
Locality: London (Camden)
Postcode: NW5
Virtual: No

Description: This charity based in Kentish Town works to improve health care in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They work closely with local communities, helping them to get funding and putting them in touch with expert healthcare professionals. Many of their projects are aimed at women and children and include the development of safe childbirth and newborn care, infection control and the care of children with disabilities. They have a website, but the charity would like to learn how to update and maintain the site themselves. Also, there are some broken links to fix. The charity doesn't know how the site was developed but it may be using a site builder provided by their web host, alternatively implement a CMS and train them how to use it.

Opportunity Name: Planning for interactive website
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: London
Locality: Hackney
Postcode: N4
Virtual: No

Description: This organisation is based in a predominantly BME area of Hackney. They develop projects to support the black population, particularly the young people in the community. The organisation have a vision for a website which will provide a major resource for the local community. The site would have links to other established black websites throughout the world. It would include educational, training and employment resources and details of leading professional black members of the community. Local businesses should be able to add their own details. There should be chat rooms which are user friendly to all sections of the community. Despite this grand vision the organisation have no idea of the issues surrounding such a site. Initially they are looking for a volunteer to help them scope the project. They will need advice on all aspects of the site such as the technologies which could be used, how and where the site could be hosted and how they will manage the content. They will also need an understanding of any costs involved so that they can approach funding bodies if necessary. The aim of this work is to define a manageable piece of work for a subsequent volunteer to develop the site.

Opportunity Name: Website with database functionality, London, Barnet, N2
Skill Type: Website
Region: London
Locality: Barnet
Postcode: N2
Virtual: No

Description: This organisation offers advice and guidance on checks that can be made before allowing a charitable collection to take place in a public place or within retail premises. They can also provide advice to charities to help them ensure that they will receive the proceeds of collections made in their name. The organisation has an idea for an on-line feature which they hope will help them raise money. Although similar to existing websites they believe they have identified a unique feature that will give them an edge on the competition. They are looking for a volunteer to help them develop this web functionality. The volunteer will need to advise on all aspects of the development from design and choice of technologies used through to implementation. The site will probably require a database and may require secure payment options.

Opportunity Name: Interactive e-card website from scratch
Skill Type: Website
Region: East of England
Locality: Stevenage
Postcode: SG1
Virtual: No

Description: This small local charity in Stevenage runs an emergency hostel for single homeless people. They also try to support people back into regular accommodation through a second stage house and are in the process of setting up a supported lodgings scheme. The charity are always looking for additional sources of funding and would like to set up interactive web pages to allow people to send e-cards in return for a donation. The charity will need a mechanism to manage the pictures available on the site and visitors to the site should be able to choose a picture, specify a message and recipients and make a payment. The charity already has a facility to take CAF payments so it may be appropriate to link that. The charity is looking for a volunteer to help them design and implement this site. There are no constraints in terms of technology or how the site is implemented. The volunteer would be free to suggest the most appropriate tools for the job. Although some face-to-face meetings would be nice, much of this work could be done remotely.

Opportunity Name: Web 2.0 guidance and website
Skill Type: Website
Region: Yorkshire & Humberside
Locality: Sheffield
Postcode: S35
Virtual: No

Description: This development trust in the Sheffield area, is a not-for-profit Industrial and Provident Society, which provides services to children with disabilities and their families as well as the local geographic community. They've recently started a project to transform the premises and grounds of a former school, which includes adjacent (underdeveloped) playing fields, a country park (mainly rough woodland with pond) and rough waste land. There is a really interesting opportunity here to use IT to contribute innovatively to the project - in every sense, a terrific challenge. They see this engagement in two phases: 1. ideas: an invitation to contribute innovative ideas for services/activities that might be offered from the Campus, making imaginative use of the site and how that might be integrated with the grounds. 2. design: an invitation especially to professionals (including retired and trainee professionals) to contribute to the actual design concepts for the development. They are wondering how they might deploy collaborative Web 2.0 technologies to put the whole development project online and invite contributions, participation and engagement from the internet community. They've wondered about wikis, blogs, Ning, Flickr ... even Second Life. Is there any way to put the whole Campus visually, virtually, online, so that contributors can manipulate virtual spaces either as site plans or 3D visuals ? Do you have any wilder ideas you'd like to try ? The help they need from you is the technical concept and means to get the Campus online, and a way for their staff to maintain it in the future as the project develops.