Opportunities of the month

 

Opportunities are listed on this page because we've recently talked with the charity and we know that they are ready to work with a volunteer. Are you that volunteer?

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Opportunity Name: Website - working with young carers in Kent
Skill Type: Website
Region: South East
Locality: Tonbridge
Postcode: TN9
Virtual: No

Description: This Charity supports carers of people who are sick, infirm or disabled with information, help, advice, and respite in Kent. A carer is someone who, without payment, provides help and support to a friend, neighbour or relative who could not manage otherwise because of frailty, illness or disability. Most carers would still not recognise themselves under the term 'carer', they are just people trying to cope as best they can while helping to look after someone they care about. In total there are 5.7 million adult carers across the UK, and 50,000 young carers in the UK The main charity has a new website and now wishes to have a young people's website to help young carers in Kent to communicate with each other and access support. They are looking for a volunteer who will work with the young people to develop a website that is secure, engaging, interactive and useful. It will probably incorporate aspects of web2.0 with blogs and social networking but in a secure environment. You will need a CRB check and the project is aimed to begin in summer 08 so please request contact details and call the charity soon if you can help. This might be a good team project for more than one volunteer.

Opportunity Name: New brochure-type website with CMS and online donations
Skill Type: Website
Region: South East
Locality: Windsor & Maidenhed Borough
Postcode: SL3
Virtual: No

Description: This charitable organisation based in Datchet, and staffed by friendly volunteers, provides a range of services to inhabitants in local villages, including a cafe, access to the Internet, information and advice for local parents and their young children, as well as classes, surgeries, talks, and leaflets. They're looking for someone to build them a mainly brochure-type website to show people what they do and what they are about, links, a contact form, and events and classes. 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 on 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, help them sign up to PayPal, implement domain email, train them in resizing pictures. Although meeting them will be vital for the initial groundwork and building up their confidence, most of the work can be done remotely.

Opportunity Name: Audit and IT Strategy
Skill Type: Audit/strategy
Region: South East
Locality: Brighton
Postcode: BN1
Virtual: No

Description: The Brighton branch of a well-known national charity provides supported housing, and support for life skills, health and lifestyle. This is an interesting project to put them back on the straight and narrow IT-wise. They have 25 computers in 8 locations, IT provision having grown over time on an ad-hoc basis. There's no central management, no file-sharing, no shared IT policies, standards or even office templates. Some sites have wireless connection to the internet, and might be networked - they were not at all sure. There's no web-site, and some staff don't even have email addresses, though they all use Outlook for email. They do all use Word and Excel 2003. They would like you to come in and conduct an IT audit, and write an IT strategy.It certainly will need to include recommendations on networking, creation of Office templates, file-sharing, backup, anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, wireless security, email, but no doubt there will be other aspects too. You may wish to help them implement some of the recommendations - continuity is preferred, or leave the implementation to someone else.

Opportunity Name: Website with CMS and online donations
Skill Type: Website
Region: London
Locality: Hackney
Postcode: E8
Virtual: No

Description: This Dalston charity provides services to older people who are at risk of falling or are recovering from falls and injuries. They work with lots of health providers to establish acccessible prevention services for older people in Hackney and the City of London. They've built a very basic website using the ISP's software, and realise that it's not what they want. They would like you to build a new brochure-type website that can house downloadable forms, questionnaires, a Powerpoint presentation, a contact form, and an online donations page, perhaps linked to PayPal. They want to able to update the website after you've gone, and add new pages, so they'll need an appropriate CMS. As their main audience is older people, accessibility is important.They may already have hosting, but they need some guidance about hosting. They have a good idea of what the design they want, however they'll need guidance on the layout and structure. You'll need to: define the website structure in detail, build the website, implement a CMS, and train them in its use. Their office is accessible.

Opportunity Name: Define requirements for database system
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: London
Locality: Barnet
Postcode: NW4
Virtual: No

Description: This Christian charity is run by, and for, young people. Working with young people from 13 to 30 they operate on a local basis helping them develop personally, socially and spiritually. The charity currently uses a Lotus database to manage their contact information. However, it doesn't meet their needs and they'd like to have a new database developed for them. First of all, they'd like a volunteer to help them define their requirements. They would like a volunteer who can discuss their needs with a few members of staff and turn their wish list into a requirements document. They know the sort of information they want to record - membership details, volunteer details, donations, requests for publications, etc. - and that they need some flexibility in querying the data. They would like to be able to import information gathered via a form on their website. The requirements document should also consider the size of the database - the organisation is expanding - and the appropriate technology to use. Once the requirements are complete the volunteer may choose to help with development or the charity can request a different volunteer for that part of the project.

Opportunity Name: Advise on mobile communications
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: London
Locality: London
Postcode: N19
Virtual: No

Description: A London charity that carries out low-cost repairs for pensioners, the disabled and other vulnerable people would like to set up an electronic connection between their office and their field engineers. The charity has a database that is written in Sapphire and is accessible via the web. They would like to be able to make the database accessible in the field for the engineers so that there is no need for them to visit the office as often. They currently have no hardware in place. The charity needs advice on the type of hardware to buy and how to configure it. They envisage using PDA's, Palmtops, Smart Mobiles or possibly Tablet PCs, however the devices chosen will have to be easy to use and not too large. They are open to suggestions about the technology used to communicate with the devices as long as it allows the engineers to input and receive data at a reasonable speed. They would like to implement the system incrementally starting with the ability to send out information to the engineers. Gradually they would add features such as engineers confirming that the job has been completed and entering job notes.

Opportunity Name: simple website - update
Skill Type: Website
Region: London
Locality: Plumstead
Postcode: SE18
Virtual: No

Description: This charity runs a creche and toy library for under privileged children. They have a simple website but it is not up to date. They require a volunteer who will spend a few hours helping them to update the information and add their supporters information. The small team are not experienced with web technology and have limited time, so the volunteer needs to be experienced, patient and provide one to one training and a little support afterwards. This website does not require a redesign nor the addition of any complicated technology, just a few extra pages and associated training for staff. This opportunity is not suitable for virtual or remote working, London based volunteers only please.

Opportunity Name: Modify ASP Forum to Fight Spam [This is a short task]
Skill Type: Website
Region: South West
Locality: FALMOUTH
Postcode: TR11
Virtual: Yes

Description: This not for profit support group based in Falmouth provides advice, information and support to all those living with chronic (long-term) pain. They aim to empower the person with pain to take back control of their lives and enable them to reduce their pain and to cope in a more constructive way. On their website there is a discussion forum, written in ASP, which is password protected, but there is no email filtering system. They are currently getting a lot of spam from people registering and being allowed automatically to post messages on the forum. They think an email filtering system with feedback to them could be added on to the code, which would allow them to filter out 'undesirables', but perhaps you can suggest another solution. They're looking for someone to recommend a solution and then implement it.

Opportunity Name: Brand new charity needs to choose ICT system - urgently!
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: East of England
Locality: Redbourn
Postcode: AL3
Virtual: No

Description: This brand-new organisation is forming in St Albans to replace two existing charities. They will act as an umbrella organisation for voluntary groups across Hertfordshire working with young people - empowering them to influence change; supporting them in improving their lives and helping them find volunteering opportunities. The new charity is in the process of acquiring premises and recruiting staff. They are very keen to ensure that they make the best decisions regarding ICT right at the start and they're looking for a guiding hand from an experienced volunteer. They have considered their needs and think they have found a suitable supplier providing a web-based solution including e-mail, CRM-database, accounting and regular backups. But is this the right solution for them? They'd also like advice on the hardware to purchase and how the four remote workers should best connect to the web. Once they've made the purchasing decisions they'd appreciate it if you could oversee the installation to ensure all goes smoothly. They'd like to have everything up and running by September so this is a rather urgent request!

Opportunity Name: Simple information website for large community
Skill Type: Website
Region: East of England
Locality: Harlow
Postcode: CM20
Virtual: No

Description: This charity based in Harlow provides infrastructure support services for other local voluntary and community groups in and around Harlow. They have their own website purely for the charity. They would like you to build them an independent website for the forum of local voluntary and community organisations. The new website needs information pages, links, a contact form, and a discussion board/forum, so that the organisations can share information and ask for help easily. They're clear about the layout and content. The charity are keen to keep the website up to date, and as they use Contribute already, they would like you to implement Contribute for this website, too. They've already bought a domain name, but they would like guidance on hosting. They also want you to implement domain email with email forwarding. Although they would like to meet you, most of the work can be done remotely.

Opportunity Name: Website improvements
Skill Type: Website
Region: East Midlands
Locality: Nottingham
Postcode: NG1
Virtual: No

Description: This charity works with women and children experiencing or escaping domestic violence throughout Nottinghamshire. They run a 24 hour freephone helpline, drop in centre, outreach support services and deliver training to agencies on domestic violence. They've had a basic website for 4 years, designed and built by one of the staff, who went on a course and has a basic knowledge of Dreamweaver. She would like you to review the website and make suggestions on how the website could be improved to promote the organisation and awareness of domestic violence, become a tool for the volunteers and staff and agenices who use the organisation, and generally make the site a more user-friendly interactive one. She would like your help to make the design more eye-catching and make the website work more for the organisation. She would like a form so that training can be requested online. She would like you to work with her and provide her with an understanding of some of more advanced features of Dreamweaver.

Opportunity Name: Advice on Creating Network Access Licences [This is a short task]
Skill Type: Consultancy
Region: Scotland
Locality: Galashiels
Postcode: TD1
Virtual: Yes

Description: This charity based in Galashiels helps people research their ancestry in south-east Scotland. As part of their work, they record gravestone inscriptions in cemeteries in their area and publish them. They used to do this as printed books, but they've recently turned to publishing them as PDFs on CDs, as the costs were extortionate for a print run of less than 500, which would take many years to sell. Publishing on CD keeps the costs down, eliminates storage space, and makes them cheaper for their supporters/researchers. Their expectation was that individuals will primarily use them on their own home computer for reference. Recently they've been asked for a network access licence, by an organisation that provides genealogical resources on their internal network and over the internet. What are the risks of offering this type of licence ? Are there examples of other network access licences for documents they can use as a model ? How should they price network access compared with single-user access ?