Blog

I’m sure most of you have now read the Time Well Spent 2023 report by NCVO which was published back in June. I’ve only had the chance to digest it properly in the last week or so.   

As some of you know vHelp was born during the first lockdown in 2020, when we first came across the fact that there was no system out there helping charities pay volunteers expenses quickly and securely.  Back then we were completely new to the third sector and loved navigating our way around and observing the sector’s growth.  

I’m a big fan of Steven Bartlett, the young dragon on Dragon’s den. I was a fan and a follower way before he shot to fame.  I started reading his book Sexy, Happy Millionaire and it gave me the idea for this blog. 

The new year has brought us many new queries from organisations asking how to set up vHelp. This is great because its shows that organisations are taking the current climate into consideration and focusing on reimbursing their volunteers’ expenses quickly. 

Volunteers are the backbone of our society. They proved themselves repeatedly, with the pandemic being clear evidence of the value volunteers add. 

Technology has changed the way we live our lives in many ways, including the way we donate to charity and volunteer. This change was accelerated by the Covid pandemic.

We noticed that many charities we talk to don’t include technology costs when applying for grants, even though these costs are fully justifiable and essential for the charity to serve its cause. 

Sports volunteers are the backbone of any successful sporting event and organisation. They donate their time without expecting anything in return. This is admirable, but it’s important to ensure that these volunteers are not left out of pocket, particularly as the cost of living is impacting all of us.

We are all busy spinning many plates, especially people who work in the charity sector, who are often underfunded and understaffed doing great work serving their cause and helping others.  

There is a general fear of technology within the third sector. Since vHelp started, we have been trying to put our finger on it but realised it’s a very complex problem. In this blog, we’ll try and break down some points and reflect on them. Hopefully, it will help others reflect too.