My initial thoughts on this are at http://bit.ly/zZJj5i

Cheers @robjackson74, we're running a piece along similar lines today/tomorrow, we might quote you if that's ok?

Fine by me

so the youth in deprived / rural areas of the south west don't count then - again the maths seems odd?

I imagine the Scouts etc would have suggested which areas they wanted to focus on @Eddie? You should drop them a line to highlight the need for groups in the south west :0)

Bank workers charity? Really? Can't imagine many companies feeling they would be a beneficial charity partner in the current climate!!

Lol @fabiabates I know that bit did make me wonder, are there realy any charities for bankers?! Can't imagine that's an easy one to fundraise for!!

The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation comes pretty close http://www.csfi.org/

Lol thanks @paddaniels long time no see how goes it?

Need to reconnect ;-)!

Indeed, good to see ya back :0)

In the FAQ's for volunteers it states that charities pay a 'small' fee to help them to prioritise their needs and value the time of the volunteer. I don't think the fee is small and I think it is insulting that they feel the voluntary sector does not value volunteers! I don't think this site sends a very positive message about volunteering and has a focus on 'exclusive' volunteering instead of inclusive and diverse volunteering. I wonder if the volunteers would feel an increased pressure to continue with a mismatched placement knowing that the organisation had paid for the introduction?

I like the name but, as ever, worry about duplication with other services and websites out there. They say that they are 'investing resources and time in recruiting professional volunteers'. I really hope they're working with existing providers or else it seems like a huge waste. Any idea who's behind it though, the site's a little reticent on that front!

I see your point though it's not the first service to charge for brokerage in this way, depends on how much support they offer to ensure the match works and the project gets done. Its a shame they just have a fixed fee as this sort of service will out of the reach of the charities that need it most, ie small projects with little cash.

Ooh - have been looking at this with great interest. Jamie makes some good points, however....look closely at this website. It does have some obvious spelling mistakes and strange use of grammar resulting in sentences which frankly don't make sense to me at all "Expand or add to your skill set than by volunteering. It’s free.." is one example. I have no idea what this means.

Also -it seems to be aimed at professionals with very particular skill sets, but doesn't really make this clear from the outset. And, have a read of the 'Our Model' section for an interesting interpretation of why being 'for profit' is the way forward.
On the plus side - I too like the name, but I am not sure about the tag line. "Intelligent Volunteering" kind of infers that every other sort of volunteering is "unintelligent"!
Great Friday afternoon distraction though...

"Volunteers save charities millions of pounds every year" is hardly a good opening gambit, especially when paired with an aim to "alleviate volunteer costs". Makes it sound like volunteers are free labour and a drain of budgets which is contradictory and untrue.

Click on "The 6 key benefits of volunteering for professionals" and you get a page telling you the site is under construction.

Charities are told they can save at least 10 times the cost of outsourcing the project. Really? Prove it.

The projects library is a list of ides not actual work done. They are therefore theoretical savings not real ones.

It is hardly revolutionary.

There seems to be little focus on the absolutely essential element of any brokerage system, making sure there are good quality, well managed opportunities there for people who volunteer to work on. That is more than making sure the VIO has a volunteer policy but ensuring the role is tied to the mission, well supported, properly managed etc..

There is no name, no contact details or anything like that on the website. There is also no information on Give What You Are Good at on the Companies House online check register. As they are a profit making business I'd expect them to be a registered company and they appear not to be.

So, I'm suspicious about this.

It's similar to some American sites like CatchAFire.org. Very similar.

In fact, CatchAFire's tag line is 'Give What Your Good At' - and they've been around for a couple years.

So not sure what to make of that similarity.

But I do like the idea of offering real help to charities and volunteers to create rewarding volunteer experiences for both. Often skilled volunteering is messy and frustrating for everyone. This type of help is a great improvement over more traditional approaches.

I think Bright One communications offer a similarly structured model, with professional volunteers and graduates undertaking assignments which they manage on behalf of the charity - a bit like an ad agency. Seems to work well, agree with you @Realizedworth if they can crack this it will really help this market, but agree with @robjackson74 that the brokerage element is key and they will need to be able to clearly demonstrate impact and value for money to justify the cost - watch this space eh?

Oh nice - love the Canadianism - eh?

Skilled volunteering is clearly a critical part of the voluntary sector and can benefit small charities in a significant way - organisations such as Reach do sterling work in this field.
But does the sector really require a paid-for service for skilled volunteers? There are multiple routes (e.g. the CTN) to find and fill trustee and other senior lay leader positions - we even do it ourselves.
So looking at the website - which is unimpressive and opaque - this seems like uneccessary duplication and - undermining the work already taking place by putting the money element into the equation.

Hear what you say @JewishVolunteeringNetwork but as I'm sure Reach will testify funding such a model as theirs is increasingly difficult and may ultimately be unsustainable. The key issue is whether people feel that paying for a service like this is justified and that will ultimately be judged on the quality of it... but I still reckon it will exclude the small projects who simplay cannot afford to pay at the moment.

I share all of Rob's concerns about this project. I'm particularly sceptical of the costs savings quoted and would, like Rob, ask them to prove it. I can see organisations being tempted to use this site as an apparent efficient way of involving volunteers, particularly those new to volunteering. However any good organisation will know what it's volunteering programme both costs and what it delivers and speaking for my organisation why would we pay £250 to get someone placed with us when we can recruit them ourselves (at less cost). Like Jamie I also think the costs quoted for organisations will exclude many smaller organisations from being able to get involved.

Lol @Realizedworth is that really a Canadianism? I've always used it :o)

@Jamie T and others - I went to have a peek and saw a logo I recognised or it looked very similar to that website we have mentioned before - your square mile! what do you all think?

Hi @Eddie, yes I did notice that there is a distinct similarity, I wonder if YSM have seen it?!

it was those coloured blocks stacked in a triangle shape that gives it away perhaps!

That's most of my crinklies out then! average age is 82. What no bouncy castles or fireworks! most of my young volunteers out then (hee hee) legal advice! local vcs should watch out! Back to the medication then.

Here's my blog on the topic - http://bit.ly/oJ27Hi

and there are some workshops coming up that will present the findings and consider policy implications - http://pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk/2011/09/invitation-to-attend-workshops/

Yes, we're not bitter either Jamie. Good Lord, that's some expensive whizzy technology!

Lol, I'm being cheeky - I'm sure most of the cash was spent on other things, otherwise they need to get a refund!

Just searched my postcode and it seemed to return data pulled out of other sites that, to be honest, I'd have gone to first rather than using YourSqaureMile.

Yes I noted that but I guess they need something to start it off - sure it'll prove its worth eventually. We're going to have a do-it plug soon, their new syndication feed means members can do-it opps to their profiles which will be cool.

OMG... I'm speechless... Is it time for the VC's to pull out their opps from do-it and start charging these government intitiatives to access them instead of all the good work going into maintaining do-it's opps being used to create us more work without any financial backing?

It is a nice way to aggregate a collective knowledge though.. very attractive, and even though I knew it was all being sourced from flickr and fixmystreet, I did feel it helped me to connect some dots..

I'd love to see the Historypin project incorporated too...

But I wouldn't see this as a way of 'pinhing' other ppls' hard work, more another route to find it.. the proof'll be in the eating tho..

I may be missing something here, and I do so hope I am wrong… but honestly; did this shinning example of style over content really cost £900k!?...

If so; no wonder the country is bankrupt, and on its arse!

Lol what have I started?! The actual website is just a small part of a bigger project to mobilise communities, so the £900k will cover a lot of other things, I think. I was being pithy cause if I'm honest I was a bit jealous that they'd managed to get lottery support - let's wait and see how it goes. Though I don't like the design personally, I'm interested to see how it evokes.

Just seen this today, a vid link form the MD of YSM that tells you more about what they are trying to do...

Oops forgot to add it http://t.co/H8p4MY4m