Riding the wave of the volunteering revolution

Tickbox has long been involved in creating innovative technology ideas with organisations for and with arts, heritage, charities and community organisations.

As a marketing and technology company we strove to create a digital platform along with innovative training tools that could harness the know-how of hundreds of thousands of volunteers – many “baby boomers”,  rich in time and expertise, millennials with a sense of purpose looking for skills and experience and the missing middle (Generation X) who want to support through giving their time.

Volunteer Maker evolved from these efforts working collaboratively with our partners from the heritage sector – a bespoke tool for expanding organisations’ volunteering base and connecting with their supporter community.

In 2017, Tickbox’s “baby” expanded from small, local networks and – with the involvement of Arts Council England – has taken off across the country. We have even picked up our first interest from Wales and Scotland.

This year we saw over 60 organisations, including councils, museums and galleries take part in our Pioneer Programme for Volunteer Makers, breaking the target we were set, in a total of 20 training workshops held up-and-down the country.

We also delivered 9 seminars and made 4 presentations to regional conferences, and at the sector’s national conference, we hosted a fringe event for 58 delegates.

Interest has never been higher and it is growing, with local government now joining the heritage sector in making enquiries about VM.

For Tickbox founder Claire Sully, it has meant a year on the road, traversing the UK to speak to museums as far apart as Falmouth Art Gallery and the Tyne and Wear Museums group.

Working with Royal Navy Museums even gives VM a Pioneer in Northern Ireland in the shape of HMS Caroline.

For Claire, spreading the world on the smart use of volunteering, has meant the opportunity to visit museums as diverse as the National Holocaust Centre, the World Rugby Hall of Fame, the Fleet Air Arm Museum and the Museum of London (to mention just a few).  Claire says:

“It’s been a year of spectacular growth for Volunteer Makers, with organisations all over the country seeing its value, buying into the ethos and spreading the word.

“And the good news is 2018 looks like being even bigger with networks of organisations expressing a keen interest in the programme training, model and technology”.

For more information about the Volunteer Makers model, training and tech click here.  For our Volunteer Makers Pioneers community, click here.