Bloggers represent a powerful and influential online community, and the British parent blogging community is one of the most active around.

This blogging community has a history of amazing support for good causes, with high-profile campaigns to raise awareness by the likes of Unicef, Save the Children and, most recently, CLIC Sargent, which ask bloggers to share information, words, pictures and links.

That’s why Bright One are delighted to team up with Tots100 – the UK’s largest network of active parent bloggers with over 2,500 members – on Time To Share, where British parent bloggers are being invited to share an hour or more of their time with good causes.

What is Time to Share? 

The Time to Share programme will match bloggers with charities in need of volunteers. During March and April 2012, Tots100 will be providing their members with opportunities to share their time with local charities, lending a hand with everything from planting trees to handing out drinks to marathon runners and talking to school children about depression.

Why get involved? 

If you’re a blogger, Time to Share will give you a fantastic opportunity to support a charity that’s close to your heart, and close to home. Bright One has got a community of amazing charities already, but together with Tots100 we’ll be offering you the chance to meet new people and make a real difference in your community. Above all, we want you to be inspired to share your experience with your readers, friends and family.

 The Time to Share project aims to:

• Give bloggers, and their readers, a real insight into the work being done by charities across the UK, and the vital role played by volunteers. We hope that the programme will inspire more people to get involved in volunteering in their communities!
• Provide an insight into the wide range of volunteering opportunities available in the UK, by promoting blog posts about Time to Share volunteers on the Bright One and Tots100 website, and across other websites and networks
• Give charities (especially smaller groups with limited resources for media relations – the reason Bright One exists) the opportunity to raise awareness of their work by connecting with the hugely popular and influential parent blogging community

I’m a blogger – how do I get involved? 

If you’re a blogger and would like to be involved in Time to Share, all you have to do is fill in a short registration form telling us about where you live, what causes you support, and when you have some time to spare.

Register Your Blog Here 

I’m a charity – how can we get involved?

We have some amazing charities on board with Bright One already, but we’d love to add more charities to the Time to Share programme. If you work with, or represent a charity interested in working with bloggers, then you can register for more information by completing a short registration form.

Add a Charity

I’ve registered – what now?

Over the coming weeks, the Tots100 team will be working hard to match charities with suitable bloggers who have Time to Share, and we would be so grateful for your support.

What can you do?

• Sign up for Time to Share if you haven’t already, and share an hour or more of your time with a good cause
• Write a blog post about a good cause that’s close to your heart, that could benefit from our support
• Spread the word about Time To Share on Facebook, Twitter (#TimeToShare) and your social networks

We look forward to working with the Tots100 team on what should be a fantastic project to give small charitable organisations the chance to reach new audiences and get the word out about their great work!

If you’ve been looking for an interesting and rewarding trustee role in a friendly small-sized organisation, look no further! We are thrilled to announce that we will be offering the opportunity to become a Bright One trustee. This is a very exciting time for us and we are looking to get trustees onboard in order to develop and expand. Details below:

Trustee role description

• To actively contribute at board meetings and help to monitor the implementation of decisions taken at meetings
• Contribute to the setting of policy, objectives and adherence to, thereafter
• Help facilitate change and manage conflict
• Ensure the financial stability of the organisation and ensure sound risk management
• Contribute to the development of the organisation’s mission and vision
• Raise the public profile of the organisation
• To represent the organisation as necessary
• To regularly assess the environment and develop the organisation’s business strategy
• To review and agree any major changes to the organisation
• To ensure the organisation uses its resources exclusively in pursuance of its charitable objects

Person specification

• Experience of holding a strategic vision over a 2-3 year period
• Ability to exercise independent judgement and challenge constructively
• Good communication skills across all levels
• Excellent planning and organisational abilities
• Understanding of the voluntary sector (desirable)
• An understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship
• Commitment to the organisation and willingness to devote the required time and effort
• A problem-solving ‘can-do’ approach
• Significant experience in at least one of the following areas:

Terms of appointment

Trustee appointments will be reviewed annually.

Trustees will be required to attend quarterly board meetings and there is also an annual AGM which trustees should attend if possible.

Communication between meetings takes place via email and phone calls.

The role requires dedication of between 8-10 hours a month (dependent on activity).

Interview process

Shortlisted candidates will initially have a phone conversation with a member of the current management team, followed by an in-person interview.

Application deadline is 10 February 2012, phone interviews will take place w/c 17 February, in person meetings will take place before the end of February, and a decision will then be made early March.

Notice: Bright One is currently not a registered charity, but forming this trustree group is one of the first steps and this group will be named trustees upon application to the Charity Commission.

If you are interested in being a trustee for Bright One please email your CV and cover letter to Tove Nordstrom at tove.nordstrom@brightone.org.uk

This is why ChairtyComms, the membership body for charity communicators, yesterday began a campaign to exempt charities from copyright licensing fees. This campaign is backed by NSPCC, Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and us here at Bright One.

We’re supporting this campaign because times are tight for all charities and. I know of at least one large charity press office which was having to cut back on weekend newspapers and some of the more expensive broadsheets at the same time as having to pay their NLA fees.

This makes little sense for the NLA which is owned by eight publishers of national newspapers, including News International and the Guardian Media Group. In the example above the charity’s NLA license was not huge so by cutting back on the broadsheets published by the NLA’s owners they were seeing the amount of money from this customer fall.

The NLA pricing structure for charities, which was agreed in 2003 with the NCVO, does give charities a discount and personally when I’ve dealt with the NLA they’ve been very helpful and understanding. The problem is what was mentioned above: 90% of the coverage charities monitor is of themselves, they’re not using it for commercial gain and have often played a big part in writing any piece. The current system misunderstands the way charity communicators work and treats them like their commercial (and profit-making) colleagues.

For those interested in the campaign see charitycomms.org.uk/charity_media_licensing and Vicky Browning, CharityComms Director, explains their position very well in this Guardian Voluntary Sector blog guardian.co.uk/media-licensing-charities-exempt. For anyone worried about your own licensing CharityComms has put together a great guide charitycomms.org.uk/guidelines/charity_media_licensing.

It is January, it is 2012, and we would like to wish all our volunteers, charities, supporters and friends a Happy New Year. Bright One has had a great year in 2011 but we are very excited about 2012 as it’s looking to be even better!

Some of our highlights from last year would be working with over 20 great clients, involving more than 60 fantastic volunteers, launching our microvolunteering platform Bright Works and picking up the Discover E-Volunteering competition prize. And we’ve got lots to look forward to in 2012.

The financial and political climate in the UK has resulted in difficult times for the third sector with the number of people employed in the voluntary sector falling by almost nine percent according to new figures published yesterday. This is a worrying report but the World Giving Index 2011 by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) shows that there is an increase in charitable acts globally – people are more likely to give time and ‘help a stranger’ but the giving of money has fallen. The decrease in monetary donations can probably be blamed on the global economic crisis but the data from CAF presents a positive attitude in regards to the giving of time. According to the report, 28% of Brits volunteered in 2011 and this commitment to giving time rather than money may well be an indication of where we are heading.

With spending cuts and a decreasing work force charities are in need of support and volunteers are a great help. A proposed new tax relief scheme could possibly increase donations and volunteering by businesses and individuals interested in volunteering can find opportunities through several channels – here are a few we’ve listed.

Here at Bright One we will try to help out whenever possible and we will also continue to develop Bright Works – the new version is now live and we’re accepting new projects. So if you’re a charity looking for help or a volunteer looking to help out, get involved!

And if you’d like to attend an exciting new event where you’ll be able to mingle with some great people from the UK communications industry you should come along to the PR Prom taking place on Thursday 23 February in Shoreditch Town Hall in London.

We’re also very much looking forward to new projects in 2012 and we’re hoping to provide training sessions, work with new great clients and have new enthusiastic volunteers joining us.

What are your wishes for 2012? Let us know in the comment section below or drop us a line if you’d like to chat about our plans for the new year – we look forward to hearing from you!

- Tove and the Bright One team

It’s a new year, and with it comes new opportunities and challenges. If you’ve been looking for an interesting and rewarding volunteering role we’ve got one for you!

In order to expand and grow in 2012 Bright One is in need of knowledgeable and experienced individuals to assist with clients and project management. We are looking for volunteers who would like to make a difference by using the experience and skills they have already.

Specifically Bright One is in need of voluntary account consultants to oversee and manage live projects with charity and not-for-profit clients, managing them and a dedicated volunteer team efficiently while delivering realistic targets on time and on budget. Many aspects of the position do not require you to come into the office every week and many tasks can be completed remotely for those with time constraints and other commitments.

Working with your Bright One account team you will:

• Manage the scoping of the project and briefing process with the client
• Manage team resources and where required assist with client deliverables
• Retain good working relationship with client on a monthly basis (day to day responsibility will lie with the account manager)
• Ensure client and project goals are achieved
• Deliver project according to pre-set objectives and metrics
• Oversee project and provide input at crucial milestones
• Contact relevant people for progress reports, agreeing next steps of plans and dealing with any issues that may arise with the account team or client
• Maintain a great working relationship with the clients

 Relevant skills and competencies:

Essential:

• Experience of project management
• Experience of managing a small team
• Good time management
• Working to deadlines
• An understanding of PR and Marketing in any capacity
• Able to commit a minimum of 2 hours per week

Desirable:

• PR and Marketing experience specifically in the charity sector would be useful but it’s not essential

To Apply

To apply send a CV and Covering Letter to sarah.jason@brightone.org.uk or for more information on Bright One contact ben@brightone.org.uk.

Interviews will be held in January 2012

We’re very excited to announce the date for Bright One’s inaugural PR Prom that will take place on February 23rd 2012. The PR Prom is a fundraising event in support of Bright One and will be held at the fabulous London venue, Shoreditch Town Hall. There will be food, drinks, live performances by She Makes War and The Olympians, dancing, the opportunity to take classic prom-style photos, a silent auction and other surprises.

According to Ben Matthews, founder of Bright One “The PR Prom promises to be a fantastic event and will provide some much needed support to the valuable work that Bright One does. We want to see the industry come out to support their own and have fun while doing good.”

The night is looking to be a lot of fun – and there will even be a Prom King and Queen that you’ll be able to nominate and vote for on Twitter ahead of the night, like this: ‘I nominate @xxx for #prpromking’ or ‘I nominate @xxx for #prpromqueen’.

We’ve had some fantastic support in organising the PR Prom, especially from Amanda Rose, founder of Twestival and advisor to Bright One. Amanda said: “For our inaugural Bright One fundraising event we wanted to put together something special and quirky that everyone in the UK PR industry would look forward to each year. Many of the events out there are limited to those PR companies winning awards or at a price that only a few staff can attend – we hope to see lots of new faces out for PR Prom.”

The campaign to promote the event features well-known faces from the PR and communications industry, who Bright One thanks for their support; Kerry Bridge (Dell), Jon Silk (Waggener Edstrom), Kate Matlock (Ketchum Pleon), Reda Haq (Cohn and Wolfe), Jordan Stone (We Are Social) and Nik Thakkar (Exposure). Stephen Waddington, MD of Speed, has also lent his support to the event, “Bright One makes a huge difference to the reputation of charities through the work of its volunteers. PR Prom is a chance for everyone in the PR industry to contribute to Bright One’s work – and have a great night out. Have you booked your ticket yet?’

Details:

Date: February 23rd 2012

Time: 7pm till late

Venue: Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, City of London, EC1V 9LT

Tickets: £25 – on sale at www.prprom.eventbrite.com

Follow @prprom for more info or check out the website www.prprom.org

We can’t wait and we hope to see you there!

Bit of a update on Bright Works for you:

• New features coming soon – sign up now to keep updated >>
• Looking to add your project to Bright Works? – get in touch >>
• Plenty of projects live up at the moment – help them now >>
• We’re heading to the final of the Discover E-Volunteering competition – thanks for your support!

Bright Works Feature Update

We launched Bright Works, our micro-volunteering app, back in July to a warm welcome. We knew that was when the hard work began though and we’ve been working with the lovely team at Dharmafly to make that happen.

With that said, the next iteration of Bright Works will soon be with us with the introduction of a “slippy tank” (think a similar interface to how Google Maps works), so we ‘ll soon be able to add lots more projects and help more charities. The above image is a sneak peak and there are some final tweaks to be put in place, so make sure you sign up to Bright Works to be alerted of when the feature goes live.

Add your project to Bright Works

And if you’re a charity, social enterprise or other non-profit who could use help from a global community of volunteers – for free – simply send us an email and we’ll get going on adding your project to Bright Works.

We’re working on a self-service option and should have that up and running in the near future, so that you can add projects to Bright Works yourself.

Current projects on Bright Works

That being said, there’s still projects being added all the time that you can help with.

For example, The Bloomtrigger Project are pioneering a new, visual model of online fundraising to empower people to help protect rainforest in a simple, affordable and a creative way. They’re looking for help with their PR campaign and need to contact business and companies that might be interested in the project, so if you think you can help then sign up and claim one of the tasks now.

There’s also AfghanAid, Unlock and more to help, so there’s never been a better time to get microvolunteering!

Discover E-Volunteering Competition Finals

We let you know a few months ago about the Discover E-Volunteering competition, where Bright Works had been shortlisted for the final voting.

We’re delighted to have been been invited to the final, so thanks for all your votes!

The announcement of the winners will take place on the 1st December during the Final Gala in Warsaw, Poland, which is being organized as an event accompanying the Final Conference of the European Year of Volunteering 2011.

We’ll be reporting back on how we got on, so cross your fingers…

–

Phew! That’s all for now – happy volunteering!

The PR industry continues to grow and many agencies are seeing the value on running a formal grad scheme to attract the brightest and best new talent.

The ever-awesome Ben Cotton over at Social Web Thing has once again done a fantastic job of compiling a post on PR Graduate Schemes from some of the best agencies in the UK.

But with more competition than ever, you may need to differentiate yourself from the pack. Why not find out about volunteering with Bright One and you’ll be able to add that little extra to your CV that really shows you are one of the best!

And if you’re a PR agency looking to promote your grad scheme, just get in touch and we’ll add you to the list.

2012 PR Graduate Schemes

Blue Rubicon
Open
Closes: 22 January 2012

Burson-Marseller
Does not run a PR graduate scheme, but is open for internships all year round, many of which lead to permanent positions.

Chime Comms
Open: November
Closes:

Diffusion 
Open: November
Closes:

Edelman 
Open: 1 December 2011
Closes:

Fishburn Hedges
Open
Closes: The deadline for the April 2012 intake is 12 December 2011 and the deadline for the September 2012 intake is 3 February 2012.

Fleishman-Hillard
Open
Operates a six month training scheme all year round. On completion of the Graduate Scheme the candidates performance will be reviewed and, if satisfactory, graduates will be considered for a permanent position.

Four Comms 
Open
Closed: 31 January 2012

Hill & Knowlton 
Closed: 28 October 2011

Hotwire Group (encompassing Hotwire and Skywrite)
Open: November/December 2011
Closes: 30 January 2012

Ketchum Pleon: James Maxwell Programme
Open
Closes: 30 March 2012

Lexis PR
Open: November 2011
Closes: 20th February

Speed Comms
Open: 30 November 2011
Closes: 19 January 2012

The recently launched advertising campaign includes our brilliant volunteer Oana as one of the Team London Stars who have all been nominated due to their volunteering efforts in the capital and they will hopefully inspire others to volunteer. “I think this is a really nice project because not only does it give recognition to people who give up their time to help others but it also promotes them as role models so other people will follow in their footsteps”, says Oana who is hoping to inspire others to take part in volunteering activities. When asked about her favourite aspects of volunteering Oana stated that it is “when you see the results of your work and put a smile on other people’s faces”.

“If someone is thinking to volunteer but doesn’t know how, I would advise him/her to do whatever he/she likes best. I think that transforming your hobby or interest into voluntary work is the biggest motivation and it will bring satisfaction to yourself and the people who benefit from your volunteering.”

Big congrats to Oana from the Bright One team!

If you would like to volunteer with Bright One or would like to know more about volunteering opportunities we’d love to hear from you! Send us an email via the contact page or drop us a line on Twitter @brightone

This week, Founding Director of Bright One, Ben Matthews, spoke at a PRCA Charity Campaign Masterclass, alongside David Hamilton of Action for Children.

Below are his slides, which covers three exciting charities and the tactics they use for successful campaigns: The Pixel Project, Centrepoint, and Child’s i Foundation.

What tips have you got for others to master their charity campaigns?