Celebrating 10 Diverse Link UP Projects from 2020

To celebrate the diversity of Social Good Organisations that our incredible Skilled Volunteers supported throughout 2020, we're looking back at 10 projects that made a huge difference to our local communities. 

Accepting the impermanence of volunteering

Will Foreman (Skilled Volunteering) talks talks about how framing volunteering as for a Reason, Season or Lifetime can help build better volunteering relationships.

Adapting to Remote Working ...again 

Kim Perlow, Link UP’s CEO shares her thoughts on lessons learnt from the last lockdown experience and how to stay connected as a team and work effectively from home.

Read on for Kim's thoughts!

How Has Volunteering Impacted Me? Volunteer's Perspective

Link UP Volunteer Imogen dives into how she found volunteering with us, helping us to restructure how traffic moves through our website!

Read on for Imogen's thoughts!

What's so great about Skilled Volunteering?

As lockdown eases and people return to work, we very much hope that the spirit of goodwill continues and Skilled Volunteering remains a part of people’s lives.

Read on for our thoughts!

Resilience - Surviving and Thriving in Times of Uncertainty

In the current climate, many charitable organisations have had to make an extremely difficult decision; serve their beneficiaries, or ensure their own survival. 

Read on for our thoughts!

How Has Volunteering Impacted Me? Volunteer's Perspective

Link UP Volunteer Chris talks here about the impact Skileld Volunteering has had for him! "My background in the IT industry was geared to the projects: understanding the problem, sorting a solution and successful delivery. Link UP is a bunch of very committed individuals – but the organisation and its ethos is far greater than the sum of the parts!"

The Future is Now, but What Does it Look Like?

Over the past few weeks life has changed dramatically. What has become obvious is the immense capacity of people to do good, to care for one another, to help out when times become tough. This is what SGOs are quietly doing on the front lines all the time, not just during a crisis. Read on here for our take on the importance of the Voluntary Sector's reactions to Coronavirus.

How Has Volunteering Impacted Me? Volunteer's Perspective

Link UP Volunteer Nada explains why volunteering through Link UP London is different from any other volunteering she has done before. "Being a Link UP volunteer has given me two priceless things: my professional pride back and knowledge that I have made a difference to the work of some great charities in my own community".

Thoughtful Engagement in Corporate Social Repsonsibility

Are you clear on why you want to engage with the community and what you would truly like to achieve through this engagement? Does your company consider the efficiency and effectiveness of employee contribution to projects? Is it necessary for projects to have clear KPI’s, milestones and deadlines before they begin? Is it important for your company to develop sustainable projects? 

If the answer to one or more of these questions is yes, read on for our perspective on engaging with communities.

The Value of Skilled Volunteering

When we began in 2016, many organisations came to us looking for front line volunteers, but this is not what we set out to do. Rather we were testing the theory that people would be willing to volunteer their skills on short-term structured projects to help charitable organisations in their community do their work better. 

What Did We Learn in 2019?

The Link UP team has worked diligently this past year to deliver to the communities we work in and create meaningful connections for individuals and organisations. Building an organisation is always a challenging experience, some things work and others don’t, and lots of learning goes on in the process! Read on for our learnings from 2019!