Student Volunteering Week: 25 February – 2 March 2008
For immediate release
Volunteering England is urging students to help top last year’s record-breaking involvement in Student Volunteering Week at its launch today. Across the country, student volunteering groups will hold events and launch new projects to raise their profile, recruit new volunteers and create new opportunities within their local communities.
Forging new partnerships with community organisations is by far the most important result of the Week, according to an online poll by Volunteering England. The second favourite was “recruiting new volunteers”, followed respectively by “promoting your student group to the local community”; “celebrating the achievements of current volunteers”; and “linking up with other universities/colleges within the region.”
The national launch event will be held today in the Design Museum in London where the first ever study of student volunteering in the Further Education sector will be unveiled. On Tuesday, hundreds of volunteers will be casting a critical eye over charity websites as part of the “Youth Proof” virtual volunteering programme, and Wednesday will see student volunteers and KPMG staff collaborating on special volunteering events in primary schools in London and Leeds. Throughout the country, student groups will be holding fairs and awards, launching new projects and raising their profile within the university or college and their local community.
Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said:
“This is the eighth National Student Volunteering Week and I hope we will inspire even more students to take part and see for themselves what a difference they can make to their communities. Last year, over 1,600 new opportunities were created and 7,000 volunteers took part and I’m hoping this year we can top that fantastic achievement and help even more people discover the life-changing power of volunteering.”
Mike Kelly, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, KPMG Europe LLP, said:
“KPMG is delighted to be supporting Student Volunteering Week again this year. Not only is it an extremely valuable tool in introducing more young people to the benefits of volunteering, but it also provides KPMG as a business means of communicating our values in a very practical way with the student population, whilst making a positive difference to our local communities.”
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Notes to editors
- For more information or interviews please contact Cat Dean on 020 7520 8932 or email cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org. For out of hours enquiries call 07903 731 141
- For more information or interviews with KPMG in the UK, please contact Arti Mohan 020 7694 8735, mobile 07768 848 085, or email arti.mohan@kpmg.co.uk
- 311 people responded to the question “What is the most important outcome of Student Volunteering Week”? 45% answered, “Creating new partnerships with community organisations”; 24%, “Recruiting new volunteers”, 16%, “Promoting your student volunteering group to the local community”; 9%, “Celebrating the achievements of current volunteers” and 6%, “Linking up with other universities/colleges in the region”
- Now in its eighth year, Student Volunteering Week runs from 25 February to 2 March 2008. Over the course of the week, universities and colleges across the country will organise a range of activities, including taster volunteering events, recruitment drives, celebration events, one-off projects, and regional projects. For more information, contact Davina Pilkington on 020 7520 8924 or email davina.pilkington@volunteeringengland.org.
- Volunteering England aims to improve the quality, quantity, impact and accessibility of volunteering throughout England. For more information please visit www.volunteering.org.uk
- The Volunteering England Convention Transforming Passion into Power: Volunteering at the heart of social change is being held on 23-25 April 2008For regular updates: www.volunteering.org.uk/convention
- KPMG is the global network of professional services firms who provide audit, tax and advisory services. KPMG LLP operates from 22 offices across the UK with nearly 11,000 partners and staff. KPMG recorded a UK turnover of £1.6 billion in the year ended September 2007. KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is the UK member firm of KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative
