Sexpression:UK is a student-led charity committed to providing near-peer relationship, health, and sex education (RSHE). Operating from branches, Sexpression have a passionate volunteer base of over 300 who deliver inclusive and comprehensive RSHE workshops in local schools, youth clubs and on university campuses, alongside a range of advocacy activities all to empower young people to make decisions about sex and relationships.
Sexpression faced unique challenges with volunteer management due to its student-led approach complicated further by disparate systems and remote administration from the central team.
Before the integration of Volunteero, Sexpression grappled with a myriad of systems, making volunteer management time-consuming, complex, and hindering the organisation's ability to fulfill its core mission of supporting young people. The intricate multi-system setup made centralised communication and project management a near-impossible feat, exacerbating challenges in onboarding, engagement, and tracking volunteer impact.
Their challenges included:
- As a remote organisation centralising communication and project management across branch locations was near impossible
- The multi-system approach made managing volunteers at branches time-consuming
- The volunteer onboarding and engagement process was complex and disjointed.
- Volunteer impact was difficult to track
Volunteero emerged as the catalyst for change, streamlining Sexpression's intricate processes and providing a centralised platform that significantly enhances volunteer management. The benefits are multifold, marking a paradigm shift in the organisation's operational efficiency and impact.
Streamlined Branch leadership
Each year the Sexpression National Committee and branch managers change personnel. So having access to a centralised system that can be easily handed over every year is imperative to successful delivery.
Volunteero's customisable staff dashboard enabled the management team to configure the system for simplified volunteer management, offering branch managers a restricted view tailored to their specific needs. This approach ensures continuity and effective oversight, fostering successful delivery across 24 locations.
By consolidating processes within Volunteero, the leadership team now ensures accurate adherence to protocols while gaining real-time insights into the organisation's nationwide scope. Despite being geographically dispersed, Sexpression can now manage the charity centrally, providing effective oversight and support to branches across the UK.
“This simplification ensures that despite being a remotely coordinated organisation across the UK, we can manage the charity and ensure effective oversight and support for our branches nationwide.”
When it comes to the start of a new year for Sexpression, their National Committee can hand over the reins to the new branch managers with just a few clicks.
Effortless Volunteer onboarding
Before, the team were grappling with a multitude of systems to recruit, train and onboard student volunteers. The team had concerns that this process was difficult to manage and could result in steps being missed resulting in unqualified volunteers being able to take on activities.
Now, each branch manager can take control of their area volunteer applications in one place whilst simultaneously having direct access to the National team’s support for any questions or queries about applications.
“Before Volunteero, we used a range of different systems, making it time-consuming, more complex for our volunteers”
Since September 2023, Sexpression has witnessed an impressive influx of 175 new volunteer applications, showcasing the efficiency and appeal of Volunteero's streamlined onboarding process.
Enhanced Volunteer experience
Volunteero's singular system has resonated positively with Sexpression volunteers, who appreciate the simplicity and coherence it brings. 73% of their volunteers have engaged with Volunteero this year to view missions and take on activities to support the cause.
In an era where volunteer time is precious, this optimisation allows volunteers to focus on their core mission – driving positive social change. The unified system not only maximizes resources as effectively as possible but keeps volunteer morale and retention at higher levels.
“Volunteero and their highly supportive team have been invaluable in simplifying our volunteer management, allowing us to focus on delivering our core charitable objectives and improving our volunteer retention and morale at the same time.”
Impact measurement
One key benefit of the app has been to improve our monitoring and evaluation processes of which the advantages are myriad. Using Volunteero’s custom report feature they now have better data collection which helps demonstrate their impact to funders and the media as well.
Their team also use this information to recognise the efforts of their incredible volunteers who last year were involved in the delivery of over 90 RSHE activities on behalf of Sexpression, each one listed as a mission on the Volunteero app.
Direct feedback from volunteers, seamlessly captured through Volunteero, serves as a rich resource for continuous improvement. Analysing this data empowers Sexpression to refine service delivery, further benefiting young people and reinforcing the organisation's commitment to improving service delivery and benefiting more young people.
Speaking on their favourite thing about Volunteero , the Sexpression team told us:
“ We really value how responsive the Volunteero team are. They’ve always been on hand when we have had issues or questions and have been incredibly supportive in developing features for the app to match the needs of our organisation so that it works for us as best as possible.”
If you would like to see how Volunteero can help you measure and demonstrate your impact, please book a demo and one of our wonderful sales team will be in touch.
