Mentoring is the new black

Donating to charities is not the only way to contribute to society. Your professional skills are also in demand, as mentoring is rapidly gaining popularity.

You might think that ‘mentoring’ belongs to the jargon of the corporate world, but in today’s charity sector, it is also the hottest buzzword. Examples of mentoring includes befriending services for the elderly, or youth work, where volunteer youth workers help with the personal development of young people by offering them one-on-one support. Charities value your professional skills more than ever, since mentoring programmes often form part of the overall service a charity offers and sometimes even the sole operational model.

We interviewed three different kinds of charities about how mentoring works for them and for the mentors:

Charity: HERA

What does your charity do?

HERA (Her Equality Rights and Autonomy) helps women survivors of trafficking, conflict, and other forms of violence and young women vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation pursue their aspirations and ambitions for a better life. Since our creation in 2005, we trained over 500 women and helped create more than 200 jobs across Europe.

What role does mentoring play in your work?

Mentoring is the backbone of our programmes. Each of our students, after successfully completing a three weeks training, is paired for a year with a business mentor that we have recruited and trained. These relationships allow our students to learn and grow from the experience of their mentor, and helps them get into a professional mindset, crucial for their integration in UK’s society.

Benefits of mentoring?

For the mentee it is a once in a life time chance to work with someone willing to give their time and expertise to see them thrive in their field. For the mentor it is a unique opportunity to work with someone who will constantly surprise you with their resilience and approach, and to help them achieve their goals through your advice and support.

What requirements do you have for individual/company volunteers?

When being recruited, each candidate needs to pass an interview with a member from our team and a DBS check. We require from our mentors to come to the training (dates fixed and given during recruitment) where they are prepared for the specific nature of this mentoring. For the rest of the year, the ideal meeting rate is once to twice a month – either in person or over the phone. HERA organises in parallel monthly events (2hrs on a Wednesday evening) to which both mentors and mentees are welcome.

 Charity: Reach Out

What does your charity do?

ReachOut is a mentoring charity partnering with schools who serve disadvantaged communities across London, Manchester and Oldham and expanding to Liverpool in January 2019.

What role does mentoring play at ReachOut?

Our young people work with the same mentor each week and build a meaningful relationship that allows them to reflect on success, learn from mistakes, overcome barriers and set SMART goals over the academic year.

What are the benefits of mentoring?

Both mentors and mentees are taken on a character journey throughout the programme to develop their character strengths and improve their skills. More than 99% of ReachOut mentees go onto education, training or employment after leaving school. In 2017/18, 100% of mentors enjoyed mentoring for ReachOut, 69% felt it has improved their ability to motivate others, and 60% said it had helped them to improve their communication skills.

What are the requirements for individual/company volunteers?

Volunteers will need to complete a short application form on our website www.reachoutuk.org/mentor. We will then be in touch with the next steps to complete a DBS check and attend a one-off training session.

 Charity: Inspire!

What does your charity do?

Inspire! is an education charity working in Hackney, Camden, Islington and surrounding areas of London. By working in partnership with businesses, schools and colleges, we inspire, support and open doors for young people. We aim to increase access to the world of work, raise achievement levels and improve young people’s future prospects.

What role does mentoring play in your work?

Inspire! run mentoring programmes involving business volunteers at both primary and secondary schools. These programmes aim to build pupils’ motivation and confidence, as well as provide adult role models.

Benefits of mentoring?

Our mentoring programmes build children’s social skills, while enabling them to build a positive relationship with an adult role model. By connecting schools with businesses, pupils are also given an early insight into the world of work. For employers, taking part in mentoring is great for employee’s development and job satisfaction. They are also given the chance to make a direct impact on a young person’s life, while taking a break from the office!

What requirements do you have for individual/company volunteers?

No experience with young people is required, just plenty of enthusiasm! On Primary Mentoring, volunteers give up one lunchtime either weekly or fortnightly (30 minutes reading plus travel to and from the school). For Challenge Mentoring, volunteers are required to commit to one term of weekly, 45-minute mentoring sessions in their place of work.

Blog originally featured on www.whatcharity.com

Tiia Sammallahti is founder and CEO of whatCharity.com  - a social impact charity tech company who believes doing good shouldn’t be complicated.

Bridging the gap between charities and vital resources they need from both the public and companies whatCharity.com aims to change the dynamics of the charity sector. As LinkedIn changed recruitment, comparison sites changed insurance and Google changed how we access the world’s information, whatCharity.com enables charities, companies and individuals to create trustworthy connections and provides a brokerage platform for time, skills, money, goods and services

whatCharity.com has recently launched its cost-effective company solution which simplifies and revitalises the way companies and their teams work with charities. By creating a real-time marketplace, the platform also empowers and engages employees more effectively when taking part in charitable causes.