A digital platform for matching, education and setting up events – enabling a future-proof approach of volunteerism in the greater Dalfsen area.
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Vrijwilligerspunt Dalfsen is the regional volunteer centre in the Dutch town of Dalfsen. The centre recruits and connects local volunteers and organisations, with the aim of creating a close-knit community where residents spend their time in a fun and meaningful way.
With its dedicated staff members, the foundation fulfils a central role in finding and connecting volunteers for a great many regional organisations. The Vrijwilligerspunt facilitates the matching process, while mainly focusing on supporting local organisations with advice and education. In addition, the centre supports local organisations that are on their way to a future-proof existence. The aim is to create an inclusive community in the Dalfsen area.
The platform of Vrijwilligerspunt Dalfsen facilitates quality matches of volunteers and organisations. Organisations can post volunteer vacancies themselves, to find that ideal Samaritan for their outfit.
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The right volunteer for the job. When you ensure a well-made match, you provide people with a fun, meaningful, but above all sustainable way to spend their time. It comes as no surprise then, that the overall objective of the platform is to create such quality matches, in order to promote a strong Dalfsen community where people look out for each other. The employees at the volunteer centre are well in tune with the priorities of the Dalfsen people and organisations. This allows them to set up excellent matches that help the organisation and the volunteer move forward. Why is this important? Good, sustainable volunteer matches help to future-proof these local organisations, so that they can continue driving the social cohesion in Dalfsen.
Likewise, the joint activities and shared goals also result in more local connections and contacts for the volunteers. The goal of the Vrijwilligerspunt is to make it easier for volunteers and organisations to find one another. To achieve this, the centre must be familiar with the organisations in the region. At the same time, the organisations and the volunteers – especially the younger ones! – should know the centre. Only in this way, can the volunteer centre become the #1 platform for volunteering and cohesion in the area.
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In order to become the #1 platform, the entire matching procedure had to be revised. In the past, the volunteer broker had full responsibility for the entire process. This meant that, during the matching procedure, there was no direct contact between the volunteer and the organisation. In practice, the broker spent a lot of her time crafting matches, with both the organisations and the volunteers fully depending on her. And because neither of the parties had the autonomy to find the other, many potential matches never came to be.
It was evident that this autonomy had to be returned to the organisations and volunteers. This was achieved with an intuitive platform that is easy to master and use, and allows for better matches.
Every organisation can create and customise a unique profile on the platform, forging a unique shopfront for their activities. Organisations use the profile to post and manage volunteer vacancies, without intervention of the volunteer broker. Finally, the organisations are back in control.
And this also applies to the volunteers. After creating an account, they can independently search for suitable vacancies on the basis of interests, availability and skills, and respond directly.
The local centre for care for the elderly, Zorgcentrum Rosengaerde, is one of those organisations in Dalfsen. Rosengaerde uses the new volunteer platform to recruit new volunteers, thereby managing to reach a new, younger audience as well. Nett result: more attention for the elderly and more intergenerational connections. An outcome that makes all workers at the care centre glow with pride – and justifiably so!
The new platform of Vrijwilligerspunt Dalfsen – powered by Deedmob! – unlocks a world of possibilities for the centre to support VCSEs and volunteers. Possibilities that simply never existed before.
With the new capabilities, all parties on the platform (volunteers, VCSEs and the centre itself) have a place to showcase themselves and contact others. Everyone can leverage the opportunities that are out there. Not only can every party smoothly create a match, knowledge sharing through workshops, training, webinars and courses has become super easy. And all these features are 100% digital, accessible and scalable!
The digital platform frees up a lot of time for the Vrijwilligerspunt. Time, that is now used to provide even better support:
By now, more than 50% of the Dalfsen populace is volunteering in one way or another. Of course, many residents were already involved in volunteer work, but the platform definitely contributed to this growth. Even better: unlike before, VCSEs and volunteers know how to find the centre, both physically and online.
More than 100 organisations have already registered online with the Vrijwilligerspunt, in search of the right volunteers. This has led to over 200 activities, over which the people of Dalfsen can bond with each other. Add to that the more than 750 new volunteers the centre has registered in the last year, and it is clear how this online tool helps unlock the great potential of a relatively small community!
The benefits for the organisations are evident. Besides the customised shopfront and profile that boost findability – something that is incredibly important in the online world – there is more. VCSEs have regained the autonomy to recruit and match volunteers by themselves. Finally, organisations can access training and education through the well-organised knowledge bank, while they can also register for workshops, webinars and other events that allow them to connect with each other – and with volunteers. With this medium for sharing knowledge and interacting with other organisations, they are firmly set on a path towards a future-proof existence.
For volunteers, the platform provides unique features for volunteer acknowledgement. A great many enthusiastic people volunteer in Dalfsen. All social, active, caring, passionate people who devote their time to helping others. The online toolkit can be used to acknowledge and celebrate the efforts of these hard-working volunteers.
But what about Dalfsen's volunteer broker? No worries! The Vrijwilligerspunt Dalfsen's platform empowers both the volunteers and the organisations. With that, the volunteer broker is also empowered to focus on providing targeted support. Now, every party on the platform can truly leverage its strengths, in a scalable, sustainable, yet fully individual way.
“As our insight into supply and demand has improved, we can also provide better assistance. We can now offer targeted support, while fulfilling a central role and connecting organisations and people. The platform is a great aid for realising our objectives!” - Ivonne Saueressig-de Jong, Volunteer Broker at Vrijwilligerspunt Dalfsen
● Community platform, including vacancy database, matching and communication features
● Custom website with an easy to use CMS and no-code website builder
● Hosting, maintenance and continuous development of the platform
● Support by Deedmob expert and access to user community