Make A Difference And Volunteer.
Branching out and setting yourself up to be independent is never easy. That’s why the support network we’re able to offer our young people is all important. It’s a network built on volunteers just like you.
What Does Getting Involved Mean?
Well first off, being a volunteer doesn’t have to mean being a full-time team member. There’s lots of ways you can provide support and be a positive role model to those under our wing.
Volunteer With Us
An Afternoon Well Spent: Drive Forward Lunch Club
Making a difference in only one day has never been that easy. Join us for lunch and enable a care leaver to move one step closer to the career of their dreams!
Every Wednesday afternoon, Drive Forward run Lunch Club, our drop-in careers session for young care leavers. We sit down together for a hearty, home-cooked meal, before spending the afternoon searching for jobs, writing online applications, working on CVs, cover letters and preparing for upcoming interviews. Each week, we welcome professional volunteers to come and chat with our young people, share their own careers experience and offer advice and support with their job applications.
Please note Lunch club opportunities are currently paused. However email partnerwithus@driveforwardfoundation.org to see how you can work with us!
Make A Difference In Your Coffee Break (only available for existing corporate partners)
Do you have the time to do something useful in your coffee break? Spend some time with a young care-experienced person and give them some guidance on starting out in their career like how you started yours! A session can be at a time and place convenient for you and the young person, and typically lasts between 30 minutes to 1 hour.
To learn more about our Coffee Breaks and how to help a young person, please get in touch at partnerwithus@driveforwardfoundation.org
Teach Employability and Life Skills
Our young people are eager to learn and progress in their lives and careers. Therefore, they value the knowledge and advice professionals like yourself can offer. We are looking for dedicated individuals ready to share their knowledge and skills with young people and help them build successful and meaningful lives for themselves.
From introducing young people to techniques of how to better manage stress, to helping them identify career/life goals, to boosting their confidence via creative activity, we are looking forward to hearing your ideas.
Please get in touch at mentoring@driveforwardfoundation.org to find out more.
Became A Mentor
Inspire Those Who Need It Most
If you are interested in using your professional expertise to help further the career of some of society’s most marginalised young people, then this programme is the one for you. Providing one-to-one support, helping your mentee navigate the difficulties that can come in a new workplace, and ensuring they make the best of opportunities, this is a unique and highly rewarding volunteering opportunity. a commitment to that person for at least 6 months, but the benefits for both of you can be huge. Upwards of 90% of young people who have had mentors have managed to successfully sustain employment, whereas prior to this only 46% of our young people sustained employment.
To become a mentor, you will need to:
- Commit to at least 6 months of being paired with your mentee.
- Come in for about 3-4 hours for some mentor training.
- Be available for your mentee for up to 4 hours a month. This will include two face-to-face meetings, and two additional points of contact by email, phone call or text.
- Feedback to Drive Forward about the programme and your experience.
Get in touch by emailing mentoring@driveforwardfoundation.org to start the process of being a mentor.
Raise Some Funds
Working with your account manager and your team, we can create a fundraising opportunity that incorporates your staff and team building all while giving back to your community. From Dress Down Fridays, to Yo-Yo competitions and selling personal designs, there are hundreds of creative ways of raising vital funds for your favourite charity.
We also welcome enthusiastic individuals to create their own personal challenge! Whether you’re up for a 5k run or a half-marathon, want to sell your artwork for a good cause or refrain from clothes shopping for a year, the opportunities are endless and we love for you to get creative. Join an existing appeal or create your own challenge here.
And if you have a great idea for an event or want to take part in a particular challenge, then get in touch with Juno at juno@driveforwardfoundation.org and we’ll help you get started.
Leave A Gift In Your Will
After you’ve made arrangements to look after your own family and friends, you might consider helping our young people achieve their future potential by leaving a legacy gift in your will.
There are different types of legacies and your solicitor will be able to help advise you on which one would be right for you. But in essence, a gift of a percentage of your estate (residuary) will make the biggest difference to the support we can provide because it will keep its value better than a gift of a fixed sum of money (pecuniary).
Legacies are generally exempt from inheritance tax, so a gift in your will to Drive Forward could be tax free for us and could reduce the amount of inheritance tax your loved ones are liable to pay too. If you’d like more information, please visit the HMRC website here.
And if you do decide to pledge a legacy to Drive Forward then rest assured that it will be treated in the strictest confidence. You don’t have to be specific about any details but it will help us when planning for our future to know that there is money promised.
Please get in touch with Juno at juno@driveforwardfoundation.org, if you’d like to talk more. And, once again, a big thank you for supporting us on this journey.
