Would you like
to be a mentor?
Jeanne Davies describes how it’s done
Would you like to contribute a few
hours a month to mentor key staff in voluntary organisations? REACH, the unique UK-wide volunteer clearinghouse for
professionals, needs volunteers for its rapidly expanding mentoring programme.
Why mentors?
Mentors are needed to advise key
personnel on setting objectives and planning for the future, to guide senior staff through
change, or to support new managers or those with new responsibilities. Often it is the
professional’s trained mind and ability to use resources effectively that are likely
to be needed, rather than a particular expertise. “Being able to use my career
skills as a mentor, in support of a cause I really care about, has been one of the most
gratifying things I’ve done,” reports the REACH mentor
who guided senior Oxfam managers. His brief
was to help the managers make the best use of volunteers who wanted to work with Oxfam.
Which organisations?
The organisations requesting mentors
can be vastly different. At one end of the
scale are the large corporate bodies such as Oxfam. At
the other end of the spectrum are small grassroots organisations like WATCh (What about
the Children?), a charity run entirely by volunteers to raise awareness of the needs of
children in their early years of development. A
REACH mentor helped guide the volunteer chairman of WATCH through a period of transition
from a small local organisation to one with a broader reach throughout the UK.
How many hours needed?
Apart from face-to-face meetings,
mentors have found that much advice and guidance can be given over the telephone or
through e-mail. A few hours a month can make a
real difference to the many understaffed and underfunded charitable groups in desperate
need of a professional’s experience.
 To find out more…
If you would like to find out more
about mentoring, contact Elizabeth Royston, mentoring co-ordinator, at REACH on 020 7582
6543 or e-mail her at volwork@btinternet.com
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