Link UP London Moves To Battersea Arts Centre Scratch Hub
To expand its work matching professional volunteers with local charities
Link UP London is a volunteer matching service working throughout Wandsworth which has recently relocated to the Battersea Arts Centre’s Scratch Hub. Link Up brings together volunteers who are willing to share their professional skills with local charities, community groups and social enterprises who need those skills to make a real difference in the community.
In the spirit of award-winning architect Haworth Tompkins’ design, the Scratch Hub will be a creative space for unleashing great ideas and working together to create positive change ."We are excited to be part of this new and dynamic local community that is committed to innovation and partnership," says Link UP London founder Kim Perlow. "We look forward to collaborating and working alongside the local businesses, start-ups, creatives and entrepreneurs who call this brand new, contemporary, custom designed workspace, home."
The Scratch Hub will offer Link UP London opportunities to further engage with charities and volunteers face to face. From the 2nd October Link UP London will hold a monthly networking coffee morning at 10 to 11 am on the first Tuesday of each month. They will also host a pop up at the Scratch Bar from 5.30 until 6.30pm on the last Thursday of each month. At both of these sessions, volunteers can discuss ways to contribute their skills to local charities, and charities can learn how a skilled volunteer may help them build their capacity and increase their impact.
For over two and a half years Link UP London has successfully matched local charitable organisations based in Wandsworth with over 50 skilled volunteers for fixed term, flexible skilled volunteering projects. Their planned expansion into Lambeth in the coming weeks will increase the reach and impacts of their service.
If you have a skill to share and are interested in volunteering, or are a charitable organisation in Wandsworth and Lambeth with a project that needs a skilled volunteer, please get in touch with Beau Neilson at beau@linkuplondon.org.
A LINK UP LONDON SUCCESS
Paul’s Cancer Support & Nada
Paul’s Cancer Support became involved with Link UP in order to improve their marketing capabilities ahead of the organisation’s 35th anniversary. Through the support of Nada, who ran a Social Enterprise for 10 years, this was achieved.
"The services manager at Paul’s Centre, Marisca, was a fantastic boss – she made me feel valued, introduced me to people, provided relevant documents, and gave me prompt and helpful feedback. I am a full-time carer for my mother, so being able to volunteer on time-limited projects via Link UP London is a perfect fit for me. Helping Marisca on this project has re-kindled my IT skills and given me the confidence that I can still meet new people and interview them informally." Nada – Link UP volunteer
Paul’s Cancer Support wanted to produce a commemorative anniversary brochure to mark 35 years of service delivery to the people of Wandsworth and surrounding boroughs, but felt it did not possess the internal capabilities to properly honour the occasion.
Nada’s experience with running her own small social enterprise, and knowledge of the ins and outs of reporting and promotional materials made her the perfect match for this project. After attending the 35th anniversary event to get an understanding of Paul’s Cancer Support, Nada began meeting with the organisation in order to outline content ideas. From this Nada could then begin to produce the anniversary brochure bringing her skills in writing and design to the organisation.
Through this connection, Paul’s Cancer Support had a new brochure that both commemorated the life-span of the organisation and, at the same time, began to build their marketing resources. The success of the brochure has been seen as a major first step in the creation of a marketing pack for the organisation.
"‘It was wonderful to have Nada help us with our 35th anniversary brochure. She was able to quickly understand what we needed and produced a professional brochure with all the relevant information. We are so pleased that this has come to fruition and it will be an important part of our marketing resources moving forward." Marisca – Paul’s Cancer Support
September 27, 2018