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‘To develop life long mutually beneficial relationships with

our alumni and supporters’

The office of development and alumni relations is committed to this

aim which forms part of the University strategy document, available to

view in full here:

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/strategy/

Alumni volunteering is integral to achieving mutually beneficial life

long relationships. We can only achieve this by working in partnership

with our alumni community.

Many volunteer roles benefit students directly, helping them to

enhance their employability and understanding of the direction they

would like to take after graduation. Other volunteer roles provide

crucial support to the University professional services and facilities.

Volunteer activity can also positively influence student

recruitment to Southampton through alumni sharing their own

experience of studying here with prospective students and parents.

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Who volunteers? Volunteering - the act of freely offering to do something or offering help -is a fundamental part of society. In 2009/10, 41% of adults volunteered formally through a club, group or scheme and 62% volunteered informally by giving unpaid help to an unrelated individual1. Volunteers also contributed an estimated £22.7 billion to the UK economy. The alumni relations team welcome all alumni who are interested in volunteering, wherever you might be or however long it is since you graduated. What are the benefits?

Voluntary work can offer an array of benefits, not just for the benefi-ciaries but for the volunteers themselves; it can enhance volunteers’ CVs with practical experience and a demonstrable example of their commitment and reliability, it can enable the development of a range of transferable skills and it can also give volunteers a sense of having contributed something worthwhile to their local community or further afield as part of the organisation they are involved with. Volunteering at Southampton allows you to do both—supporting students and the University community on a local level contributes to-wards the work being done by the University on a larger scale with the ethos of ‘Changing the world’.

Volunteering at Southampton

The alumni volunteering programme at the University of Southampton offers a multitude of ways for alumni to give the ‘gift of time’ to their University. From enhancing the student experience and the employability of graduates to supporting the Nuffield theatre and student societies to offering professional services and skills to the Uni-versity to aid development or even advise future strategy.

There are many different ways to get involved, which will be explained in further detail in this handbook, and volunteers needn’t commit to anything long term if they aren’t sure how much time they will have – we have schemes which run throughout the academic year in addition to a variety of one-off events and short term projects. If alumni would like to volunteer but can’t find the right role to suit their availability or interests then we are always happy to receive sugges-tions for new initiatives.

1 Institute for volunteering research http://www.ivr.org.uk/ivr-volunteering-stats

2 In 2007/8, The UK Civil Society Almanac 2009

http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/uploadedFiles/NCVO/What_we_do/Research/Almanac/

NCVOCivilSocietyAlmanac2009Summary.pdf

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Full details of current opportunities can be found on our website

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/alumni/volunteering/.

Volunteer roles generally fall into the following categories:

Career destinations schemes—this includes mentoring,

appearing on a career panel, giving a careers talk or

representing your company at a career fair

Student recruitment—the University holds open days in July

and September annually

Community based volunteering—at the Nuffield Theatre or

through the Community Volunteering programme

International volunteering—this can include running

international alumni branches, working with the Malaysia

campus, being an alumni representative for your area and

more

Outreach office schemes and events—such as events with

school students and sixth formers looking at Higher Education

Student engagement events—often in conjunction with the

Students’ Union, previous opportunities have included radio

interviews with the student radio station and speaking at the

student publications conference

Student recruitment—including open days and fairs both in

the UK and internationally, as well as conversion and pre-

departure events with our international students

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Becoming an alumni volunteer is easy, all you need to do is follow these

simple steps:

1. Have a look at our website and the ‘Volunteer Roles’ page of this

handbook to decide which role or type of volunteering is of interest

to you.

2. Fill out our volunteer interest form here:

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/alumni/volunteering/

alumni_volunteer_form.html

Or contact alumni@soton.ac.uk to let us know you’d like to

volunteer.

3. We will add you to our volunteering mailing list and direct you to the

contact who manages the role you are interested in. Depending on

the type of role you are looking for you may need to apply or wait for

applications to open at the appropriate point in the academic year. If

you are interested in a general area of volunteering then we will let

you know whenever something comes up that you might want to get

involved in via email and social media.

4. Get volunteering!

5. Tell us how it’s going and share your experiences to encourage other

alumni to get involved.

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A global community

You can volunteer by getting involved with the running of one of our alumni

branches. If you enjoyed being on a committee during your time at Southampton

or would like to be part of one now and help to connect local alumni then this is a

great opportunity for you.

Our network of alumni branches support our aim of ‘developing lifelong mutually

beneficial relationships with our alumni and supporters’ in a multitude of ways:

Strengthening ties between the University and the alumni community and

facilitating meaningful life long relationships

Enabling alumni to develop their own networks, benefiting them both

socially and in their professional development

Keeping in touch with friends and the University

Enabling alumni around the UK and internationally to enjoy being an active

member of the Southampton alumni community

Supporting the University in its aim to become a top 50 University

internationally by being ambassadors for Southampton, supporting

student recruitment and the student experience

Where are our current branches?

We have alumni in 180 countries across the world and branches both in the UK

and internationally. To see where our branches are located and to find contact

information for the branch co-ordinators see our website:

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/alumni/alumnicommunity/branchprofiles.html

International alumni representatives

International alumni representatives perform similar duties to branch co-

ordinators but on a smaller scale in areas or countries where there are fewer

alumni, alumni are sparsely distributed across a large area or the main branch is

based some distance away.

Representatives act as a point of contact for alumni, students or prospective

students and provide contact details to go on our website. They can organise

informal events and help local alumni to connect with one another and they often

support our international officers with student recruitment activities.

If there are no branches or representatives in your area and you would like to

establish one then contact us at alumni@soton.ac.uk.

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Roles and responsibilities of the Alumni Relations team:

The Alumni Relations team supports alumni branches in a variety of

ways, many of which are listed below. Please check with the Alumni

Relations Officer—Volunteers and Student Engagement for the

specific resources available for your branch. The Alumni Relations

team shall:

Provide assistance and advice for planning events and

recruiting local volunteers.

Plan, market, and execute any University-led events occurring

in conjunction with branches.

Help promote events: pay for postage and printing of branch

mailings where possible (email is preferable), broadcast e-mails

to all alumni living in the region, and post branch events on the

alumni website calendar.

Provide support with producing event supplies—templates for

registration lists and name badges.

Provide local demographics to regional contacts or presidents

for planning purposes.

Send regular communications to branch contacts updating them

on University news (which can be disseminated to the branch)

Help with sourcing speakers for branch events and where

possible visit the branches as part of planned international

activity.

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Roles and responsibilities of alumni branches

Branch co-ordinators shall:

Welcome all members of the University community to

participate in programs and opportunities.

Hold all events in facilities that are accessible, and where all

are welcome on an equal basis.

Elect or appoint a president and officers on a regular,

transparent basis, and ensure that all officers act as positive

ambassadors of the University and act in the interests of it;

require that the club president is an alumnus or alumna.

Keep the Alumni Relations team updated with branch activity

so that we can talk about the branch to alumni, colleagues and

in recruitment activity.

Promote events by informing the office of development and

alumni relations of any alumni-led events which can be added

to the website calendar, social media and other channels.

Adhere to the branding guidelines and approved usage of the

University of Southampton’s name, logo, and other

trademarks.

Seek approval from the Office of Alumni Relations liaison

prior to contacting faculty members. Copy the Alumni Rela-

tions team in on all correspondence with the faculty.

Encourage officers and members to be good University citizens

and maintain good standing by helping to advance the aims of

the University, the Office of Development and Alumni

Relations and the alumni branch.

Maintain open channels of communication with the Alumni

Relations team and to respond promptly to inquiries from

alumni.

They must also be aware of the following:

The University will only formally recognise and publish the

details of one association per area.

Associations are not entitled to fundraise without the

University’s approval—we’re very happy to support this but

please check with us first.

The University of Southampton will not fund alumni branches

– branches may wish to consider how they will fund activities

and whether to charge alumni a subscription fee.

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For full guidelines, correspondence templates and event ideas please

see the alumni led events pack on our website—contact

ARevents@Southampton.ac.uk for a copy.

Suggested Events for Your Branch

Here are some suggestions for events you could run with your

branch:

A lunch or dinner (this could be formal with a speaker, black

tie dress code or perhaps followed by dancing, or an informal

meal in a local restaurant)

Meeting for drinks (you could reserve an area of a bar if you’re

expecting lots of attendees)

A quiz or games night

Country walks, picnics and BBQs

Karaoke, talent contest, musical group

Adventurous pursuits - a day out or even a weekend trip

Support you local community - help with local regeneration

projects or volunteer

Support student recruitment - contact the alumni relations

office for more information about how you can help with this

Keeping costs down

If you’re looking to keep event costs low then here are some ideas

you could consider:

Someone’s garden— have a barbeque or drinks party in the

garden. Guests could even bring along food or drinks to avoid

catering costs.

A bar or pub—if your group is not too large and you would like

an informal gathering, why not get together in your favourite

pub? You could hire a function room or use their bar, but we

would recommend that you let them know you’re coming.

Your workplace—if you work for a large firm that has a

meeting or function rooms, you might consider asking if you

could use them. If the event is for alumni in the same

profession as yourself, your firm might be keen to assist with

such a networking opportunity!

A restaurant—depending on the size of your party you could

book a large table and let your guests pay their own bills, or

you could enquire about a set menu or special offers for larger

bookings. If you have a large group it might be possible to

negotiate a discount or special deal.

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You can contact us at:

Email: alumni@soton.ac.uk

Telephone: +442380 592747

For specific volunteering or branch enquiries please contact

Chloë Eastburn at C.D.Eastburn@Southampton.ac.uk

To speak to the events teams please contact

ARevents@Southampton.ac.uk

You can also view our website for more information:

www.southampton.ac.uk/alumni

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Branch co-ordinators to sign

and return to alumni

relations office

The University of Southampton will not pass details of alumni to branch volunteers

without express permission from the individual. However, alumni are able to con-

tact branch volunteers with their information for the branch volunteers to hold.

The Branch volunteers will update the University of Southampton every six months

with the contact details of those alumni connecting with the Branch. The Branch

volunteers should look to make contact with alumni registered with them at least

once every year. Every three years the branch volunteer will ask their contacts to

update their details with them to confirm alumni are happy for the branch to con-

tinue to hold their information.

The branch volunteers hold the information in order to keep interested alumni

updated with news, events and activities within the country or area. It should not

be used for any purpose un-related to the University of Southampton business. At

the time of sharing information with the Branch Volunteer, alumni should be asked

consent for sharing their information with other members of the branch. Only by

agreeing to this should their contact information be visible to other branch mem-

bers.

Branch volunteers should sign the declaration below confirming that the data

received from alumni will only be used for University of Southampton business and

for three years before refreshing.

Data protection statement

The University will not share alumni data with branch contacts unless explicit con-

sent is given. All data held at the University is in accordance to the University’s

notification with the Information Commissioner:

1998 Data Protection Act

All data is securely held in the University Alumni and Development Office and will

be treated confidentially and with sensitivity for the benefit of the University of

Southampton and its members. The data is available to our international offices,

colleges, faculties, academic and administrative departments, recognised alumni

societies, sports and other clubs associated with the University, and to agents con-

tracted by the University for particular alumni-related projects. Data is used for a

full range of alumni activities, including the sending of University publications, the

promotion of benefits and services available to alumni, notification of alumni

events and of programmes involving academic and administrative departments.

Data may also be used in fundraising programmes, which might include an element

of direct marketing. Under the terms of the 1998 Data Protect Act you have the

right to object to the use of your data for any of the above purposes. If you would

prefer us not to use your information in this way, please contact the Alumni Office

on 02380 592747 or email us at alumni@soton.ac.uk.

Name……………………………………………………………………

Branch………………………………………………………………….

Date………………………………………………………………………

I have read and understood the data agreement and will adhere to the

guidelines laid out above when handling data relating to the branch.

Signed …………………………………………………………………..

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You can use this template to

design your own branch

membership forms, or contact

the alumni relations office to

receive an amendable copy of

this form. We require as much

of this personal information as

possible in order to identify

records on our database so

please try to encourage

members to complete the form

as fully as possible.

The data protection

information and confirmation

of understanding must be

included in any membership

forms you produce.

If your branch charges a

membership fee please include

details of this and a brief

description of the services

included in this fee.

NAME

SURNAME

DATE OF BIRTH

EMAIL

ADDRESS

CITY POSTCODE

TELEPHONE

YEAR OF GRADUATION DEGREE TITLE

BRANCH YOU WISH TO JOIN

I have read and understood the data protection and sharing policies on page

13 and am aware that the branch co-ordinator will hold any data I give them for 3

years, updating the University with this information every 6 months and will

contact me at least once per year (please tick to confirm)

(If applicable) I enclose the annual membership fee of £……… and I

understand that this entitles me to the following: (insert relevant details)

Signed

Date

COUNTRY