School embracing Social Good Connect

And when the organisation approached some of its members recently to ask them to explain what inspired them to join, Rector Lise Hudson was only too happy to share her motivation.

Social Good Connect is a digital search and match platform which allows company employees to volunteer with their employer’s support and help the communities they serve and overstretched charities.

Aiming to connect an organisation’s staff with physical and virtual volunteering opportunities for a wide range of causes which they may have an interest in, Social Good Connect also has employee wellbeing as a focus, as well as enabling organisations to measure their social impact.

Karlene Douglas, the School’s Charities and Community Outreach Coordinator, added that it wasn’t just staff who were using the platform. She said, “Signing up to Social Good Connect has been very beneficial for the School. SGC is a platform which our F5/6 pupils and staff have used to seek out volunteering opportunities in the community.

“While some pupils have set up their placements independently, it has been providing a great source of volunteering opportunities which our pupils have been able to apply for after setting up a profile noting their skills and interests.

“60 pupils are now volunteering at various times in the week including during school time, after school and weekends. Most pupils average 1.5 hours of volunteering per week. Some of the placements include- Dundee Community Fridge, the Foodbank, Fintry Community Garden, Ninewells, Inchgarth Community Centre, charity shops and many more.

“Social Good Connect has given pupils the opportunity to virtually volunteer with charities too. Some virtual roles our pupils have taken up include website coordinators, social media coordinators and poster making.

“Some of our staff have also taken up volunteering opportunities too. It’s a fantastic platform which sends notifications to users once they have set up a profile; that means our pupils and staff continue to be alerted to new volunteering opportunities as they arise.”