Hello
Access to Volunteering
Financial Privilege
We understand that financial privilege plays a big role in student opportunities for volunteering, especially when it comes to raising money for charity. In addition, fitting volunteering around a paid job and academic commitments can be especially difficult. However, we don’t want anyone to be excluded from joining a cause they care about for this reason. The officer roles require far less of a time commitment than the leadership roles, and any events which you would like to participate in can be pre-booked ahead of time. If you don’t feel that you can commit to a year-round role but still want to participate, email us and we can brainstorm ways for you to participate and support the team in another way.
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Disability
Physical and mental disabilities can both affect volunteering in different ways, and at the highest level of the leadership team many of us have experienced one or the other. Our current chair of the steering committee and 2020-21 executive director, for example, lives with an M.E. diagnosis. We have a culture of showing up consistently rather than racing - we don't believe in creating needless stress or artificial urgency.
Most of our volunteering can be done remotely, and according to your own schedule. If you don’t have the energy to create a social media post on a particular day, for example, the world will rarely end if it happens the next day as long as the team plans ahead and works together, and all of the roles can be adjusted as required. We have a designated welfare team on hand to be a listening ear and signpost to mental health support and other resources as needed, and venues for events should be booked with accessibility in mind by all teams.
If you have accessibility requirements within the application process - for example, you may need breaks within an interview or need questions to be repeated - you can indicate this on the application form and drop us an email at any stage of the process.
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Lived Experience of Forced Displacement
Some of us, or those close to us, on the team have experienced forced displacement or are refugees themselves. This means that our work may touch on things that are traumatic for some people. We believe strongly in deferring to those with lived experience, so we especially welcome involvement and feedback from people with this experience, but we are also firmly against forcing any person to speak to their own experience. We do everything in our power to ensure our events are sensitive and accessible to those with personal experience, and there is no pressure to get involved in any events and discussions which you would prefer not to.
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Privilege within Higher Education
Whilst SolidariTee is primarily a student-run organisation, we are by no means student exclusive. If you didn’t go to uni or aren’t studying currently, you can absolutely still volunteer! Our regional roles are aimed at those who have left school within the last 3-4 years, or are currently studying an undergraduate or post-grad degree. Depending on your interests, non-students are welcome to either set up their own teams within their local communities, or to join a local campus team. Just let us know on the application form and we will be in touch to provide further info.