Absolutely! Look out for “micro-volunteering” opportunities on the Volunteering portal. These roles will require very little of your time, so are perfect if you’ve got a busy schedule but still want to help in your community. 

The first thing to think about is what kind of project you would like to get involved in. So, start by thinking about what you would most enjoy doing as well as what you care about. This could be anything from providing IT support, fundraising or getting into nature and making a difference for our planet.

But don’t forget, volunteering is about more than just making cups of tea. Volunteering includes anything from running a sports club or society, being a Course Rep, mentoring young people or helping charities deal with cases of domestic abuse.

Many of our volunteer providers are small charities, with small budgets and limited capacity and quite often Volunteer Coordinators are part-time. Organisations will aim to get in touch with you as soon as possible, however sometimes this may take 1-2 weeks. 

If it’s been over two weeks, then feel free to call or email the charity or contact volunteering@mmu.ac.uk so we can contact them for you. If you have been waiting a little while to hear back and you’re worried you may no longer have time to take up the role, please send us an email as we may be able to find you a shorter or more suitable role.

Every organisation operates differently. Most organisations will offer to pay reasonable expenses for travel, and some may cover additional things, such as lunch, however this is something you should discuss when you first meet the charity. If you’re concerned about potential travel costs or expenses in general, then you can always ask before you start your volunteer role. Organisations will often state in their advertisement if they pay expenses, or in their induction/volunteer agreement.

The engine of RISE is the accumulation of RISE Points, which proxy the amount of co-curricular learning. They might range from a single point (say, for attending a one-off event) to 300 points for international mobility or work placement.

The points recognise the time invested and the depth of effort – with more points awarded to activities that require leadership or autonomy. They recognise effort rather than academic performance. As such, you can collect your points throughout your degree and roll them over from year to year. You can check your current number of RISE points and understand better how you can use them directly within the RISE website. The tracker on the front page of the site gives you an overview and allows you to click through for more information on your points total.

We know that our students do all sorts of valuable activities beyond their courses – and RISE gives you the opportunity to claim points for these too.

The process is easy: simply fill in a short form outlining what you did and upload some evidence, this will be checked and when approved the points will appear on your profile.