I'm a young volunteer (under 13) – how can I use Be Collective?
Be Collective is proud to provide an environment for our young users to find volunteering opportunities and build a social record.
How do I join Be Collective?
When you create your Be Collective account, you will be asked to identify your age range. If you are under the age of 18, we'll ask you to specify your age to help us determine if you need to be added to a family group before proceeding with volunteering. If you are identified as under 13 years of age, you are considered a child on Be Collective and you will not be able to proceed in creating an account without first becoming a member of a family group. Users under 13 years of age will be asked to provide the name and email address of a parent or guardian who will be prompted via email to set up a family group.
Your account will not be ready until your parent or guardian has told us it's OK for you to join Be Collective. After they do, we will send you an email to let you know you can officially join up and start looking for opportunities to volunteer.
What can I do on Be Collective?
If you're under the age of 18 you can only see volunteer opportunities that organisations have deemed youth accessible. You may not see certain opportunities suitable for a number of reasons – for instance, the organisation may need a volunteer with a driving licence, or they may not have the insurance they need to cover young people volunteering.
How do I volunteer?
Volunteering through Be Collective is easy. All you need to do is click through to any opportunity you like the look of that has been tagged for your age range. From there, you can read through the volunteer role description and find out more about how long and when you'd be needed to volunteer.
For more information on how to apply to opportunities if you're under 13, please take a look at the Help Centre article linked below:
I'm a young volunteer (under 13) – how do I apply to an opportunity?
If you think you're a good fit for the role and will be free at the time the organisation needs you, all you need to do is click 'Apply' and fill in some basic details as part of your application.
Does my parent or guardian need to approve my volunteering?
Not unless you are under 13 years of age.
If you are under 13 years of age, you need to be a part of a family group to apply for volunteer roles. When you apply for a volunteer role, we'll let your parent or guardian (the same one you told us about when you signed up) know about your application. They need to tell us it's OK for your application, and your personal details, to be sent to the organisation you'd like to volunteer with.
If your parent or guardian approves your application, it will be sent to the organisation for them to look at. If they say 'yes' to your application, we'll let you know with an email and notification - congratulations!
If your parent or guardian decide not to approve your application, it will be cancelled and the organisation won't see it. This is done to make sure your personal information, such as your name, email address and location, is only seen by people who need it.