Volunteering 2023

[incident]

12 hours ago, philipsteak said:

I've never bothered swapping shifts myself but most I know who have tried have managed it. Even for shifts you think you'd never be able to get. I think at Glastonbury there are so many stewards that there will be that one person who wants what you have/has what you want.

It's all still just luck of course.

Not sure about that.

It's a few years since I did Glastonbury, but I remember the boards being absolutely full of people trying to get rid of D shift. Can't imagine they all managed it.

[philipsteak]

5 hours ago, incident said:

Not sure about that.

It's a few years since I did Glastonbury, but I remember the boards being absolutely full of people trying to get rid of D shift. Can't imagine they all managed it.

Dunno, probably not everyone, no. I'm just going off personal (second hand) experience of friends thinking they had no chance managing to swap for what they thought were much more desirable shifts. Based on acts rather than shift pattern. If you see what I mean

[marathonsteve]

Recycling Look to your Junk😍

[pie_and_a_pint]

13 minutes ago, marathonsteve said:

Recycling Look to your Junk😍

Non-charity team recycling only, apparently. Those of us who volunteer via a charity are hearing separately. 

[dondo]

Just got my email for recycling crew. Got my 2nd choice- tractor crew AM

[giantkatestacks]

41 minutes ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

Non-charity team recycling only, apparently. Those of us who volunteer via a charity are hearing separately. 

We heard a while,ago, have you not?

[marathonsteve]

[marathonsteve]

2 hours ago, dondo said:

Just got my email for recycling crew. Got my 2nd choice- tractor crew AM

Yea I think I to

d you it was April

[marathonsteve]

1 minute ago, marathonsteve said:

Yea I think I to

d you it was April

All is good

[Leyrulion]

https://refreshwest.eventmaster.jobs/events/4WmAy8aihO9QuXVNniRJ

Volunteer applications for bar staff with refresh West for arcadia and Shangri-la has opened.

 

[Giraffe Man]

Got my Recycling Crew email this morning. Silver Hayes again after a couple at WH. It seems there might be 2 teams there now instead of just one. See you all on the Farm 😀

[pie_and_a_pint]

14 hours ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

Non-charity team recycling only, apparently. Those of us who volunteer via a charity are hearing separately. 

Not our shift details, no. 

[giantkatestacks]

2 hours ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

Not our shift details, no. 

Interesting, I am with a charity and almost all of us have the new am shift that is Thurs, Sat, Sun, Mon.

[pie_and_a_pint]

3 hours ago, giantkatestacks said:

Interesting, I am with a charity and almost all of us have the new am shift that is Thurs, Sat, Sun, Mon.

Hmm... it looks like the John Peel/Woodsies shift is still Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon so I wonder if I'll still be there or moved elsewhere? I'll check with our coordinator after Easter. As long as I'm still on early mornings I don't really care what days I have to do, but I must admit I do like a Big Day on Wednesday and having to work Thurs would annoy me a bit...

[golden egg]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:29 AM, Leyrulion said:

https://refreshwest.eventmaster.jobs/events/4WmAy8aihO9QuXVNniRJ

Volunteer applications for bar staff with refresh West for arcadia and Shangri-la has opened.

 

Anyone done this before? How was it?

[tarw]

Anyone volunteered with https://mycauseuk.com/volunteer/ before?

Thinking of volunteering at Shambala and it’s them or Oxfam. Good that you get to choose which charity you want to support but a £15 donation to them for 3 x 8 hour shifts seems low to me. 
 

Ever heard of them @Skip997

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, tarw said:

Anyone volunteered with https://mycauseuk.com/volunteer/ before?

Thinking of volunteering at Shambala and it’s them or Oxfam. Good that you get to choose which charity you want to support but a £15 donation to them for 3 x 8 hour shifts seems low to me. 
 

Ever heard of them @Skip997

Can't say I have. Am off to investigate now.

[incident]

3 minutes ago, tarw said:

Anyone volunteered with https://mycauseuk.com/volunteer/ before?

Thinking of volunteering at Shambala and it’s them or Oxfam. Good that you get to choose which charity you want to support but a £15 donation to them for 3 x 8 hour shifts seems low to me. 
 

Ever heard of them @Skip997

They're legit, and fine to work for. I worked with them at SGP last year, and will be doing another couple this year.

In terms of which is the better option - it's going to be somewhat swings and roundabouts.

MyCause do the external gates at Shambala, whereas Oxfam cover Campsites and the Arena so on average the roles do tend to be more interesting (or at least, in more interesting locations). I also like the Oxfam campsite at Shambala - somehow Oxfam get given the best camping field on site with loads of space, whereas the MyCause one looked a bit cramped into a fenced off area last year.

But on the other hand shift patterns are going to be better with MyCause - no overnights and front loaded so you get more of the "main" festival time to play with.

Tbh last I heard both were fully recruited for Shambala, so it may just be a case of going with whichever has spaces.

[tarw]

1 minute ago, incident said:

They're legit, and fine to work for. I worked with them at SGP last year, and will be doing another couple this year.

In terms of which is the better option - it's going to be somewhat swings and roundabouts.

MyCause do the external gates at Shambala, whereas Oxfam cover Campsites and the Arena so on average the roles do tend to be more interesting (or at least, in more interesting locations). I also like the Oxfam campsite at Shambala - somehow Oxfam get given the best camping field on site with loads of space, whereas the MyCause one looked a bit cramped into a fenced off area last year.

But on the other hand shift patterns are going to be better with MyCause - no overnights and front loaded so you get more of the "main" festival time to play with.

Tbh last I heard both were fully recruited for Shambala, so it may just be a case of going with whichever has spaces.

Yes they are both full atm!  I just wanted to know if it was worth keeping on checking the mycause website to see if anything comes up. 
A £15 donation to your chosen charity seems quite low to me. Do they keep a lot for admin or is that how little Shambala give Oxfam for each steward?

[Lugs]

Hi all,

Would just like to start by saying thank you to everyone who has chipped in with their wisdom and knowledge on this thread and many others - I've been using the site since I started going in 2017, but this is my first post!

I was unsuccessful in the main sales this year, so opted to volunteer, alongside a few friends, for Shelter. My friends all received the email of doom saying that there had been a 'technical error' and as such were robbed of their places. I, fortunately, never received said email, so I've still got my spot working behind the bars.

I know that the refund deadline for the volunteering deposit was March 29th, but what are the chances of being able to get even a partial refund, should one be successful on the resale? Is it a strict deadline?

My next question is aimed at the rulebreakers here... has anyone dodged a shift or done a runner once in the festival? If so, what were the repercussions (if any) and did it put you off going back to the Avalon for the remainder of the festival? (I'm not planning on doing this - I feel very fortunate to have a place on the team - it's more out of curiosity).

And lastly, following on from the second question, those who have been working and someone hasn't shown up for their shift, how was that? And was there then a witch-hunt for the fugitive?

As mentioned above, not looking to dodge shifts, just curious as I've not seen it mentioned in here!!

Thanks  

[Paul ™]

15 minutes ago, tarw said:

A £15 donation to your chosen charity seems quite low to me. Do they keep a lot for admin or is that how little Shambala give Oxfam for each steward?

Very low.

Ones a charity, the other is a commercial operation.. 

[stuie]

43 minutes ago, tarw said:

Anyone volunteered with https://mycauseuk.com/volunteer/ before?

Thinking of volunteering at Shambala and it’s them or Oxfam. Good that you get to choose which charity you want to support but a £15 donation to them for 3 x 8 hour shifts seems low to me. 

It's low - some events are £30 but I'd choose Oxfam without a shadow of a doubt. 

They are legit - they've been at Noisily and Boomtown for years.  The amount they are paid by the festival is reduced by the cost of the tickets for the event that you'll have a wristband for and their admin charges. 

11 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

Very low.

Ones a charity, the other is a commercial operation.. 

They are a CIC not for profit company so somewhere in the middle of Oxfam (a charity) and Festaff (a private company) so retain no profits after the staff of the community interest company have been paid, of course! 

Not for me.

 

[incident]

7 minutes ago, tarw said:

Yes they are both full atm!  I just wanted to know if it was worth keeping on checking the mycause website to see if anything comes up. 
A £15 donation to your chosen charity seems quite low to me. Do they keep a lot for admin or is that how little Shambala give Oxfam for each steward?

In all honesty I've never drilled down into the financials like that. I'm certain that MyCause will be taking a profit, but I've no idea to what extent. I assume Shambala will give Oxfam a significantly better "deal", as Oxfam are a core charity partner whereas in this context MyCause will be effectively an interchangeable contractor.

Ultimately though it's probably not going to be possible to make a like for like comparison especially given our lack of information - the contracts will cover a lot more ground than simply X people equals Y money. My impression is that MyCause do also tend to utilise a much higher percentage of paid staff which adds to costs- with Oxfam the only paid staff on site will be the 3 or 4 coordinators whereas for MyCause it appears that their supervisor roles upwards are all paid.

I should've also mentioned that MyCause do also keep 6% of the deposit back as a card handling fee whereas Oxfam return the entire deposit. So if looking just at the financial side then Oxfam are the more justifiable option from all angles.

Full disclosure I should say that I have defected from Oxfam to MyCause at Shambala this year with the primary factor being the guaranteed lack of a night shift.

[stuie]

3 minutes ago, incident said:

In all honesty I've never drilled down into the financials like that. I'm certain that MyCause will be taking a profit, but I've no idea to what extent. I assume Shambala will give Oxfam a significantly better "deal", as Oxfam are a core charity partner whereas in this context MyCause will be effectively an interchangeable contractor.

Ultimately though it's probably not going to be possible to make a like for like comparison especially given our lack of information - the contracts will cover a lot more ground than simply X people equals Y money. My impression is that MyCause do also tend to utilise a much higher percentage of paid staff which adds to costs- with Oxfam the only paid staff on site will be the 3 or 4 coordinators whereas for MyCause it appears that their supervisor roles upwards are all paid.

I should've also mentioned that MyCause do also keep 6% of the deposit back as a card handling fee whereas Oxfam return the entire deposit. So if looking just at the financial side then Oxfam are the more justifiable option from all angles.

Full disclosure I should say that I have defected from Oxfam to MyCause at Shambala this year with the primary factor being the guaranteed lack of a night shift.

My Cause is a CIC - Community Interest Company.  It has a regulator, just like the charity commission.

Quote

A community interest company is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximize profit for shareholders and owners.

The grey area is how much the staff running the CIC are paid.  But Oxfam has directors and senior management which are paid extremely well too! 

[incident]

Just now, stuie said:

My Cause is a CIC - Community Interest Company.  It has a regulator, just like the charity commission.

The grey area is how much the staff running the CIC are paid.  But Oxfam has directors and senior management which are paid extremely well too! 

Yes, as you say it's a grey area.

There's so many variables as to why it's impossible to make a direct comparison - that £15 quoted is going to be a "pure" donation after all costs, wages, etc on the MyCause side. Whereas any numbers we hear for Oxfam are more likely to be before costs especially at the organisational level.