Our benevolent fund needs volunteers to help it support our members and their families in times of need.
Would you like to help our members and their families when they are in need? Could you make home visits, assess new applications and provide the essential face-to-face contact between Support Network and its beneficiaries?
Our Support Network exists to provide information, advice, finance, emotional and/or practical assistance to members who need it, wherever they are in the world.
About you
As a volunteer visitor, you will be:
- Able to relate to others in a friendly, informal way
- A good listener, able to ask questions in a sympathetic fashion and to report objectively
- Sensitive to people in a difficult situation, and often frail and vulnerable
- Accustomed to treating sensitive information as confidential, respecting the trust shown by applicants with regard to their personal details
Meet a Support Network volunteer
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Scot has volunteered for the Support Network for over 8 years, providing valuable assistance to all Institution members in need, from financial support to job-hunting advice.
What you will do
Volunteer visitors help identify people’s problems, gather financial and other information and write reports for the Grants Committee. Volunteer visitors also keep in touch with existing beneficiaries to see how they are and to check if their circumstances have changed.
You will meet a wide variety of people connected to the Institution, each with a different sort of problem. They will be pleased to meet a Support Network representative.
Of course, the main aim is to offer financial or other assistance, but often people just appreciate the opportunity to chat to somebody about what’s going on in their lives.
How you will benefit
- Put something back into the profession that has given you a successful mechanical engineering career
- Make a real difference to members who are less fortunate than you
- Get an increased sense of worth and commitment
How much time it will take
You will be asked to visit two or three members a year. Each visit will not take more than an hour or two at the most, but this means you need to set aside about four or five hours for travelling and preparing a brief post-visit report. You may decide to visit more frequently than once a year, but this is up to you.
How it works
If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer visitor, contact us and we’ll arrange a time to discuss what’s involved. Then we’ll send you an application form to return so you can tell us more about your skills and previous experience. We will then invite you to an informal meeting at our offices in London, to meet the team and to talk things over further.
The next stage will be to shadow one of our existing volunteer visitors on a visit, and to come along to one of the regular Grants Committee meetings to see how grant decisions are made. You will also meet the Chairman and some of the other Trustees (most of whom are volunteer visitors themselves).
If you are accepted as a volunteer visitor, we ask that you attend an annual training day in London, and/or other related volunteer visitor development events. These are a good opportunity to spend time with Support Network staff and other volunteer visitors, to discuss matters of common interest and share experiences.