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Company: Project North East (PNE)
Project: voluntaryskills.com

http://www.voluntaryskills.com

Dates: Jan 2007 to Dec 2009

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How did the project start?

voluntaryskills.com helps promote skills development and career progression in the Third Sector by offering free information on training opportunities in the North East & Cumbria.

The website was originally created in 2002 with funding from the Monument Trust and Northern Rock Foundation to promote training opportunities in the Tyne and Wear area in response to the need for a single source of information on training opportunities for voluntary and community groups in the area.

In 2004, continued funding from the Northern Rock Foundation and Lloyds TSB Foundation enabled us to develop the website further to cover the whole of the North East.

voluntaryskills.com currently contains a searchable training database of 1299 Training Courses and 203 Training Providers, News & Events, Job Profiles, Case Studies, Vacancies, and Resources relevant to skills & training.

Furthermore, the website was recently extended in January 2008 to include Cumbria too with further plans to extend into other parts of the UK later this year.

What options did you consider?

From the outset, the aim of the project was always to provide an online resource containing the latest information on training opportunities for the sector.

Over the years, the website has been refined and developed to introduce new features, making the searchable training database even easier to use, with a Content Management System (CMS) that allows both the web editors and training providers to add, amend or delete training courses whenever they like, with little or no web programming skills.

What help and expertise did you receive?

PNE used our in-house expertise and IT team to develop the initial website, but we also now use an external company - Indigo Multimedia for new developments and updates to the site.

Furthermore, we regularly consult our users through customer surveys, focus groups and research to ensure we are providing the best possible service to the sector.

Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?

Initially, the main challenge was getting people in the voluntary and community sector to adopt and use the website regularly for their training needs.

However, our close links with Project North East (PNE) - a trusted and well respected provider of training and consultancy for the voluntary sector, and a new marketing and promotion campaign has seen the number of users and visits to the website show a significant increase in recent years.

What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?

The voluntaryskills.com website is now seen as the most comprehensive source of information on training and development for the voluntary and community sector in the region, and our e-bulletins are regularly cited as a valuable resource for anyone working or volunteering in the sector. In the past 12 months alone, we have seen the number of website visits increase by 264%, and the number of subscribers to our monthly e-bulletins has risen from 526 in January 2007 to 2124 at the end of December 2007.

What are your plans for the future?

In early 2008 we will be publishing our North East Third Sector Skills Survey 2007/2008, and introducing a number of new products and services for our users including online / e-learning training materials, and increased opportunities for training providers and third sector organisations to advertise and promote their work through the site.

For more information please visit www.voluntaryskills.com