Thank you for your interest in fulfilling your Duke of Edinburgh volunteer time by helping the Final Straw Foundation! We are very happy that you would like to spend some of your hours supporting our charity.
We have pulled together some of the typical opportunities we can offer to help you meet your target as part of your Bronze, Silver or Gold volunteer section. You can stick to one type of activity or combine several – it’s up to you. All we ask is that you keep a record (activity, date and number of hours) of the time spent on any of these activities to ensure we correctly sign off your hours.
Please read through the ideas below and then register to let us know you are interested in volunteering for our charity as part of your volunteer section. These activities may count towards your Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Volunteering section, please check with your DofE Leader for applicability before signing up.
Any information you can provide us with to help us write your report on the DofE Assessors portal is welcomed. Please see tips for this in italics in each section.
Beach, Countryside or Urban Litter Picking
If you are interested in getting out in the fresh air and doing something positive for the environment, why not get out litter picking? You can go to a pre-organised public beach or countryside clean (find ours here: https://finalstrawfoundation.org/get-involved/beach-cleans/) or go with family or friends separately. In the case of the latter, we can lend you a litter picker, gloves and a reusable bag (as well as some disposable bags if needed) for you to do this activity. We will provide you with written guidance on how to go out litter picking safely as part of this activity.
Tip: Make a note of the date, location and number of hours each time you go litter picking. Jot down roughly how much you picked up (eg. half a bag of rubbish), what the most common item of litter was that you picked up and anything else of interest. Please supply a couple of photos as evidence.
Borrow Bag Scheme
Would you like to help reduce the number of single-use plastic bags that are used in our area? If so, you can help us with our Borrow Bag scheme. The idea behind the scheme is that we make reusable fabric bags from pre-loved fabric (curtains, duvet covers, offcuts etc) that might otherwise have ended up in a landfill. We give the finished bags out to local shops that are part of the scheme. The shops give them to customers who have forgotten to take their own reusable bags, rather than giving out plastic bags. The customers can either keep them or take them back to the shop (or any participating shop) for someone else to use next time.
We need volunteers who can:
– cut the fabric to the correct size (main section, handles) and roll up ready for people to sew them
– sew the bags together
– or both!
This could be done at home, or you could ask if you could start a group at school if your school has equipment (sewing machines etc.) that could help. Alternatively, if you would like to help start a group in your local area please let us know.
Tip: Make a note of the date and number of hours each time you work on the Borrow Bag scheme. Jot down how many bags you have cut out or made. Please supply a couple of photos as evidence.
Fundraising
Could you fundraise for our charity? You can use your volunteer hours to run a fundraiser – perhaps a cake sale, bike ride, run or any other ideas you may have. You can use JustGiving to fundraise for us if this is something that appeals – find us at
justgiving.com/finalstrawfdn or let us know if you would rather fundraise offline.
Tip: Make a note of the date and number of hours each time you work on your fundraising activity. Let us know how you are fundraising and how much funding you raised for the charity.
Media, Marketing, Communications & Creative
If you are interested in art, social media, photography/film or writing, you could help the charity by using your skills to raise awareness of the impact of pollution on our wildlife and oceans, to highlight community action or to increase the charity profile. This choice is best for those with wide-ranging interests as it covers a lot of different creative elements.
Ideas include:
– Make posters or artwork that the charity could use in public spaces and online.
– Create videos, film short pieces for social media or take photos that the charity can use (if we do use them, you will be credited unless you do not wish to be).
– Writing: you could write poems that the charity can use online or persuasive letters to manufacturers, politicians or other key figures to highlight the issue of ocean health and the impact of pollution. You would be credited with these unless you did not wish to be.
– Create a social media post with eye-catching graphics.
– Write a blog to be published on our website (unless you would rather we didn’t share it).
We have created a dedicated workbook for this choice so you can experience and explore this element of the work the charity does.
Tip: Make a note of the date and number of hours each time you work on any of these projects. Keep a rough record of how much research you have done to enable you to create your project. Please send us copies of your writing / film / photos etc. All instructions are in the workbook.
Campaign Management
If you are passionate about marketing and communications, you can try your hand at campaign management. You would research, create, plan and execute a campaign, seeing it through from start to finish. We will give you guidance and pointers to how you might achieve this, but you have the freedom to communicate your message or call to action in any way you feel will appeal to your audience. This task will require commitment, good organisational skills and being a confident writer would be advantageous.
Tip: Make a note of the date and number of hours each time you work on your campaign. Keep a record of how much research you have done to enable you to create your project. Please send us your finished campaign.