We’ve been celebrating the amazing nominations that our partners, staff and students have made for LSE Volunteer of the Year (check out Part One and Part Two here). However, there is another award to be won at the LSE Volunteers Awards evening: LSE Voluntary Organisation of the Year! Last year Coin Street Community Builders won the award. We’re delighted to announce that the following organisations have been nominated:

Organisation: Future Frontiers
Nominated by: Joanna Morden

“Future Frontiers has provided me with opportunities to sharpen my coaching, mentoring, and leadership abilities, as well as develop further my ability to work with and manage youth and children as a volunteer career coach. In addition, they truly help low-income young people get closer to their dream careers and escape poverty by offering one-to-one coaching advice and support, which such young people may not be given due to their status in life.”

Organisation: ReachOut UK
Nominated by: Wei Seow

“Reachout UK does meaningful work supporting and mentoring young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, focusing on improving their attainment in both academic and non-academic areas. The organisation’s work revolves around weekly sessions across primary and secondary schools with one-on-one mentoring consisting of character, sport and academic activities.

I have been lucky to be a part of ReachOut and I made the transition from being a volunteer mentor to project leader last year. The organisation has been great in supporting me through formal curriculum or informal support through regular observations and training sessions.

ReachOut also cares deeply about holistic development and this is evident in how they provide one-on-one career mentoring programmes for their volunteers. I believe Reachout UK is a fantastic organisation that compliments LSE’s values of bettering society, particularly in the focus on social justice and widening participation for disadvantaged students.”

Organisation: Wonder Foundation
Nominated by: Sakshee Singh

“Wonder Foundation has won the Voluntary Organisation at LSE in the past and for all the right reasons. I was lucky to have had the opportunity to work at charity so early in my term. The work culture in the organisation is extremely welcoming and pleasant. I learnt a great deal from my peers and the heads in the office who were always around to lend a helping hand. The experience has impacted me in so many ways, during the course of my internship I was exposed to variety of interesting work the organisation does. I was particularly touched by the level of commitment and sensitivity the organisation stood for. My three month experience was definitely enriching and I was intrigued by the number of other LSE students who chose the organisation. I enjoyed my experience so much that now I’m going back to work from home on an outreach program they have in India. They treat their interns well and are an organisation that truly works hard on issues they preach and promote.”

Organisation: Green School Project
Nominated by: Kasja Natby

“With an aim to improve the environmental awareness in local primary and secondary schools in London, the green school project contributes with something highly valuable to the society. By engaging university students in this activity they are taking steps towards integrating the academic world with the local community, and academic education with primary education. Furthermore, they are easy to deal with, arrange social activities and provide free training opportunities.  I think these things make the organisation deserving of the “best organisation to volunteer for”!”

Organisation: AgeUK Islington
Nominated by: Pui Chung

“In the volunteer aspect, the organisation provided adequate and fruitful training to prepare us to volunteer. There are also guidance and supervision from experienced volunteers. It really helps students to learn as well as contribute to society. There are also a lot of flexibility for volunteers to help. In the social aspect, helping people to prepare what to do at the end of life is extremely meaningful. Many people have benefited!”

We’ve got more than 200+ ongoing opportunities on CareerHub so make sure you search them for further volunteering information. You can also book a one-to-one with David Coles, the Volunteer Centre Manager, if you have more questions. And why not follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with our events and opportunities and read our blog for more volunteering tips and stories.