Volunteering - a lasting legacy

[21st January 2023]

In the UK the 8th May 2023 is set to become a day of national celebration, where everyone will have the opportunity to volunteer a little of their time to helping others and the many thousands of volunteer organisations / charities. This follows the Christmas message given by King Charles III in which the King highlighted the immense value created by all those who volunteer their time to helping others, their communities and the environment, and the Palace would like to see 'volunteering' become a lasting legacy ... brilliant news!

Last year the Good Turns Foundation joined over a 1,000 leaders of enterprise, charities, volunteer organisations and political parties to help formulate a future vision for Britain for the next 30 years. Held at the Eden Project, 'Anthropy' proved to be a unique and landmark conference [2-4th Nov. 2022]. Whilst there, we helped spread a message of hope and opportunity and to continously improving well-being (our purpose), and the need 'to create a world where values are valued and the world thrives' (our vision). More specifically we stressed the importance of 'creating a world where good is valued and people and communities thrive' (our mission), and the immense value created from the collective good people voluntarily do for others, communities and the environment. This not only benefits our communities and planet, it also significantly boosts an individual's psychological well-being too (boosted by having more meaning/purposes in our lives, and from doing good for others,  communities and the environment).

Indeed the last session I attended, entitled "Queen Elizabeth II: Leadership Through Service", included a small group (of around ten people), including myself, Catherine Johnstone CBE (CEO, Royal Voluntary Service), Angela Salt OBE (CEO, Girlguiding), Peter Stewart LVO (Chief Purpose Officer, Eden Project) and the St. John's Ambulance service.  Unusually for the conference, this session was a small/intimate gathering (mainly due to a schedule clash with a talk from Sadiq Khan, Major of London), but the session was all the better for it. All participants contributed in a round table discussion (without the table!) ... and I said I felt this session was the most important one of all ... !

I floated the idea of creating a future that recognises / values the importance of virtue, service, and the good people voluntarily do for others ... partly in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II who throughout her reign demonstrated a life devoted to service (and based on virtue) ... and highlighted the need to create a world where volunteering one's time should be valued just as highly as money! Having seeded the idea, and with the close connections of the above charities to the Palace (e.g. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was patron of the Royal Voluntary Service), and Peter Stewart's (and Eden Project's) close connections with the Royal Family too (e.g. The Big Lunch, Platinum Jubilee), it was great to listen to King Charles III Christmas address and to hear our new King following in the footsteps of our late Queen, and express that the most precious thing of all is 'time', and to go further and specifically refer to the time individual's voluntarily donate to helping others, communities and the planet.

So why did I suggest this?  Well, because it's the right thing to do! ... and the Good Points System® already supports this! ... it recognises / values the time (nb 1 Hour = 1 Point) people voluntarily spend doing good (e.g. acts of civic virtue) and also contains many meaningful sub-categories which highlight the type of good at the same time too ... for individuals (e.g. Coaching Points®, Mentoring Points®, Tutoring Points®),  for communities (e.g. Community Points®, Care Points®, Volunteer Points®, Charity Points®) and the environment (e.g. Climate Points®, Environment Points®, Nature Points®, Conservation Points®) ... which are all Virtue Points® (sometimes called VIP Points®) linked to moral/civic virtue ... and provide a unique measure of a person's 'heart'.

Good Points® also uniquely extend to recognise/value character (Character Points®) and the healthy activities (Health Points®) people engage in too (e.g. Teamwork Points®, Resourcefulness Points®, Creative Points®, Communication Points® and Wellbeing Points®, Exercise Points®, Sports Points®, Nutrition Points® respectively) ... which link to intellectual virtue, performance virtue, and civic virtue ... and, when all combined, provide a holistic view of the good people voluntarily engage in (and summarised in their unique 21st Century Digital CV®).

The Good Turns Foundation is doing its work, helping to shape the future ... to create a better future.

David Clift, Founder of the Good Turns Foundation

© Good Turns Foundation 2023    [GTF21012023_01]