Would you like to help more people in Stockport to get online or feel more confident using a computer, phone or tablet? Tech genius NOT required!  

Your everyday knowledge using a smart phone, browsing websites or using a computer at work is enough.  Full training is given before you start volunteering.

• Have you helped friends or family to use their computer or phone? 

• Do you want to help your community? 

• Would you like a friendly volunteer role where you meet new people? 

• A flexible volunteer role. You’ll have a regular time and day to volunteer, but we usually have a rota, so no pressure to volunteer every week.  

Then you’ll enjoy being a Digital Champion.

What do Digital Champions do?

All Digital Champions support people to get online, or feel more confident to use a device. Starting Point run regular Digital sessions, so some Digital Champions help here.

We support other Stockport organisations to offer digital support to their participants, and that’s where most of our new Digital Champion roles come up. Each role is as different as the organisation you’ll volunteer with, so we’re sure we can find the right role for you. You could be supporting foodbank clients to edit their UC diary, library customers to google knitting patterns, helping older learners to access the NHS app, or assisting carers to add important phone numbers to their contacts.

Maybe you are already part of a social group, speak a community language or know people in your area could do with some digital help. We also support volunteers to set up their own new sessions in their communities.

How will you support me as a Digital Champion?

We give all Digital Champions training before they start volunteering. Our friendly online, interactive session covers all you need to know to get started helping people locally to feel more confident to use computers. You’ll get to meet other new Digital Champions at this session too.

You can book on this free and friendly session here: Training dates are usually the second Tuesday of the month. 

Following our session, you’ll have access to our Learn Worlds courses just for Digital Champions. Covering everything from Safeguarding and GDPR to Communication skills and Wellbeing, our training is designed by and for Digital Champions, focussed on what you need to know when you volunteer.

You’ll be part of our wider network of Digital Champion volunteers across Stockport, with fun socials and regular ‘top up’ training. Our ‘Lunch and Learn’ and ‘Tea and Tech’ sessions cover topics that volunteers have told us they want to learn about.

Our Volunteering Lead will support you when you start volunteering, so you get settled into your new role. We ask all organisations who ‘host’ Digital Champions to have staff available on the day to support volunteers.

Who are our Digital Champions?

Previous volunteers have been people looking for experience before going back to work, retired people, students training to work in community or education settings, parents and carers looking for a volunteer role that fits in with their cared-for person, people with a disability wanting to volunteer within hours that work for them. People working part time and people looking to make new friends locally. People practising their spoken English or corporate volunteers with CSR hours to use. We welcome volunteers from all our communities in Stockport, and we hope we can make you feel safe and welcome to volunteer with us.

You do need to be able to volunteer independently, and feel confident to start conversations with new people. You do need to be happy to support learners who may come with different questions each week, so you need to be ok with sometimes saying “I don’t know the answer to this one” or “let’s google this together”.

We welcome people with disabilities to volunteer with us, please talk to us about reasonable adjustments we can make to help you volunteer. We welcome people who are learning English – you do need to read online information and feel happy to explain how to do digital tasks to other people.

How can I find out more?

Contact Clara, Volunteer lead at Starting Point to find out more – clara@startpoint.org.uk 

Call or text us on 07724 217888 or ring 0161 494 9947. Leave us a message so we know you’ve called, as we don’t return all missed calls.