If you share our values and beliefs about how important it is for all older people to live rewarding, fulfilling, safe and happy lives, then we would love to have you join the team either as a member trustee, or as a volunteer.

Members

You asked. We answered! The results from our 2024 Members Survey are in, and we are so grateful to everyone who took the time to respond. So here is what you said – and what we are doing in response!

• We asked. Have your heard of “Independent Advocacy” for older people?  60% of respondents said yes. 40% said no.
• FREE paper based training with additional support is in development, as 100% of respondents said that this was their preferred means of receiving training. This will be delivered before the end of our financial year 31 March 2025.
• We asked. If someone said there is a difference between “formal” and “informal” advocacy, would you know what that meant? 45% of respondents said yes. 55% said no. The FREE paper based training referenced above will address this.
• We asked, would you be interested in learning more about independent advocacy for older people? 100% of respondents said yes. The FREE paper based training resources referenced above will address this need.
• We asked. If yes, what kind of learning resources would work best for you and your team? Digital information available on line for independent learning 100% (available here). On line training courses 20% (under development). Short video training courses for independent learning 32% (available here). Paper based training with access to additional support 100% (under development).
• We asked, Would it be useful if there were a quality assurance mark developed, so you could be assured of the standards adhered to by an advocacy provider? 100% responded yes. OPAAL has therefore joined “Advocacy Leaders” who are championing this idea, and will work in partnership with them.
• We asked would you welcome the provision of other support: 100% of respondents said they would welcome general networking opportunities with other organisations who shared their goals in various ways. We have identified The Network of Non-Profit Digital Support, a collaborative effort comprising several initiatives, each tailored to provide specific support and resources to organisations of various sizes and digital capacities. Here’s a brief overview of all their initiatives:

• We are continuing to build up our bank of Advocacy Checklists. These checklists are free to download and can be used by anyone. If there is a particular checklist that you need, please make your request to colette.isaaks@opaal.org.uk and we aim to deliver that asap.

Trustee roles

If you have never been a trustee before or served on a board, then please don’t let that put you off from getting in touch with us. What we are looking for is those with a real interest in improving the lives of older people, and you can certainly be an “expert by experience” even if you have never worked with older people or on older people’s issues – your energy and commitment will be more than enough! We conduct most of our meetings remotely, so there is no difficult travel involved, and we are always delighted to welcome new board members. Interested? Email our friendly Director, Colette Isaaks at colette.isaaks@opaal,org.uk to arrange an informal chat.

Volunteer roles

We would also love to hear from anyone with a few hours to spare to give us feedback on our free resources. If you could give a couple of hours to look over some of our downloads and “road test” them for suitability before they get distributed to the public – this would be a great help! We don’t know what we don’t know, so your insight, just based on your own experiences would be hugely valuable to us. Email our Operations Lead, Sharon Jenkins at sharon.jenkins@opaal.org.uk to get involved!

Here’s our Equality, Diversity and inclusion policy.

Here’s our Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults, Children and Young People.