Volunteering
Our volunteers helped us make some key decisions last year including recommending new cleaning contractors (Just Ask) and repairs contractors (Axis). They also sat on interview panels to appoint new staff including a database administrator, Relationship Advisors and a Knowledge and Feedback Manager. Our Environmental Improvement Group made decisions to fund works such as a new patio at Chichester Close, improved security lighting at Fir Tree Cottages and to provide extra parking at Larch Close. Our volunteers are instrumental in making sure we are spending money in the right places and in making sure we are an effective tenant-led organisation.
Our Customer and Community Insight Group has really flourished this year, with membership going from strength to strength. They agreed new Terms of Reference and the introduction of Time Credits to reward volunteers. They have been involved in helping us formulate new policies and looking at our audit process. To make sure that our customer views are incorporated into the audit process, they also agreed to introduce a new volunteering role for Resident Inspectors who would be trained and work alongside our internal auditors (Mazars) looking at customer-facing services.

You can find out about the range of volunteering opportunities here. If you are interested and want to know more, contact us at volunteering@redkitehousing.org.uk


During the year, 78 decisions and changes were made because of our volunteers’ involvement, including things like:
  • Adopting a new approach for measuring and reporting on customer satisfaction
  • Designing a new website
  • Producing a new volunteering brochure
  • Agreeing the format of our Annual Get Together meeting
  • Selecting a nominated charity for the year (Scannappeal)
  • Approving our Risk Management Strategy
By giving you what you want and not what we think you need, we can make sure that we are spending money in the right places. That’s why getting more of you involved in what we do at every level of the organisation and really involving you in decisions about what we are doing, is so important.


We want to make sure our Red Kite Members have more of a say in what we do as an organisation so we will be looking to increase the number of members we have. To find out more about becoming a Red Kite Member check out our website

We would love to recruit even more volunteers. As well as looking for volunteers who are prepared to give the commitment needed to sit on our Board or our contract review groups, we will be looking for volunteers for a whole range of other activities such as carrying out telephone interviews, checking the standard of cleaning and grounds maintenance on their estates and carrying out estate inspections with us.


By giving you what you want and not what we think you need, we can make sure that we are spending money in the right places. That’s why getting more of you involved in what we do at every level of the organisation and really involving you in decisions about what we are doing, is really important

Waqas Arshad: (Customer and Community Insight Group Member)


“After experiencing the issue of housing shortage myself, I became committed to standing up and speaking for those in need in our community. I wanted to change how things were in my local community with regards to housing shortage; I wanted to see what actions local authorities were taking to ensure provision of a basic necessity like housing, I wanted to find out how tenants are represented in the local housing sector.

Many questions like this encouraged me to volunteer and no other organisation could have been a better choice than joining a tenant-led organisation. An organisation that is on the side of tenants, an organisation where everyone from the person on reception to the Chairman of the Board strives for the common goal of improving the living standard of our community.

It's been less than a year since I joined Red Kite as a volunteer but the learning experience has been incredible. The organisation has a very friendly team that fully supports new members. As a new member, I don’t for a second feel like an outsider!”

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