Author Archives: Olly Benson

Olly Benson

About Olly Benson

Olly is the Head of Projects - Do-it Lead, responsible for project management in YouthNet with a particular emphasis on the development of Do-it. He joined YouthNet in 2008 as maternity cover for the Editorial Manager. Prior to YouthNet, he worked at another charity, Headliners, and before that he was at the BBC for seven years.

The mismatch between volunteering opportunities and volunteers.

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Olly Benson

As well as being an incredibly useful service, the Do-it database holds a potential goldmine of data about the state of volunteering in the UK.  Luckily, we’re fortunate to have a few data geeks in the organisation who like nothing … Continue reading →

Posted in Charity world, Volunteering | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A new era for Do-it

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Olly Benson

On Tuesday 15 November at about half-past six, a new version of Do-it went live onto the web. When we say ‘new version’, this wasn’t just a few tweaks and a couple of extra features, this was a complete rebuild … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, Volunteering, Working at YouthNet, YouthNet | Leave a comment

Forthcoming downtime on Do-it

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Olly Benson

Here’s an important message about some forthcoming downtime on Do-it: “From 5pm on Friday, 11 November to 5pm on Tuesday 15 November, the Do-it volunteer search service will be unavailable.  This is to install a major upgrade that will improve … Continue reading →

Posted in Latest news, Volunteering | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Legal Highs section launched

Posted on October 1, 2010 by Olly Benson

With the long-term financial support from the Department of Health, we launch the legal highs section on TheSite.org, helping young people to make informed choices about legal highs and ensuring they can access the support they need.

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Developing Do-it: can you help us with our ‘ordering’ issue?

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Olly Benson

Do-it is a really easy website to explain. Type your postcode in and get back lots of opportunities local and relevant to you. You can refine the search by choosing particular causes or types of activity, or looking for specific … Continue reading →

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Investing in Volunteers status

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Olly Benson

YouthNet achieves Investing in Volunteers status.

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Work starts to deliver the Olympics legacy

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Olly Benson

YouthNet starts work with Volunteering England to deliver a volunteering legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Newspapers told to tell the truth

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Olly Benson

We’ve all seen countless stories in the newspapers about “outrageous” young people who “trash” a family home in the name of a birthday party (usually after organising it via a social network). And whilst there is no doubting that it … Continue reading →

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Self harm section launched on TheSite.org

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Olly Benson

Launch of self harm section on TheSite.org, part of a major partnership project to create a national centre of excellence on self harm

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Award wins in 2008

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Olly Benson

YouthNet racks up some impressive award wins: Best Charity to Work For (Charity Times Awards 2008) Fundraising Charity of the Year (Professional Fundraising Awards 2008) Enterprise Category (Third Sector Excellence Awards 2008) Open Internet Award (Nominet Best Practice Challenge 2008) … Continue reading →

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