Volunteering
VNews June 2022 - CSSC One
We are launching a new initiative called CSSC One. CSSC one is a trust mark scheme for members so that they can be sure that our events/offers/activities will be inclusive to individuals attending solo and that they will receive a warm and friendly welcome. CSSC is committed to our role of bringing like-minded people together and CSSC one will provide reassurance to solo attendees. Aligning with our values of being supportive and social, CSSC wants all of our members to know that every individual is part of our team.
CSSC One has a dedicated webpage and we have developed a charter to show our commitments to members attending events solo:
- CSSC will consider the needs of solo attendees
- Events showing the CSSC one trust mark (above) have been assessed to ensure they are solo attendee friendly
- All CSSC events will be open to all members; attending with others or as individuals
- Where members will need to partner up for an activity, all reasonable steps will be made to create partnership opportunities
- Members will be able to let organisers know that they will be attending solo. This will ensure individuals can be introduced to others at events and receive a warm welcome
- CSSC will endeavour to reduce or remove single-person supplements where this is possible
- CSSC one will embrace the spirit of our founders’ mission: to bring unity and camaraderie to the civil service, during an unprecedented term of uncertainty
This is where our fantastic volunteers come in! We know that in many cases, our volunteers already ensure our events are welcoming to everyone and fall in with our charter. But we would love to make this more obvious to members booking onto events. We have therefore added some small steps to our Nutickets process for you to include in all events you feel are solo attendee friendly.
To do this, please:
Include the following data capture question to the event (this question is already prepopulated into the system for you to select on the ticket dropdowns)- you don’t need to make it compulsory:
- Every individual is part of our team; if you are attending this event solo, take a look at CSSC One.
- Are you attending this event solo?
And also include this statement in the description:
This event is a CSSC one event and is solo attendee friendly, every individual is part of our team. Find out more on CSSC one page.
Before the event, volunteers should check to see if anyone has ticked that they are attending solo, then, on the day of the event, the volunteer should try to introduce themselves to that person and make them feel welcome and comfortable. We wouldn’t draw attention to the fact that they are attending as a solo person, but we would just ensure they were included as much as possible. If no volunteer will be in attendance at the event, it might be worth sending a quick email to the member letting them know that the event won’t have a volunteer present so that they know that in advance. If the event is being run by an external organisation (i.e. wine tasting, jewellery making, coach trip), it might be worth letting the organisation know that there will be solo attendees there so that they can welcome them when they arrive.
After the event, if they wish, volunteers can follow up with a member and ask them how they found the event and if there was anything else that could have been done to ensure members felt welcome.
