Leeds – city of volunteering

I was in Leeds yesterday for a conference on the European Year of Volunteering, organised by Leeds City Council. I was invited to give a presentation about the European aspects of the year. But it was just really interesting to be at the event, hearing what Leeds is doing. They had a local year of volunteering in 2010, which is why they are so enthusiastic about the European Year in 2011 and why they did the event. A nice aspect was that they had invited people from the voluntary sector and local administrations of their partner cities, Dortmund, Siegen (both Germany), Lille (France), Brasov (Romania) and Brno (Czech Republic), so it was possible to exchange experiences. One great idea that we heard about in a workshop on corporate volunteering was a website in the Czech republic where companies that would like to donate time can see what NGOs are looking for assistance, say with redecorating their premises. There are some similar services in some areas of the UK, such as Leeds Ahead who were at the conference, but it’s not obvious where to find them. I’d like this office to get into doing something, particularly given the theme of the next European year, but I have no idea how to go about finding an organisation that would like us to help out. If anyone has any pointers for me, that would be great!