Colleges deliver far more to their communities than just education. Offering accessible pathways to people of all ages and all backgrounds to gain the skills and knowledge they need to achieve great jobs, is a genuine driver of social mobility.
To this end, we know that colleges generate extensive social value and community wealth, which has been demonstrated by the sector’s Good for Me Good for FE campaign. Launched in 2021 and having quickly built a network of 140 colleges and charitable partners (including AoC), this initiative has quantified the added value that colleges provide to their communities in monetary terms, via voluntary and fundraising activities.
In the last two years, almost £4m of social value has been generated by our network. This has been evidenced via a social value calculator, developed using the TOMs framework in partnership with the Social Value Portal. Colleges have come on board to report and celebrate the voluntary work that their staff and students are doing in their communities – which has driven even more, impactful activity.
One of the many successes and indeed learnings from this project has been the positive impact that volunteering activities have had on the employability skills of individual students. This is particularly crucial at a time when attributes such as communication, teamwork, adaptability, creativity and digital literacy are in such demand from employers.
