Charity Ambassadors help to raise awareness of our work, and the reasons for it, by attending events or helping with our online awareness, and encouraging others to get involved.
This is a really important role as it helps us to reach new people with important messages, inspires new fundraising activity, and thanks our supporters for the work they are doing.
Our charity messages:
We are a charity which raises funds to train, equip and maintain a team of specialist volunteers who can save people in danger
We want to raise awareness, as a form of preventative measure, to limit the danger to vulnerable people from:
- Open water
- Floods
- Dementia (in particular the wandering-off seen in advanced dementia)
- Suicidal thoughts
Ambassador role:
As a spokesperson for the charity’s preventative work, we will give you a platform to help raise awareness of the issues closest to your own heart.
- A section on our website to tell your story
- Social media stories and backing for your work
- Opportunities to present to the public (if you wish)
- Opportunities to work with us and the other emergency services (if you wish)
- A chance to get involved with our training and events to meet the team
- A chance to inspire new volunteers to join us
You can donate as much or as little time as you can spare.
In return we pledge to do what we can to support you. We will supply you with as much help as possible.
We will give you:
- An email address so you can manage any contacts without revealing personal information
- Advice on fundraising rules and event organisation
- In-person support at events, wherever possible
- A team pin-badge
- Invites to exclusive team events, open-days etc.
- Access to our counselling and support network
- Basic training in water-safety (if you wish)
- Basic training in first-aid (if you wish)
- A small contribution towards expenses, where possible for the charity
Ambassador Guidelines:
Social media can help build a stronger, more successful brand for the charity and is very useful. But it can also go very wrong very quickly. It is very easy for written items to be taken out of context or misinterpreted, and this can have a significant negative effect which you may not have intended or wished to have happened.
Our golden rules for social media
Protect the missing person, their family and their friends.
Never comment on any search; past, present or future in any way* – even if somebody else starts the conversation. The only exception to this is to share information from the official team social media accounts once they go live – but do not add to this information in any way.
*If you are the family member of a missing person, you are of course able to speak freely about your own experiences and our search involvement.
Protect your Team and its members.
Avoid commenting on other members’ progress, role or performance unless it is to congratulate something like a test-pass. Please do not comment on anything negative or express frustration that things are not perfect (e.g. I wish we had more members, I wish we had more/less callouts, I wish we had better jackets, their trailer is better than ours, I hate having wet search boots etc.)
Protect the Charity.
Avoid any fundraising calls unless you are clear on the Charity Commission guidelines. You’re not allowed to do certain things before they happen (i.e. selling raffle tickets before an event). If in any doubt, ask the Fundraising Coordinator or Treasurer.
Never make any claims on the state of a Charity’s finances, membership or structure.
Protect yourself.
Be wary of giving out too much public information. We suggest you use a team email address, and don’t accept social media friends/followers who you are unfamiliar with. Consider setting up a page or group rather than using your personal facebook profile for any campaigning. (we can help with that)
Unfortunately our work does attract some odd people occasionally, and you need to be sure that you can turn off any involvement easily. Never give out your personal phone number, email or home address. In the unlikely event that you do encounter any negative attention, please let us know and we will intervene.