Benenova innovates with "à la carte" volunteering

Benenova is a platform that offers a new way of getting involved locally and according to one's availability, via short, concrete actions. Founded by the bubbly Stéphanie Andrieux, the platform offers an innovative form of "à la carte" volunteering that could well change civic engagement.

You're a student, an employee or a super-active young retiree. Your life is already full, but you'd like to give a little time to civic action.

Benenova is for you!

Benenova: for volunteering and innovation. Benenova is the answer for those who want to take action but don't always have the time to commit to an association on a long-term basis. Benenova offers one-off actions (usually lasting 2 hours) that can be carried out immediately and are completely practical. By choosing to focus on the timeframe rather than the cause or association to support, the platform allows you to adapt to different agendas, giving you the freedom to choose what you want to get involved in, and multiplying your experiences.

It couldn't be simpler or more responsive! First of all, without registering, you have access to all possible actions for the coming week or fortnight. You choose freely, and if you're ready to get started, you sign up and select the action. Almost instantly, you receive an e-mail summarizing the mission.

We put it to the test: we signed up on Tuesday for an event taking place on Thursday from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. at the Ressourcerie créative (part of Les Grands Voisins), and the description read: sort to recycle and have a good time. A few hours before the event, we received a text message confirming the location, date and contact details of the person who would be hosting us. On the spot, we met Kelly and Maëlle, also volunteers. Vincent from the Ressourcerie gave us a tour of the premises and we got down to "the action". On site, we sorted and tidied the books in the bookshop with Marie, a former bookseller and Ressourcerie employee, and Harriet, who first arrived via Benenova and has since become a permanent volunteer. All in all, time flew by and everything went as planned (including the "good time"!).

Stéphanie Andrieux is behind the idea. She brought the concept back from San Francisco, where she lived and worked for a similar system. When she returned to Paris, she kept the idea in her bag and worked in the non-profit sector. She heard about some not always successful experiences in the voluntary sector, and realized that commitment had changed. "More and more people wanting to take action on a one-off basis - or with little time to spare - were finding it hard to get involved, because most volunteer assignments were long-term and, on the other hand, associations preferred to "avoid" these volunteers, who required too much coordination for too little time within the association". So she thought again of the Californian model. She mobilized her friends and the associations she knew, and launched an initial series of time-targeted actions. The results were immediate. She founded the Benenova association.

"We volunteer as a team," she explains, "we're not on our own, because I'm convinced that 'doing things together' can be a driving force behind interesting encounters and social ties. Each time, we propose a concrete action that doesn't require any special skills. And we're all at the same level, so we can get started straight away. And for more "delicate" actions with vulnerable groups, if there's a need for training, 20 minutes are devoted to it", she describes. So, there are a multitude of actions: you can fight against precariousness by helping to welcome refugees with Utopia 56 or by serving hot meals with the Salvation Army. You can also take action for the environment by helping to create an urban vegetable garden, or against food waste by "gleaning" unsold produce at markets or by riding in the Chaînon manquant van. We can also take elderly people from a retirement home to shows in their own homes, guide blind people or mingle with disabled people to carry out a joint action.

As you can see, the choices are varied, and Benenova works very closely with its partner associations. We meet with all of them," explains Stéphanie, "to ensure that each action is well calibrated (reception, duration, logistics, number of people, etc.) and that it meets the needs of the requesting association". Benenova can also help calibrate actions. For example, rather than one person for two days sorting toys, why not five people for two hours?

The average age of volunteers is 34, and among the testimonials from volunteers who have tried it out, the freedom to choose their action according to their schedule is highly praised. For Olivier: "Benenova is one of the rare associations to offer concrete action in the field immediately", or for Audrey: "the concept of à la carte volunteering fits in well with my schedule".

The association is housed at the Conserv', a venue that brings together associations from the 12th arrondissement in the premises of the former Conservatoire de musique on rue de Picpus, where the municipality wished to offer its walls pending conversion of the site. Stéphanie exclaims: "It's a very enriching experience to be here, because you get to meet other local associations with whom you can develop actions, such as the social bonding actions around collective painting proposed by Splash Mouv'n Swing".

The association launched its first pilot actions in November 2013 in Île-de-France, then in April 2014 in Nantes. Today, over 100 collective solidarity actions are organized every month. It has 3,200 volunteers, 30 supernovas and 100 partner associations, in Île-de-France and Nantes. We're always looking for volunteers, but we're also looking for supernovas: volunteers who act as a link between the Benenova"organizing" team, the associations and the volunteers in the field. Their role is essential to the smooth running of the action.

Are you convinced? For your first experience, sign up and, as Isabelle, one of the volunteers, says: "Let yourself go, because whatever the mission, something enriching and positive always comes out of it!"