Volunteer and sponsor opportunities

The BiG Challenge is looking for volunteers and sponsors to form a BiG part of our flagship Sheffield enterprise competition.

Why is business involvement so important?

Research tells us that if a young person has four or more opportunities to spend time with an employer, they are 86% less likely to become unemployed or disengaged after leaving education and increase their academic attainment.

Building in opportunities for young people entering the BiG Challenge to spend time with businesses is critical, not just because of the potential to improve life chances, but also to provide a real world context to enterprise activities.  Who better to receive business advice from than a local business person?

Download the Skills Builder - Toolkit for Employers

We have three key ways that we’re inviting business to get involved:

Advisory Board

BiG Challenge Advisory Group members support the development of the competition and provide an insight from a business point of view. 

This is an ongoing strategic role, working with other businesses on the Advisory Group and making recommendations on the future direction and development of the competition.

This is an unpaid volunteer role from October until March to begin with - there may be an opportunity to be part of the group longer term if desired.

Advisory Group Members will:

  • Attend four meetings over the course of the project for around one hour at a time
  • Help to inform and steer the competition, providing an insight from a business point of view
  • Support the promotion of the BiG Challenge as a flagship educator and employer collaboration initiative for the city
  • Declare any potential conflicts of interest and agree not to use their position to promote or sell services of any sort to schools or colleges

For full details and how to apply, please see the role description.

Business Advisor

BiG Challenge Business Advisers support the student teams with the development of their ideas and setting up their businesses. 

This is an ongoing role, working directly with young people and teachers / school staff.

This is an unpaid volunteer role from October until February.

Business Advisers will:

  • Be matched with a school to work directly with their BiG Challenge teams, help them to shape their ideas, develop them into businesses and promote them to their peers and customers
  • Advise on a variety of topics (e.g. business planning, marketing, finance, sales, team work etc.)
  • Be able to commit to eight face-to-face interactions between October and February (roughly every fortnight for 1-2 hours)
  • Declare any potential conflicts of interest and agree not to use their position to promote or sell services of any sort to schools or colleges

We are looking to build a team of Business Advisers that reflect the diversity of Sheffield in terms of disabilities, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background, and actively encourage participation from volunteers who are able to contribute to this.

As this role is working directly with young people, we will require a Criminal Convictions Declaration and DBS check (to be carried out by Sheffield City Council at no cost to the volunteer).

For full details and how to apply, please see the role description.

Award sponsorship

We are looking for businesses in Sheffield to get involved in the challenge by sponsoring one of the final awards.

As a sponsor, you will:

  • Be able to take part in our Judging Panel, hearing directly from young people about their ideas and experiences
  • Be listed as a key sponsor on our website and in all promotional materials (eg Awards Night Brochure and press releases) and on social media
  • Announce and present the award for your chosen category at the Award Ceremony

Download full details on this sponsorship opportunity.