Campaigning:
Frequently Asked Questions 2011

A valid debit or credit card
To pay your deposit of £195. We cannot accept payment by cheque or American Express. Your deposit will be refunded onto the same card, so please ensure the account will still be active at the end of your last festival.

Your diary/calendar
To ensure you are available for the whole time we need you onsite at each festival. This will generally be longer than the dates a festival is open to the public.

Details of of how you will travel to each festival
So we know how many car passes to order from the festival and (for some festivals only) how many buses to provide.

A photo
To be used on your new 2011 year long volunteering ID card, so ensure the photo is the same quality as you would use to apply for a UK passport. It needs to be a JPEG (.jpg) file type, less than 50kb in file size and no larger than 3.5 x 4.5 cm.

Shift partner’s details
The full name and date of birth of the people you want to work with so we can match them with you as your shift partners. (If you are accepted to campaign at a festival, your shift partner must be a campaigner. We will not be able to pair you with a steward or a shop volunteer as the shift patterns are very different.)

In order to campaign with Oxfam this year, you will need to provide details of a referee, including their name, the company/organisation they work for, position held, daytime telephone number and email address.

For more information please read the ‘Who can be my referee?’ question, which can be found further down this list.

Emergency contact details
In the unlikely event that you have a medical emergency onsite, we need the name and phone number of someone we could contact. This should not be someone with you at the festival.

Doctor's details
These will only ever be passed on to medical personnel in the above circumstance. If you have a medical emergency, we may be asked to provide your doctor’s details (doctor’s name, surgery address and phone number)

Oxfam is paid by festivals to provide volunteer stewards who are expected to perform a vital service. The role of stewarding forms an integral part of the festival safety system, and failure to work our shifts or fulfil our duties can seriously compromise the safety and welfare of both the festival public and other workers.

Oxfam is also able to bring a number of voluntary campaigners to each festival who help co-ordinate and promote a variety of fun, interactive Oxfam initiatives, aimed at encouraging festivalgoers to get involved with us and our campaign. To find out more information about the role of a campaigner, please download our Campaigner Application Pack.

Campaigners will be required to complete four shifts, each of six hours long and carried out during the day.

You can apply to campaign at any of the festivals listed in the Campaigner Application Pack.

Please note – you cannot apply to steward and campaign at the same festival, nor should you apply for more than one festival on the same weekend.

Campaigners applications will open on 1 March to the general public and close on 15 April. If you are not selected to campaign and you have not applied to steward with Oxfam at festivals you will be refunded by 1 May.

We only have a limited number of places for campaigners and there is a selection criteria in order to help us match the skills required for the role. If you're proactive, upbeat, energetic, fun-loving and happy to go out into the crowd and talk to people about Oxfam, then you'll enjoy the exciting plans we have for this year's festival campaigners. As with the stewarding, we will be recruiting campaigners online. Please follow the instructions on the web page to access the application form.

Aside from the additional box asking you to tell us why you would make a great campaigner, all the other elements of the stewarding application will apply to the campaigners application, i.e photos, paying a deposit, getting a refund, cancellation etc.

This year we want campaigners to arrive the day before the festival opens to the public, to help us set up and prepare our campaigning activities. Campaigners will also need to stay onsite until the Monday. The dates that we want people onsite for each festival are set out in the Campaigner Application Pack. Unlike the stewards, campaigners do not volunteer over a 24 hour period, however, at the festivals where we staff a music marquee, the shifts may run up until 4am.

Campaigners will be expected to complete four shifts, each shift lasting six hours. Shifts may involve several different activities to keep them interesting. As with stewarding, you will get a break and the chance to be paired with your shift partner.

Applications will close on 15 April 2011.

You will only be able to apply for campaigning online. If you don't have a computer, we recommend you go to your local library or internet café.

At the bottom of each of the web pages there is a save for later button, you can click this button wherever it appears during the application process. Then close your browser.

Saving your form uses cookies, so you can only save one application form at a time. Do not save your form on shared or public computers, because if someone else tries to write a campaigning application on the same computer, they will get access to your information, and you will lose your form.

To reload your partially completed application, you will need to go back to www.oxfam.org.uk/festivals. Click on the 'Campaign' button and then click on the apply button. Move to the bottom of the page that appears and click on 'load from before. Your saved application should reappear. Once you have started the process, you can save a partially completed application for up to 30 days, as long as you use the same computer and same browser when continuing with your application. Saving your application does not submit it, and festivals may become full during the time you take to complete the form, so to ensure a place at your chosen festival, it’s best to complete your application in one go and submit it with your deposit payment as soon as possible.

Once we receive your application, the information will be stored on our database. We will use the information to allocate you to festivals and roles, and to facilitate your attendance at the festivals. We will be sharing your names with the organisers of the festivals you are going to for them to issue relevant passes for volunteers to enter the festival and obtain car passes. For some festivals we will share your name and date of birth with the Police to allow them to carry out PNC checks. You are asked to agree to this on your application form.

If you have expressed an interest in finding out more about Oxfam, we will share your details with other departments within Oxfam. We will not share your personal information with anyone else.

To upload your photo, click on the browse button, then navigate to where you have saved the photo on the computer and click OK.

Please note if the photo is too big, more than 4.5 cm (height) and 3.5 cm (width), the form will not accept it. You will need to resize or crop your photo, see below for details.

Guidelines on acceptability and size
Please read the Identity & Passport Service photo guidelines (pdf) for providing an acceptable photograph

Guidelines on resizing your photo:
A guide to cropping images in MS Paint (video)

A guide to cropping images in Photoshop

If you are using other image editing software, please refer to their guidelines on cropping and resizing images.

When you have paid your deposit and submitted your application, you will receive two confirmation emails from Oxfam. The first email is to let you know we have received your application form and the second email is to let you know that your payment has been processed.

If you do not receive an email about your deposit payment or the Oxfam payment email states that your deposit was not authorised, you must call 0300 200 1300 the next working day, with your credit or debit card to hand. We will try to process the deposit again for you over the phone. Please keep your confirmation emails safe.

You will then be sent a third email before 1st May 2011 to tell you whether or not you have been successful in the first round of recruitment. If you have been successful you will receive an email with details of the training day you will be attending and also details of the festivals that you have been provisionally accepted to campaign at. Please note that this offer is provisional and depends upon attendance at a training day and full participation in our training activities.

If your application has not been successful, you will receive notification by email before 1 May 2011. If you would then like to apply to steward with Oxfam instead you must contact us so that we can adjust your status on our application database.

After attending one of our training days you will receive a further email by 27 May. This email will give final confirmation of the festivals that you have been accepted to campaign at this year.

Firstly check your Spam/Junk folder, as the email(s) may be there. You should then add these addresses to your contacts so that future emails will be accepted into your In box.

If the email confirming your application is not there, but you received an e-mail confirming your payment, then your application and payment will have been received.

You can double check this by emailing: campaigning@oxfam.org.uk.

If you didn't receive a Confirmation page, then please call 0300 200 1300 to discuss.

Our computer systems will not send two emails to the same address, so if two people apply using the same email address, one person will not receive emails about their application or about attending festivals they have applied for. If you share another volunteer’s email, please set yourself up with a free yahoo or hotmail account for the purposes of this application, or ask a friend who is not applying to volunteer with us to let you use theirs. Please use a different email address for each person who applies. It is essential that you have access to whichever email account you use to apply because we will be sending you vital information, including the outcome of your application, to the email address stated on your form.

Volunteers who are able to show greater commitment by campaigning at multiple festivals not only help us to keep our costs low but often form more effective teams than those where we have entirely new volunteers. This is something that we value and appreciate and will help your application. So please apply for as many as you like, though make sure they don’t clash, as some festivals are held on the same weekends

Once the positions are filled, you can put yourself on the waiting list by going straight to Stage 4 of the application form. If places become available, we will contact people directly to let them know.

No, one deposit will automatically be carried over until you have completed the last festival you have applied for. If you apply to steward at one festival and campaign at another, you still only need to pay one deposit. You can apply for as many festivals as you like when you complete your application. After that, if you apply for a second festival you will not be asked for a second deposit as long as we have received your first deposit, which can take up to three working days. This one deposit will be held for each festival, and refunded within a month of you satisfactorily completing your last festival of the season.

Please note, you cannot apply to steward and campaign at the same festival.

You must be 18 when you arrive onsite for your first festival, but you can apply in advance of the festival aged 17. There is no upper age limit!

This year we are looking to recruit people for a wide range of roles. You may be an Oxfam supporter or activist, have experience of promotion or be upbeat, enthusiastic and ready for a new challenge.

Please download our Campaigner Application pack to find out more about campaigning for Oxfam at festivals.

Certain visa restrictions apply, if you are not an EU citizen and do not have a working visa please contact the Festival Office by emailing campaigning@oxfam.org.uk to check whether you can volunteer at a festival.

With so many campaigners now on our database, we have quite a few with the same names. To make sure you are paired up with the right person, we need this additional piece of information.

Similar to applying for a job, we don't want you to give your mum or your housemate. We would consider a college lecturer, employer, or someone who knows you in a formal capacity to be appropriate. Your referee will be emailed with a proforma to return to us stating their relationship to you, and whether they consider you to be suitable to act as an Oxfam campaigner. If we fail to get a satisfactory response, we will contact you.

Campaigning at festivals with Oxfam in 2011 will involve a variety of roles to raise awareness of our food justice campaign. Please download our Campaigner Application Pack to find out more details of this campaign.

This varies from festival to festival, ranging from 10 to 80 campaigners per festival.

No. Although we may provide t-shirts, you need to make sure you bring all the appropriate clothing, come rain or shine! Sturdy shoes, suncream and a waterproof coat are essential!

Please indicate what your disability is on your application form and if you need us to adapt your job role.

You can campaign, although we would request that you consult with your midwife closer to the time of the festival, and get them to sign to say they support your decision to attend the festival. There are considerably more health & safety issues related to pregnant workers, and regarding the facilities we as your temporary employer would need to provide. Therefore, if you are going to be more than four months pregnant at the festival, please call the festivals office on 0300 200 1300 so we can discuss your needs.

Oxfam's general policy on bringing children to festivals is:

• · Each working adult volunteering with us can bring two children under the age of 13, as long as they can arrange for childcare whilst they are working their shift. We will require you to fill-out a children's form, which we will post to you once we have received your application form.
• No children can accompany their parents on shift.
• No child is to be left unsupervised in the Oxfam camping area. If any campaigner’s child is found to be disruptive or disturbing other volunteers you may be asked to camp elsewhere in the festival.
• Any children brought onto site are the responsibility of their parents/guardians.
• No child under the age of 18 can be involved in campaigning.
• Children may be required to wear specific wristbands/laminates to identify them as children of volunteers.
• If you wish to bring your children, you need to ensure someone who is not campaigning with Oxfam will be able to look after them whilst you are on shift as volunteer shifts all run at the same time.

In addition, each working adult may also bring up to two children between the ages of 13-18 if they have purchased a festival ticket, to camp in the campaigner's Oxfam area. You will also need to indicate this on the children's form.

However, please note that each festival’s policy on bringing children is different. If you are thinking about bringing children please visit the festival’s website to check their specific policy.

Most festivals are pet-free zones, so please do not bring animals on site. You will not be able to bring a pet into the car park for fear that they may be left in the car. The RSPCA are always on alert at festivals.

Data protection states that we can’t put you in touch with other campaigners, but there are opportunities to talk to other Oxfam volunteers, arrange lift shares and get handy tips on the festivals forum. This also applies if you have met someone at a festival but didn’t exchange contact details at the time.

Yes, we will hold three training sessions in May and attendance at one session is compulsory. The dates and locations of these training sessions are included in the Campaigner Application pack. We will also carry out an on-site training session before each festival opens.

A few people are placed on the 'denied list'. If you have "denied status" your application will not be accepted.

The possible reasons for this are: you did not complete your shifts, you did not show up at a festival where we were expecting you and didn’t let us know, you are a 'serial canceller' and have never actually worked a festival, or we felt that you did not comply with Oxfam’s terms and conditions on site.

If you have 'denied status' and feel that this is unfair, please contact campaigning@oxfam.org.uk.