What to put in your sponsor profile
When you sign up to Reset’s matching service as a sponsor, you’ll be asked to fill in your profile/application and attend our online e-learning, which you’ll be able to access as you fill in your application. The profile includes information about you, your household and the area where you live. We’ll use this profile to match you with refugees, and refugees will view your profile before deciding if they would like to be in contact with you. When filling in your profile, it’s important to take the time to consider who you feel able to sponsor and to provide them with information about your sponsorship offer. Remember that your potential matches will be choosing the sponsor they wish to connect to, so the more accurate information we hold about you, the better.
10 Tips to Write a Profile
It’s important that when you create your matching profile, you provide as much information as possible to your potential guest(s). It can be difficult to write about yourself, especially if you don’t know what exactly to write. To help you through the process, we’ve written these top 10 tips on what to include in your profile – and the easiest way to write it.
1. Put yourself in their shoes
Before you start writing your profile, take a moment to try and imagine yourself in the position of a Ukrainian that needs to be hosted. What do you think you would want to know? What would be important information to you? Try to incorporate this into everything you write on your profile. That way, it’s authentic, personal and precise
2. What are you offering? This may sound simple, but the clearer you are on what you’re offering in your profile, the easier it will be to match with someone.
One of the first things to write on your profile is how many people you can host , and how many rooms you are offering. You could also include what the rooms are like – is it in a private area in the house? Will they have their own bathroom? It could be a converted out-house in the garden. All of these details will help make your match the right fit for both of you.
3. What does your life look like and how will your guest fit into that? Describe what kind of support you can give your guest(s).
This is totally up to you. There’s no one way to host, and everyone will do it differently! You can decide how you want to provide support and care for your new guests. If you’re working a 40-hour week and struggle to have much time for yourself, the type of hosting that could be best for you is to provide a room and leave the rest up to them.
If you have some time on your hands, you could offer more help (but don’t feel like you must). This type of help depends on you – it could be anything from inviting them to come out with you and your friends on the occasional evening, to joining in on activities such as going to the gym or Pilates to offering guidance and support on getting to grips with life in the UK.
Whatever you choose must work for you and those who live in your household. Including how involved you could be in their lives and how involved they might be of yours, will help to manage their expectations when they arrive.
4. Introduce your area and try to be as informative as possible.
This isn’t about ‘selling’ your local area, but more a chance to introduce potential guests to your city or town. Things to consider are: Where are the closest shops/cafes? Is it lively or very quiet? Is it mostly old or young people, or a mix? If you live in a rural area, what’s the closest town? And how long does it take to get there? It’s best to be honest and open about some potential limitations or challenges of living in your area as well It is important that the person choosing you as their sponsor are able to make an informed decision If you’ve chosen to host families with young children, you could say what kind of schools are available in your area.
You don’t need to write too much on this, as we provide potential guests with the first 3 digits of your postcode, and most people will research the host town or city before they arrive – but it’s good to give a personal perspective!
5. What’s your home life like and how will your guest(s) fit into your home life?
It’s good to let your guests know on your profile how they will fit into your home life, and what your home life is like! You might be somebody who likes a lot of personal alone time, and likes to be quiet in the house, or maybe you often have friends or family over for tea or dinner. It could be that your household is strictly vegetarian or vegan, and you would prefer that it stays that way while your guest is staying with you.
Think about things like your home-life routine. If you have children, do you have a set dinner time? Or even an evening every week dedicated to spending time with your kids – such as a Friday movie night. If you live with a partner or a friend, do you have a way of living together? Even if you live alone, you probably have some kind of schedule.
Think about how your new guests will fit into this. It’s hard to know before you’ve tried, but if you can, think about things like if you’re comfortable sharing mealtimes with them, if you want to include them into your personal life (such as being invited to watch films with you and your family in the living room).
All these things are good to share on your profile so that your potential guests can understand what kind of home life they are being invited into. Remember that there isn’t a single way to host, and you choose your boundaries.
6. Costs of Living
As life becomes more expensive, it’s important that you let your guest know an estimated cost of living in your area (and home).
You may choose to ask your guests to contribute to utility bills, in which case it’s good to give them an idea of how much that will be. You can do this by checking your last utility bill, dividing it by how many people live in your household and then dividing that by 30 days. This way, you’ll get a rough estimate of the cost per person for one month. You can also use websites like numbeo to figure it out.
As we know, places like London are a lot more expensive than smaller villages in the UK – so it’s good to give your guests an idea of supermarket prices, rent prices (for when they leave after 6 months and potentially choose to stay in the area), and travel costs.
The best advice we can give is to be as honest as possible. It’s amazing that you are offering your house to a refugee, and that is more than enough. Don’t feel bad to ask for contributions to utility bills.
Check our Cost of Living resource for more information
*Please note that as part of this scheme, you cannot ask for rental contributions from your guests.
7. Use basic English, and try to avoid slang or acronyms
A lot of Ukrainians’ will be using apps on their mobile phones to translate your profile. Try to use simple words and steer away from common saying in English like, ‘it’s a piece of cake’, or ‘we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it’. The word “bungalow” also translates into holiday home in some languages so be sure to use “single story”. This way, they will understand everything on your profile and won’t get confused by bad translations!
8. Pets! If you have a pet, share a little bit about them on your profile
All pets are different and have different needs, and that goes for the owners too. If you’re choosing to host children, but your pet hasn’t been exposed to them, we would recommend not hosting young children as you don’t know how your pet will react. You might have an anxious pet, in which case, it’s good to specify that the first few weeks of your guest being in your home might need some patience and active engagement to manage the pet’s anxiety. You could also have an overly friendly pet, who loves to be petted and given attention. Not all people love animals, so if you have one in your home it’s important you share these details on your profile!
9. Introduce yourself!
With all of this information, don’t forget to write about you (and your family) on your profile. It can be hard to write about yourself, but you can just write a few lines about what kind of things you like or dislike, how you like to spend your time or what you do for a living. Giving a small glimpse of your life and your personality to a potential guest can help in finding the right fit for you.
10. Be authentic and honest
You’re offering a vulnerable refugee a place to live for six months, and that’s a big deal. Being authentic and honest in your profile is one of the most important things. It gives your potential guest(s) a real idea of who you are and what your boundaries are. It’s normal to want to be as open and welcoming as possible, but make sure you’re not over-promising and always being honest.
