Inspiring examples
Have you signed up to the Charter? Send us a short case study about your work with volunteers, why you signed up, and how the Charter or Health Check has made a difference to you. We enjoy pictures, too, if you have any!
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The European Year of Volunteering has now ended! The last theme was Health and Social Care - we've gathered case studies to celebrate this, including revisiting Cherry Lodge Cancer Care who was our first Volunteer Management Charter sign up. Previous themes have included Arts and Culture, when we looked at case studies from Harrow Arts Centre, and the Southbank Centre's volunteer programme 'Summer of Fun', Sports and Environmental volunteering.
European Year of Volunteering tour event at Coin Street, 29 October - 3 November 2011. Video shot and editted by Joshua, Project Volunteer.
Interview with Philip Boye-Anawomah, Volunteer Officer, Voluntary Action Islington.
1. How many of you are in the VC team and what is your role?
2 members of staff 12 volunteers. My role is Project Officer Volunteering, so I run the Volunteer Centre.
2. What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?
My team of volunteers are great to work with. They bring enthusiasm and passion to what they do, and in turn get a great thrill out of helping prospective volunteers. I also get a lot out of helping the smaller, volunteer led organisations and seeing them grow.
3. What is the biggest challenge that your VC faces on a regular basis?
Like many third sector organisations, a lack of capacity due to a lack of funding, combined with increased demand for the services we provide.
4. If your VC won £1million on the lottery, what would you do with it?
I would secure the funding of the key projects, and set up a scheme where each year 1 former volunteer could get paid to work as volunteer coordinator of the remaining volunteers in a production line that would turn out skilled volunteer coordinators that could find employment in other organisations.
5. What personal volunteering experience do you think most fondly of?
I previously volunteered with the Volunteer Centre in Islington as part of the recruitment/brokerage team. It was new to me, though I had extensive advice experience from the legal sector. I learnt so much about the Borough I lived in from the people I met, and was amazed at the range of un-tapped skills. Though the people that I met were not facing the loss of their property or liberty, I have learnt from many of them since that the decisions made have helped them gain work, or change career or brought them out of their shells, or just made them feel better about themselves. I am happy to (along with my colleagues) have been part of that process.
Interview with Richard Pitts, Volunteer Plus Project Manager, Barking & Dagenham Volunteer Bureau
1. How many of you are in the VC team and what is your role?
We are a team of 7 people and my role is manager of the new Volunteer Plus project that we have launched in Barking and Dagenham. The project is designed to develop an inclusive community of organisations providing accessible information, support and guidance for local people looking to volunteer within the borough. Volunteer Plus centres are located throughout the borough and include a wide range of organisations that represent the local community. This includes theatres, art centres, council offices, libraries, community centres and Dagenham and Redbridge Football Club.
2. What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?
Having the opportunity to work on a new and creative project that enables me to meet up with a wide range of people and community groups who are providing valuable services and volunteering opportunities. I have learned a lot from having the chance to travel around the borough and see what is happening first hand within the community.
3. What is the biggest challenge that your VC faces on a regular basis?
Funding our work is always a challenge particularly in the current economic climate but the biggest challenge is influencing key stakeholders about the value of volunteering. Volunteering is not ‘working for free’ or ‘getting something for nothing’ but a valued contribution to providing better services and an improved local community.
4. If your VC won £1million on the lottery, what would you do with it?
After we come back from the Caribbean! We would invest in our volunteers who make our services happen. This includes providing access to training and personal development opportunities, supporting them to develop their own volunteering projects and ideas, supplying resources, facilities and equipment to enable them to develop their ideas, providing expertise to mentor them through their own development and rewarding them for their efforts through celebration events and trips to meet other communities where they can share their experience with others.
5. What personal volunteering experience do you think most fondly of?
My current volunteering in my local area of Harlesden with the Harlesden Town Team. The team is made up of local volunteers who work together to try and improve Harlesden and get local residents communicating and working together. The team’s greatest achievement is the development of the ‘Harlesden Town Charter’ which was launched in August 2010 following a series of consultation workshops with Brent Council on matters relating to the development of the public realm. This charter was awarded the Runner Up prize in the ‘Engaging a Hard to Reach Community’ competition.
Interview with Beau, Good Practice Manager at Volunteer Centre Merton
1. How many of you are in the VC team and what is your role?
Including myself, there are 10 paid staff and 12 regular volunteers. As Good Practice Manager, I support local VIOs to build capacity in terms of their volunteer programmes. I also oversee the practical application of the South London Good Practice Programme, ensuring that Good Practice is disseminated in a cohesive manner throughout the region.
2. What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?
Observing the mutual benefits of volunteering in organisation where volunteer programmes are successful (and of course…. 3.30pm when it’s home time)
3. What is the biggest challenge that your VC faces on a regular basis?
Like most Voluntary Sector Organisations, during these times of austerity, funding remains an ever present threat. Outside of this challenge, it’s the ability to be responsive and reactive to an ever changing climate.
4. If your VC won £1million on the lottery, what would you do with it?
Use it to secure the Centre’s medium term future. In reality, I’d be on the first plane out of Gatwick!!
5. What personal volunteering experience do you think most fondly of?
My mentoring experience with young care leavers and young people at risk of offending. I found this rewarding because of the positive influence I felt I was making to individual lives and the impact that they had me. They made me re-examine my own notions and values of society in general.
Interview with Misha, Manager at Volunteer Centre Barnet
1. How many of you are in the VC team and what is your role?
We have a small but highly enthusiastic team of 3 staff members (1 full time 2 part-time) and 5 volunteers. I am the Manager and am responsible for the overall management and smooth functioning of the Volunteer Centre.
2. What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?
The challenge of helping an organisation effectively set up their Volunteering Programme and seeing it develop. Also meeting and working with people from all different backgrounds -hearing their feedback on what a positive difference the volunteering placement has made to their own life, makes all the endless hard work and long hours so worth it!
3. What is the biggest challenge that your VC faces on a regular basis?
To keep on top of all the do-it volunteer applications we receive. We are inundated by them! :-) But that is a positive indicator as well, as it shows the high number of people that are keen to get involved in volunteering. Another big challenge which is faced by most VCs, including ours, is the constant struggle for sustainable funding. The demand on the service is increasing every day and we need further resources to ensure continued sustainable service.
4. If your VC won £1million on the lottery, what would you do with it?
Invest in a shop front! One which has sufficient meeting and training space that can be hired out to other organizations, as well and acting as a source of income. Increase the team strength and run minimum 5 year programmes related to brokerage, youth volunteering, good practices and training for volunteers and VIOs. Have a Borough level Volunteer Awards Ceremony every six months. Also we would love to have mini bus or van which can act as mobile hub and help us to reach out all the residents in Barnet.
5. What personal volunteering experience do you think most fondly of?
Over the years there have been quite few but some of the most moving experiences I have had is with an organisation back in Mumbai where I used to volunteer (years ago) every Saturday for nearly 3 yrs. It was a shelter/ home for children aged 3 months to 12 years, infected or affected with HIV. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my time with the children- playing with them, reading to them, organising day trips for them. It was Fantastic!
Interview with Clare, Operations Co-ordinator at Volunteer Centre Hounslow
1. How many of you are in the VC team and what is your role?
There are 2 staff and 20 volunteers. My role is Operations Co-ordinator but that title means anything and everything and includes amongst other things; managing internal volunteers; running our Volunteer Support Project; advising organisations over good practice and helping them set up their volunteering programmes; and day to day brokerage.
2. What is the most rewarding aspect of your role?
I have two areas I love equally. One is working with groups and facilitating effective volunteer inclusion because you can easily help them make a real difference within their organisation. The second is managing the internal volunteers and watching them develop and succeed. This is hugely rewarding, although a mixed blessing as it often means that we also help them move on in their lives - they often move away from the Volunteer Centre to bigger and better things.
3. What is the biggest challenge that your VC faces on a regular basis?
At the moment it is juggling 50 million tasks with just two of us. There are loads of opportunities opening up for Volunteer Centre Hounslow and the challenge is for the 2 of us to keep up and to be proactive rather than reactive. It is so exciting, and more than a little crazy!
4. If your VC won £1million on the lottery, what would you do with it?
Invest it into a huge, fabulous, shiny new Resource Centre that we could mange for the benefit of the whole VCS in Hounslow and stock it with lots of tea and biscuits!
5. What personal volunteering experience do you think most fondly of?
Although it’s a little while ago now, it would still be my gap year teaching in China which was the most phenomenal year. I grew so much as a person and it really set me on a path towards the voluntary sector.
Cherry Lodge Cancer Care
Cherry Lodge in Barnet, North London was the first Organisation to complete the Healthcheck process when we first started the Experts in Volunteering Project back in 2009. They initially completed the Foundation healthcheck and subsequently went on to do the Full Healthcheck too.
We thought it would be useful to see how they are getting on since they completed the Healthcheck and to see if it has helped them develop their Volunteer Management even further. So we contacted Sue Rose the Volunteer Coordinator and asked her if going through the Experts in Volunteering process has helped her in supporting their volunteers?
Sue replied:- “Yes I do feel that Experts in Volunteering has helped me with supporting volunteers. The Healthcheck highlighted the strengths and weaknesses in our volunteer management and enabled me to deal with the areas we were weak in. It has given me the confidence to know that I am building on good foundations and it is also reassuring to the volunteers that what we do and ask them to do is ‘good practice’. It encouraged us to be more innovative with our induction programme which is so much more interesting to facilitate and it would seem to be enjoyed so much more by the volunteers.
I would strongly recommend signing up to the Charter – it gives you a “Kite Mark” showing to other volunteers and grant making organisations that you have reached a standard of good practice. I also worked with two of the Trustees on this and it helped them to understand what good volunteering practice was all about.” Since their initial sign-up Cherry Lodge have also expanded the volunteering opportunities available by developing a part of the service which recruits volunteer drivers to bring those less well, and unable to get to the centre by public transport, so that they can still receive their services. They have also opened two charity shops one in Barnet and one in Borehamwood which support the valuable work of the Centre, and provide some great volunteering opportunities.
Congratulations Cherry Lodge!
Hogarth's House
Hogarth’s House in Chiswick is nearing the end of a long process of refurbishment with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The House will open in November this year with a team of volunteers to support the work of the House. The Hogarth’s House was the country home of the great painter, engraver and satirist William Hogarth (1697-1764) from 1749 until his death. It was restored and opened to visitors by a local benefactor in 1904. The House closed in 2008 for refurbishment and was originally due to open in 2009. However, a fire in autumn of that year has resulted in a two year delay in opening the refurbished House to the public. The new interpretation scheme will present the historic house as the home not only of the Hogarth family but also of a number of interesting residents over two centuries. Occasional special exhibitions, study facilities and a learning programme will also be provided.
Volunteers will engage with visitors, sharing information about Hogarth, about the House and about Chiswick History, through short talks and handling sessions and when on duty in the House. Volunteers can also choose to become involved in caring for the collection, in preparing special exhibitions and in putting on events and activities. Volunteers will be given training on the history of House, William Hogarth and the local area before starting and ongoing support will be provided throughout their time there. There will be a the chance for volunteers to help develop new resources including special tours of the House. The House’s Volunteer programme will be one of the most important legacies of Heritage Lottery funding helping the House to offer a service to the local community for years to come.
Hogarth's House had a feature on Radio 4's Today programme to coincide with the reopening. Watch and listen here.
Harrow Arts Centre
Harrow Arts Centre (HAC) is an arts venue in North London. We present a varied programme of performances, events and exhibitions across many art forms from local companies to international artists. Volunteers make a vital contribution to HAC, from stewarding at events to supporting our Marketing team.
HAC Ambassadors is a new role helping us to engage with as many communities in the Borough as possible. Ambassadors work with other staff to represent HAC out in their local communities, making sure people in their local area know what is going on at the arts centre and consulting on improvements to our programme. The role is very flexible; some Ambassadors work at events and out in the community and others focus on our online presence. Ambassadors are really important as they help make sure HAC is providing a programme that suits our local community and make sure a wider audience gets involved in our work.
Being involved in the Experts Project helped us clarify our expenses policy and helped work out how we can support volunteers who are mainly going to be based away from the arts centre and wouldn’t see their supervisor every day. We’ve now got a good supervision structure in place to support Ambassadors, with phone, email and regular meetings. This will make a great difference to recruitment of volunteers because people will feel more supported to take on the role.
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Southbank Centre
If you haven’t had a look at what’s going on at Southbank Centre there’s still time! Their Summer of Fun, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Festival of Britain with MasterCard, is on until 5 September, so check out the events programme.
And, if you need information, a small army of volunteers, working in shifts, is on hand to meet and greet visitors to the extensive site. Their headquarters is one of the multicoloured beach huts in front of Royal Festival Hall, and they sport a seasidey-blue cap and shirt.
Andrew Reed, Head of Corporate Responsibility and Compliance, led on the planning and delivery of this summer’s volunteering programme, and is definitely to be congratulated on how it’s developed; its success is a tribute to careful thought and planning – and lots of hard work. Last autumn, staff from VC Lambeth and GLV met with Andrew to chew over such issues as roles, recruitment, job replacement, free events tickets, and refreshments for volunteers, just to check that he had all the bases covered.
He had two recruitment rounds, one at the start and one at the halfway point, opting for a rota system with volunteer Team Leaders on duty each day. He was interested in attracting a diverse volunteer group, and recruited people from Crisis, job shops, and LSE and SOAS students – but they all had to be good communicators, and happy being out and about among visitors, especially on busy days.
Andrew will be evaluating the programme as fully as possible to capture learning for the future …. because, guess what, next summer they have something special planned, too – and volunteers will definitely feature in the festivities.
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Sported
Founder Sir Keith Mills alongside Seb Coe at the launch of the charity in London
Sported were one of the first organisations to sign up to the Charter back in early 2010 and completed the process very swiftly while they were setting up their volunteer mentoring programme. Although many of their policies and processes were developed, they found it really useful to have an expert in volunteer management to go through the health check and develop an action plan. Lekan Ojumu, the London regional manager felt that "the EiV process definitely helped us consider the essential aspects of volunteer management before we started to recruit and manage volunteer mentors.”
So what do Sported do?
Sported is a national charity set up by Sir Keith Mills to “provide business resources and financial support to community sport organisations, enabling them to reach and improve the lives of young people than ever before”
Lekan explains that "rather than delivering our own programmes, we want to support the hundreds of fantastic organisations that are out there already. Sported does this through playing the role of business angels, dedicated to sport for development projects across the UK. The charity offers capacity building support and funding to voluntary and community sector projects which run sport for development activities for young people aged 11-25.
We’ve been very busy working in six focus boroughs in London: Lewisham, Enfield, Haringey, Croydon, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Lambeth. In a relatively short space of time we’ve now got a membership of 76 organisations across London. Our main focus has been offering one to one support to local organisations. We’ve been able to do this due to our team of volunteer mentors that offer business support to members. The mentoring support has been linked directly to our main grant programme.
Membership is open to any organisation in London but for the time being One to One support from one of our mentors is currently available in the six focus boroughs. We will be expanding the number of boroughs this service is offered to so keep an eye on our website www.sported.org.uk for the latest news."
Westminster Volunteer Centre’s, A City Transformed Through Sport
Thanks to Volunteer Centre Westminster for sharing their case study : A City Transformed Through Sport.
A City Transformed Through Sport has been granted the Inspire Mark the badge of the London 2012 Inspire Programme, which recognises innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This is an ongoing programme funded through Westminster City Council that seeks to increase participation in volunteering and physical activity in Westminster. The beneficiaries of the project include prospective volunteers, sports clubs and physical activity providers and their users.
During the first 10 months of the project 42 new volunteers have registered on the scheme as sports volunteers and of these 14 are or have taken part in subsidised sports related training and development including 7 taking level 1 or 2 qualifications.
Volunteer roles have included coaching, administration support, a treasurer, photographer, event support, a qualified physiotherapist, marketing and communications support, web design, and a jogging partner for a blind gentleman.
Esther has been able to utilise the London Volunteer Management Health Check which has been adapted and adopted by Pro-Active to ensure it’s relevance for sports groups.14 sports clubs have been provided with volunteer good practice support and training and as a result over 30 new sports volunteering opportunities have been created.
Already, the project has supported the VC to establish much stronger links with Sports Clubs, from synchronised swimming, to martial arts.
Over the course of the project en estimated 150 volunteers will contribute 35,100 hours, totalling £266, 760 worth of volunteer time.
It is not possible to put a real value on the benefit of encouraging more people to take part in both volunteering and sports activities, but clearly there is a saving to society in terms of improved health and well being.
Hammersmith Community Gardens Association
Our case studies for May and June, in line with the European Year of Volunteering, have focused on the Environment. Have a look at our recent video case study showcasing the excellent work of Hammersmith Community Gardens Association, and other inspiring environmental stories such as Organiclea.
Barnet Countryside Centre
The Friends of Barnet Countryside Centre maintain a 7.5 acre nature reserve in the Green Belt beside Barnet, and organise community open days. The charity is entirely run by volunteers who help with organising and running a variety of events, and with maintaining the site. Environmental education is one of the main objectives and in addition to around 30 school visits this year they run a nature club for primary school children and organise themed events such as dawn chorus and bat walks.
The Group found the Experts in Volunteering process and going through the Health Check extremely helpful. In explaining their ways of working to Lisa, the North London Development Worker, they could identify areas themselves that they needed to work on. As a result they have developed a clear expenses policy document, developed a new induction pack, produced a problem solving policy and set up a comments/complaints box. They have also set up a participation/exit questionnaire which was highlighted through the process and hope that this will enable them to support their volunteers more directly and to find out what they have valued (or had problems with) in their volunteering.
The Friends of Barnet Countryside Centre hope that all of these developments will help the volunteers feel more valued and give the feel that they are involved with a charity that is well organised and has the volunteer’s needs as a priority. www.fobcc.org.uk
Shepherds Bush Housing Group, 2011 Housing Heroes Awards
Shepherds Bush Housing Group’s volunteering manager Jennette Skinner was named inspirational colleague of the year in the 2011 Housing Heroes awards.
Entered by almost 300 housing associations from all over the country, the awards honour the unsung heroes of the social housing world.
Jennette started as a volunteer herself and in the past year alone helped 143 volunteer with SBHG in roles as diverse as driving vans for SBHG’s furniture reuse service through to befriending residents. 89 of them have now moved into full-time work through their volunteering, 12 of them at SBHG.
Jennette said: “I feel very honoured to have been nominated by my colleagues. I love my job and know what a difference volunteering makes. I was made redundant and got back into work by volunteering which built my skills and restored my confidence. I get a real buzz from seeing someone develop. I try to make everyone feel valued and welcomed.”
SBHG chief executive Paul Doe said: “Jennette has completely transformed our volunteering. She inspires us with her empathy, determination and innovation. She has aligned our volunteering with our core value of putting our residents first. Among the many ideas she has brought to us is the Honey Day where our own staff volunteer in our residents’ homes, clearing gardens and decorating for residents who can’t do it for themselves.”
Jennette has signed up SBHG to the Volunteer Management Charter, has gone through the Full Health Check and is diligently working through her actions. Well done Jennette for being such an inspiration!
Outward Staff & Volunteer Conference
Outward is a registered charity in existence for over 25 years and provides support and care services across north and east London. We support over 1,000 people towards improved choice and greater independence including people with learning disabilities, older people, young care leavers and people with mental health problems.
Outward has always involved volunteers at the heart of its mission and over the past few years has taken steps to formalise this by hiring a Volunteering Development Manager and reviewing volunteer involvement at all levels of the organisation. This has also involved working gaining the Investors in Volunteers and Volunteer Management Charter quality marks and working internally to grow the amounts of volunteers we involve and the diversity of roles.
Involving volunteers in the heart of the organisation has meant rethinking many of our activities. One such activity was our annual staff conference used to communicate annual updates and changes to staff and build the team across the organisation. In 2010 we decided that in order to involve volunteers in this we would rename it the Staff and Volunteer Conference and invite all our volunteers to participate alongside up to 200 staff. The event was a huge success with presentations on team working and delivering services with staff and volunteer teams.
Embedding volunteers in our organisation like this sends out a clear message that we value volunteers and that like our staff they are at the very heart of what we do everyday.
Kent Association for the Blind
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KAB (Bromley) is the main provider of help and support to sight impaired people in Bromley, and keeps the register of people who are blind or partially sighted. We provide a free service to those and those who are not registered, with the support of many volunteers who assist with our services.
We provide a very good induction and comprehensive sight awareness training aimed a providing our volunteers with the skills required in their volunteering roles.
What we found most useful going through the Volunteer Management Health Check was learning about the appropriate language to use for volunteers. We have since amended some wording in our Volunteer Handbook and shall review the language used in our general policies, making it more volunteer-friendly. Making these changes will help to demonstrate how important volunteers are to the organisation, and that they warrant appropriate policies and procedures. You can see a copy of KAB's Volunteer handbook in our resource section
Organiclea
Organiclea is a workers’ cooperative growing food on London’s edge in the Lea Valley. They produce and distribute food and plants locally, and inspire and support others to do the same. With a workers’ cooperative at their core, they aim to bring people together to take action towards a more just and sustainable society. They have a 12 acre growing site with about 40 regular volunteers, a box scheme and stall both involving volunteers, and run training sessions and supported gardening sessions. Much of the produce that they distribute has been grown by them or others in East London.
When they went through the Experts in Volunteering Healthcheck the main area highlighted as needing development was the induction process linking through to a safer volunteering environment. They have now looked at the Induction process and put a more robust and consistent checklist in place and risk assessed all of the volunteer roles for the box packing scheme and the Saturday stall. The volunteer co-ordinator Rebecca feels that is has lead to the volunteers being safer and probably more confident in carrying out the role.
When asked how she found the Experts in Volunteering process Rebecca said they felt it was “simple, to-the-point and flexible – we are busy and most of us are working in growing and outdoor roles so can’t be doing with forms and admin! But we still managed to benefit from the process!”
South Mitcham Community Association
South Mitcham Community Association and its Volunteers Working together SMCA is part-funded by Merton to engage the community, work with community partners, be a community centre and provide activities for the community. SMCA fundraises to raise its own money for running costs.
With a staff of just 4 part-timers, volunteers provide vital extra capacities. Volunteer Centre Merton helped SMCA to map its volunteer participation and Wandle Low Carbon Zone helped us calculate the average time each visitor spends at SMCA:
- SMCA engages an average of 50 volunteers per week.
- Volunteers spend an average of one-and-a-half hours per week at SMCA
This information helps funders understand the value that SMCA brings to the community and to see that it is only possible by providing opportunities to volunteer to help organise activities, projects and events for the 1,000+ people per week that SMCA serves. Increasing capacities As SMCA Manager I am mostly tied up with papers and admin.
Working with volunteers is a time I cherish. I give on-the-job training to build on skills and introduce new ones. Supervising trained volunteers gets so much more done than I could do alone, whether it is preparing for events, de-cluttering, repairs or decorations – working in a team is both fun and productive.
Volunteering is one more way we can say “come on in and participate!” Office Staff can often feel cut off from the visitor experience; working alongside volunteers fosters healthy liaison, useful communication and also friendships. Choosing tasks that bring mutual benefits, i.e. tasks that:
- inspire further participation, e.g. event organising, being on a committee
- introduce useful and transferable skills, e.g. enhances employability - involve aesthetic work, e.g. visible improvements that visitors notice
- include responsibility, e.g. team-leader, designer or recording results
- raise funds, e.g. for a charity, a project or some new equipment
- give the opportunity to socialise, e.g. parties, fundraising games
- bring a sense of achievement, e.g. reaches set target, gains certificate
- prepare for employment, e.g. adds to CV, Reference can be provided
Whizz-Kidz
Whizz-Kidz is the leading provider of young people’s mobility equipment outside the NHS, and in some areas we work with NHS partners to reach more children and their families. We provide training, advice and life skills for disabled young people and play a key role in influencing policy decision making through our campaigns and lobbying of government. We aim to support all disabled young people to live a life of freedom at home, at school and at play – and have the independence to be themselves.
The processes we have in place regarding equality and diversity, personal support, and providing a safe volunteering environment are amongst the strongest aspects of how we work with volunteers. As a disabled children’s charity, the area of equality and diversity is extremely important to us and as such we promote high levels of inclusivity, and encourage a diverse network of volunteers. Our recruitment, induction and expenses processes are strong but we are always looking for ways to improve and adapt to reduce barriers to volunteering, and support our volunteers in anyway that we can.
What areas did the Health Check show could be developed?
WK: Organisational Involvement and Personal Development.
What does your organisation plan to do in these areas? WK: We have started regular meetings with all office Interns and the Volunteer Co-ordinator. This is to increase their involvement with the organisation and make sure their voices are heard and included. We also conduct an annual survey of all our volunteers across the UK to consult them on their experiences and opinions, so that Whizz-Kidz continues to develop and adapt to our volunteers needs and improve their experience of volunteering. All volunteer-related policies and the volunteer handbook have recently been updated and there is now more emphasis on the two-way relationship when working with volunteers. We are currently writing guidelines and training for all Staff that supervise volunteers, with emphasis on both parties getting the most from the experience – productivity, development and new skills, and enjoyment.
What difference do you envisage this will make to your volunteers?
WK: I believe this will increase the opportunities for personal development and will also lead to every volunteer feeling more valued and recognised. This will in turn allow our volunteers to be as effective as they can be and have the biggest impact whilst they are volunteering with Whizz-Kidz. I also hope this will increase the retention rates and also the overlap between volunteer roles – for example an office intern then helping at an Ambassador Club and a volunteer fundraiser then helping at a residential camp.
Any other comments how you found the EiV process?
WK: I have found the health check and volunteer charter very useful in giving us a focus to improve how we work with volunteers. Also having someone to contact when a query arises is very useful. Anne responded to me very quickly with a really useful response so I am pleased to be involved with Experts in Volunteering!
The Lexi Cinema
The Lexi Cinema is a community social enterprise that runs regular film screenings for various community groups, such as parents and babies, families, schools, autism friendly screenings, and older people. We also organise discussion groups and shows.
We are relatively new to volunteering, and have recently begun formalising our procedures. Most of our volunteers are front of house, but over the summer we have had volunteers helping us with our outdoor screenings too. We’ve been overwhelmed with volunteering interest, so have really had to think about volunteer roles and recruitment procedures. Experts in Volunteering has helped us develop these areas, and has also helped us think about volunteer support and volunteer involvement in the organisation as a whole. We have set up meetings and volunteer focus groups to ensure they are included as much as possible.
We see our volunteers as ambassadors of our local community who make the cinema what it is. We’ve learnt not to underestimate the time and resources needed for managing our volunteers, ensuring they feel valued, fulfilled in their roles, and want to continue supporting our organisation.
Feltham Arts Association
Feltham Arts’ main aims are to improve the confidence, self-esteem and skills of individuals of all ages through their participation in media, arts and educational leisure projects. These are achieved because of the commitment not only by the paid staff and sessional workers but also the many people who give their time voluntarily.
Developing good communication with our local Volunteer Centre has been very valuable over the past year. We have benefited from a high calibre of volunteers, and have learnt about the importance of balancing the need of the volunteer with the need of the organisation. Volunteers have brought unique and creative skills such as performance and mehndi painting, which we wouldn't have developed without them. Having developed clarity within our organisation on managing volunteers, such as recruitment and obtaining feedback, volunteers’ experiences have improved and we have increased volunteer retention. Volunteers are staying longer and getting more out of their volunteering role.
Volunteer Manager, Brian da Cal, talks about about volunteering at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home:
We are supported by over 400 dedicated volunteers who work across the Home’s three sites in Battersea, Old Windsor and Brands Hatch and without whom the Home would find it difficult to provide the daily walks and socialising our residents need. Around 230 volunteers come to the London site carrying out roles ranging from dog walking and cat socialising through to helping out in offices or at our annual events and shows.
Animal Welfare volunteers go through a selection process to ensure they are able to undertake our animal handling training in accordance with the Home’s high standards of animal care. They also need to be prepared to volunteer in all weathers and this is particularly important for our canine friends who must be exercised every day, come rain, snow or shine!
Our recruitment, induction and continuous training procedures allow us to safely place volunteers in an environment which can be both challenging and rewarding. We also utilise volunteer expertise which fall outside of our standard volunteering roles. Examples include a dog volunteer, also an artist, who regularly sketches our pooches which new owners can buy. We also have a cat volunteer, also a graphic designer, who has drawn us a fabulous 3D map of our Battersea site which is now used by visitors, contractors, staff and volunteers. We truly could not function as successfully as we do without our army of volunteers helping us out in all kinds of ways!
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth based in Hackney have recently signed up to the Experts in Volunteering! We are delighted that they have signed up as they are a high profile organization which is very engaged with volunteers who are very active in developing and supporting the aims of the organization. Their Volunteer Management policies are well established and effective. Head of Human Resources Carol Hughes said of Experts in Volunteering that she found the process interesting and beneficial. It is always useful to have an external perspective and be encouraged to examine existing practices to check if they are still sound or can be improved. In times when resources in all organizations are getting tighter we hope that our Website and Charter Chatter will help volunteer managers keep up to date with issues and developments in an efficient way. With their environmental slant Friends of the Earth have also helped us think more carefully about our paper usage - collaborative working!
Notre Dame Refugee Centre
Notre Dame Refugee Centre runs a drop-in centre for refugees and asylum seekers where clients can access advice, a health service, counselling, ESOL, IT classes, food and clothes. Volunteers help out in all areas of the drop-in centre and are an invaluable part of the service. Signing up to the Charter and going through the Health Check came at a perfect time, as we were just about to review our volunteer handbook. It helped us develop our professionalism and volunteering structures, and ensure that we implement our procedures properly. We have particularly improved on our induction procedures and how to deal with challenging volunteer situations. Having a volunteer handbook that covers all practical information for volunteers is a really good way of making sure everything is covered. It's also important to think carefully about involving clients as volunteers, ensuring they receive enough support and are able to fulfil their role.
Another piece of advice would be to get in touch with Experts in Volunteering. We have already recommended the project to other refugee support agencies that could benefit from their support.
Imperial War Museum
Well done to the Imperial War Museum for completing a full Volunteer Management Health Check.
Pictured below are volunteers happily messing about on a very big boat - maintaining and restoring 72-year old cruiser HMS Belfast requires many hours of dedication and skill. From his office below decks, Volunteer Manager Jim Hutchinson captains IWM's volunteer programme to a high standard. The Imperial War Museum has two other sites in London, the Churchill War Rooms and IWM London (Lambeth); and IWM Duxford and IWM North outside the capital. Worth a visit!
A Rocha UK 
(Lizzie Saunders, Ealing Volunteer Centre Manager, Maria Masih, Office Manager A Rocha UK and May Macnair, West London Development Worker GLV).
A Rocha, meaning ‘the rock’ in Portuguese, is a Christian environmental and nature conservation movement. A Rocha’s projects are cross-cultural in character and share a community emphasis, bringing together individuals through conservation. Volunteers can get involved on a local level, and even internationally, and have the opportunity to enjoy communal lunches and home grown produce from the garden. Maria, the Volunteer Coordinator from A Rocha UK, set up the volunteering programme, and found that being able to start with a blank sheet ensured it was done properly. She sped through the volunteer management foundation Health Check and completed her actions in record time. Most volunteering procedures were in place already, but Maria found that the Health Check was a very useful way of tightening up the system and reassuring her that volunteers are managed well. One area that was particularly beneficial having completed the Health Check was developing a new ‘resolving difficulties’ policy to ensure both volunteer and the organisation know how to deal with any problems that may arise in a consistent manner. Maria has completed the Lantra Awards in Volunteer Management at Ealing Volunteer Centre, and is keen to continually develop her Volunteer Management skills. www.arocha.org/gb-en
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Hilt on Supporting their Volunteers.
In addition to regular supervision, Hilt periodically reviews volunteer placements (we send a questionnaire to volunteers usually after 1 - 3 months and again after 6 months) and the Volunteer Co-ordinator holds exit interviews with volunteers who are finishing their placement. This gives volunteers a variety of ways to feedback to Hilt.
The written reviews enable those who don’t like to raise issues or prefer to write about, rather than speak about a problem, a chance to tell us what they think. Exit interviews allow volunteers to reflect on their wider experience of volunteering and to give their views on the organisation/volunteer scheme as a whole, rather than just their individual role.
Having the chance to reflect means that volunteers can more clearly understand what skills they have gained and what they have contributed to Hilt, which can be useful for their own personal/career development. It is also a way of systematically capturing positive feedback and new ideas.
Based on what volunteers have told us, we have updated our handbook, made changes to role descriptions, increased the amount of information we give to potential volunteers and been able to deal with problems before they escalate. It also helps us to gather evidence of the impact of the volunteer scheme for the volunteers. Knowing what volunteers enjoy most about their time with us, helps us to recruit and retain volunteers more effectively.Emma Long Hilt Volunteer Co-ordinator
Peter Meldrum, PRO ACTIVE Central London.
'The PRO-ACTIVE partnerships work sub-regionally across Greater London to strategically develop opportunities for more people to participate in sport and physical activity.
Managing the volunteer workforce within sport is integral to achieving this target; as a result working in partnership with Volunteer Centres is crucial to all of our work around Sports Volunteering.
The work that the Experts in Volunteering Development Officers are carrying out is extremely valuable to ensure external partners like ourselves, Local Authority Sport Development teams and their associated sports clubs are able to work quickly and effectively across a number of different Volunteer Centres'.
Inspiring Example of Reward and Recognition from Hilt Support Ltd. Since last year Hilt has started to hold an annual volunteer celebration in partnership with another local charity. Although we also nominate volunteers for external awards, we felt that it was vital for us as an organisation to recognise the amazing contribution of volunteers and to thank them for their energy, dedication and enthusiasm.
Last year’s event, our first, was a great success and all those who attended enjoyed themselves. It raised the profile of volunteers throughout the organisation, so that even staff who don’t regularly work alongside volunteers had a greater understanding of their role. It also allowed us to show our appreciation in a fun and relaxed way.
As volunteers from both Hilt and the partner organisation attended, it was a chance for volunteers to meet new people with a similar interest.
It can often happen that staff and managers are busy and don’t necessarily find the time to thank volunteers but this event showcases what they do for Hilt. The Charter reinforced the importance of this kind of recognition event. We plan to hold our next celebration in July. Emma Long, Hilt Volunteer Co-ordinator.
University College London Hospitals: NHS Foundation Trust.
Kerry Tweed, Director of GLV, presents Lesley Borzoni with London's Volunteer Management Charter.
UCLH Foundation Trust comprises several well known hospitals in central London. The Voluntary Services Department provides a diverse range of opportunities including working on wards, complementary therapies, guiding patients and visitors, and running the Citybeat hospital radio.
The volunteering programme has to comply with the policies and procedures of the Trust, and benefits from the Trust's resources in a way probably unique to hospital volunteering, from analysis of demographic data, to vaccinations and medical screening as standard in recruitment, to excellent training opportunities.
Volunteers can tap into the same benefits as staff, for example the counselling service, the occupational health service, in-house magazines and intranet. In exchange for fantastic support and attractive opportunities, volunteers commit for a minimum of 12 months - but many stay longer because they love it. Perhaps not surprisingly, UCLH Foundation Trust ticked just about every box on our Foundation and Full Health Check, so congratulations are due to Lesley Borzoni, Head of Voluntary Services, and the team for heading up a quality volunteering programme!
Cherry Lodge Cancer Care.
Cherry Lodge Cancer Care based in Barnet is the first organisation in London to have completed the Experts in Volunteering Programme. Congratulations! CLCC is a small independent charity committed to improving the quality of life for those living with cancer, their carers and families.(www.cherrylodgecancercare.org.uk).
The centre has a long history of involving volunteers and has a great local reputation of providing invaluable services. Not surprisingly many of their policies and procedures for managing volunteers were already in place but going through the Experts in Volunteering Healthcheck has given them the extra motivation to review and update some of them.
Sue Rose, the Macmillan Home Visiting Manager with responsibility for volunteering, is very experienced in working with volunteers and ensures she is up to date with current good practice in volunteer management, partly by participating with Network meetings and training sessions run by her local Volunteer Centre in Barnet. The Healthcheck process was carried out with the involvement of two of Cherry Lodge’s trustees, this was a great benefit for all; it gave the trustees the opportunity to fully understand the roles, professionalism and commitment of the volunteering team.
For Sue completing the Experts in Volunteering Healthcheck was not nearly as daunting as she feared! She felt it was reassuring to know that the policies and procedures that are in place are up to date and effective, and it was very satisfying to be declared an ‘Expert in Volunteering’. It has also inspired her to continue developing the organisations policies and practices further. Not all organisations participating in Experts in Volunteering will be as well established as Cherry Lodge and the development workers are very willing to work with organisations at any stages of development, in whatever way is helpful to them.
Fanon Resource Centre Merton 
David Pinder (pictured above), FRCM manager, signed up to London’s Volunteer Management Charter in December to make sure his organisation is on track with good practice in Volunteer Management. In fact David's approach to his volunteers and his passion and motivation was immediately apparent. He treats his volunteers, who are at the same time the service users, with lots of care and attention. 'Being rewarded and treated as part of the organisation makes my volunteers very involved and happy' said David. Most importantly, he added, ‘ it gives them self esteem and confidence. Volunteers gain valuable life skills and benefit enormously. I discovered that when volunteers are happy they are also more committed and dedicated to the organisation. The atmosphere here is very welcoming and friendly'. Marzena, the South London development worker, said that David's success lies in the fact that he knows his volunteers and most importantly knows their needs. He has regular support sessions in various formats such as group support and one-to-ones, to allow volunteers to voice their issues regularly. David never leaves any problems to grow - his motto is to tackle it at the base. The charter that David signed up to will be displayed in the common area where his volunteers will be able to see what the organisation commits to with regards to volunteer management. Although David is doing great job, he is committed to work with Experts in Volunteering team and to further improve his good practice.
Case study key
Charter used in early stage planning of volunteer programmes
Charter used to help identify areas of improvement
‘Inspiring examples’ of organisations needing light touch support