General information about new initiatives, events, and help available from Volunteering England and other organisations
How to take care of risk in volunteering - a guide for organisations (download pdf 4.7mb)
Launch of Investing in Volunteers for Employers
‘Investing in Volunteers for Employers’ has been developed to help improve the management and outcomes of employer supported volunteering programmes (ESV). The development of the new standard has been funded by CapacityBuilders as part of the ChangeUp programme delivered by the Volunteering Hub. Through the Website: http://www.investinginvolunteers.org.uk employers can explore the ten key areas of employer supported volunteering best practice. These can then be used to benchmark current work. Areas covered by the standard include: Recruitment; Supervision; Risk management; Recognition.
The Investing in Volunteers for Employers framework is available free of charge, with a registration fee for those wishing to gain the externally assessed, UK wide, Investing in Volunteers for Employers quality mark.
Disability Volunteering
National disability organisations, Scope and Leonard Cheshire have produced a guide designed to help volunteer managers make their volunteering opportunities accessible to young disabled people.
Funding from the Home Office has financed the development of the guide, which has been co-produced with a group of young disabled people. It includes practical advice on involving and recruiting young disabled people as volunteers and is available free to interested organisations.
The toolkit can be downloaded from: http://www.can-do-volunteering.org and is available as a printed booklet, on a CD or in alternative formats free of charge from Tel.: 01908 321 049 or Email: publications@scope.org.uk
Faithful Volunteering
In a faith community nearly everyone is a volunteer: the members of the managing council, youth leaders, visitors, Boards and Committees – nowadays there are many volunteers serving as priests, pastors or congregational leaders. It becomes different if organisations involve people from other faith communities in their work. Church and Society has produced a good practice guide which focuses on using volunteers outside our particular local faith community although many of the good practice guidelines apply in all circumstances.
Copies of the ‘Faithful Volunteers’ Good Practice Guide (MS Word Format) can be downloaded from: http://www.changeupmerseyside.org.uk/docs/faithvolunteering.doc
‘V’ - 1 Million New Young Volunteers by 2010
‘V’ is an independent charity set up as a result of the government project, the Russell Commission which spoke to over 6000 young people and more than 700 organisations involved in volunteering. The Commission made a number of recommendations including setting up an independent charity to get more young people volunteering and inspire a new generation of young volunteers (at least 1 million more 16 – 25 year olds in volunteering by 2010). So what does that mean? It means more young people on community radio, more young people improving the environment, more young people running sports clubs, more young people taking part in international projects - basically more young people giving their time and talents to improve their communities. For more information visit the Website: http://www.wearev.com
Jus’ Do it
Jus’ Do it is a V youth-led peer research project which recently asked young people from BME and faith groups about their experiences of volunteering and has provided some best practice recommendations for organisations wanting to attract more volunteers from those groups. Changemakers has published a brochure of case studies and a short film which are both available from the Website: http://www.changemakers.org.uk
Volunteering England Information Line
The Volunteering England information line is doubling its opening hours. It is now open from 9.30am - 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. The free phone number is Tel.: 0800 028 3304. The information service can answer questions on all aspects of volunteer management, such as CRB checks, benefits rules, health and safety, and dealing with difficult situations. The service is also available via Email: information@volunteeringengland.org
Code of Practice for Volunteer Fundraisers
The Institute of Fundraising have developed a code of practice for volunteer fundraisers. The document can be obtained for free from the Institute of Fundraising's Website: http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk
Fire Safety Risk Assessments
Voluntary and Community organisations will soon be required to appoint a 'responsible person' and undertake a detailed fire safety risk assessment. The ODPM have published a range of free guidance on what preparation steps organisations should take. For details visit: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1162101
Good Employment Factsheets
The UK Workforce Hub has produced a range of free factsheets on good employment practice. They are particularly useful for voluntary organisations without dedicated Human Resources (HR) expertise and trustees taking on responsibilities for employment for the first time. The factsheets are available from the Website: http://www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk
The UK Workforce Hub is currently developing a new set of standards for campaigners. Consultations on the draft version of these standards will last until 2 June 2009
NCVO HelpDesk
A free telephone, email or textphone service is available for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) volunteers, paid workers and trustees. Offering advice, support, signposting and information the HelpDesk is open Monday to Friday (9.00am - 6.00pm). Tel.: 0800 279 8798, Email: helpdesk@askncvo.org.uk
Voluntary Arts Network Briefing Papers
The Voluntary Arts Network aims to promote participation in the arts and crafts across the UK and ROI, and increasingly in Europe. For further details visit the Website: http://www.voluntaryarts.org. The Website boasts a range of useful Briefing Papers which can be downloaded including: ‘Consultation – making it work for you’; ‘What do I need to know about Copyright?’; ‘Networking; not just nattering’ etc.
Registering as a Charity: Evidence of CRB Disclosures
The Charity Commission has published specific guidance for Voluntary and Community organisations seeking to register with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) as a charity working with children or provide care services to vulnerable adults. For further details visit: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/registration/crb.asp
Governance Hub Toolkits
Three new toolkits have been produced and are available to download for free from the Governance Hub website.
The toolkits are designed to help organisations to:
1. Use ‘Good Governance; the Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector’ either to assess their governance performance or to learn more about governance (or both).
2. Use the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Trustees and Management Committee Members (Trustee Standards). The toolkit provides trustees and others with the practical tools and signposting needed to use the Standards to improve performance.
3. Improve the ways in which they recruit trustees. The toolkit presents a 10-step process to trustee recruitment, starting with the initial stages of planning and concludes with the final evaluation of the process.
The toolkits, including the various exercises, handouts and model documents can be downloaded from the Governance Hub website or are available on a CD Rom. Printed copies can be purchased for £15.00 plus P&P. For more information visit the Website: http://www.governancehub.org.uk
Getting Trustee Recruitment Right
How do you go about finding new trustees and what skills should you look for? And, importantly, how do you know what checks to make – especially if your charity works with vulnerable beneficiaries?
The Charity Commission are shortly planning to publish a new guide, ‘Finding new trustees: what charities need to know’, which will go through the processes involved, from undertaking a skills audit, to advertising vacancies, to being clear about when Criminal Records Bureau checks really needed.
Finding new trustees: what charities need to know (order code CC30) will give practical guidance for each step of the process and should help boards get it right first time when recruiting new trustees. The guide will shortly be available from the website: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk or by calling The Charity Commission direct on Tel.: 0845 000 218
New Voluntary Sector Management Qualification
Charitytraining.com is offering a BTEC Professional Certificate in Voluntary Sector Management, supported by the awarding body EDEXCEL. The qualification has been specifically designed to meet the development needs of charity professionals and is the first of its kind within the UK. For more information visit the Website: http://www.charitytraining.com
Stronger Communities Equals Safer Communities
The Home Office has published evidence that local strategies targeted at increasing a sense of community could also reduce levels of neighbourhood crime. The research shows that local areas that have a higher sense of community have lower levels of 'all reported crime'. The report can be downloaded (PDF Format) from: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/rdsolr1906.pdf
Volunteering Hub Good Practice Bank
The Good Practice Bank brings together articles, information sheets, case studies, links and other helpful guidance on a range of volunteering issues. The Bank aims to grow and evolve as more information is added to it. It also aims to allow users to share their documents with other volunteering organisations.
Visit the Bank at: http://www.volunteering.org.uk/managingvolunteers/goodpracticebank
Volunteering Information Sheets
Volunteering England offers a series of printable Information Sheets via their website. The sheets cover topics from expenses and health and safety to insurance and accreditation. Some of the sheets are aimed at potential volunteers, while others have been written as guides for volunteer managers. The latest Information Sheets include: Definitions of volunteering; Making a decision on involving ex-offenders; How to say 'thank you' to your volunteers; Monitoring & evaluating a volunteer programme; National Statistics on volunteering; Problem Solving Procedures. To access the full list of Sheets visit: http://www.volunteering.org.uk/information
NACVS Name Change
NACVS has changed its name to NAVCA, the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action. NAVCA is the national voice of local voluntary and community sector infrastructure in England. 360 NACVA members work with over 140,000 local community groups and voluntary organisations, helping them to provide services, regenerate neighbourhoods, increase volunteering and tackle discrimination in partnership with local public bodies. For further details visit the Website: http://www.navca.org.uk or Email: navca@navca.org.uk
Volunteers - The Heart and Soul of the Sector?
Do you recognise the following: ‘Volunteers goodwill is as valuable an asset and as formidable a force as funds raised from supporters’ but ‘the rise of professional fundraising and the professionalisation of the sector over the past few decades have resulted in the role of volunteers often being downplayed. A report has been published which highlights these and other concerns which can be downloaded from: http://www.nfpsynergy.net
Age Discrimination Factsheets
The DTI has published eight factsheets on the age discrimination regulations which will be introduced in October 2006. For further information visit: http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/discrimination/age-discrimination/age-legislation/page29258.html
PLEASE NOTE
Inclusion of third party information in this section of the volunteeringrichmondshire website does not constitute an endorsement by Richmondshire Volunteer Centre. RVC takes no responsibility for the quality of third party events, products or services featured in this update.
