If this sounds like one of those deliberately provocative ‘clickbait’ headlines, then I’m sorry to have to say this is a real question being asked in the voluntary and community sector. Only this week I got an email from someone struggling to recruit volunteers for an event who told me, ‘volunteering is a dying trait’. …
Category Archives: Volunteering
Just a few days left – WIN £200 for a charity or community group of your choice
There are only a few days left to win £200 for a charity or community group of your choice. As promoted by Smiley News, all you need to do is complete the very quick and easy anonymous survey about employee volunteering from not-for-profit social enterprise Works4U: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/5R8ZBC3 Works4U is an employee volunteering specialist and the …
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2022-23 UK Employee Volunteering Survey
There is a big contrast in the significant level of employee volunteering activity in the UK compared to the small amount of data, analysis and research on this topic. It is actually quite surprising. Employee volunteering specialist, not-for-profit Works4U, is addressing this large gap by launching a dedicated employee volunteering survey that will provide, perhaps …
Lead Volunteering Organisation (LVO) Quality Standard is Live!
I am proud and pleased to say the brand new Quality Standard called Lead Volunteering Organisation (LVO) is now live! Designed by a volunteer infrastructure organisation for volunteer infrastructure organisations. To explain in other words, I have selfishly created a Quality Standard that I want for my volunteer infrastructure organisations and so it will probably …
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Under 3mins Pitch: Why being a Trustee is the best Volunteer role
In the video below, I outline in under 3 minutes why being a Trustee is the very best volunteer role there is. If you cannot bear looking at my face for that long, and I do not blame you, then you can read my blog article explaining similar arguments.
Initial Response to Kruger ‘Levelling up Communities’ Report
Last week the government published the ‘Levelling up our communities: proposals for a new social covenant’, report by Danny Kruger MP which has recommendations and suggestions for developing civil society based on the amazing response by the voluntary and community sector to the Covid-19 pandemic. In late June Danny was asked [note: I am not …
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Volunteer Managers’ Cafe
I am pleased to report on the success of a new innovation for 2020, a Volunteer Managers’ Café, that started before Covid-19 and has carried on through the crisis and is becoming more important during the recovery phase and beyond. At Volunteer Centre Camden we have a dedicated service to support best practice volunteer management …
Covid-19 Volunteer Response: Boats Analogy
As I have been asked a few times, here is my boats analogy for explaining the volunteering response to Covid-19 in the UK. It helps explain the different speeds and approaches of the different participants in society and also how they have come together. Mutual Aid Groups – DinghiesMutual Aid Groups (MAGs) and similar were …
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Trustee – Probably the best volunteer role there is
More people should be trustees. They really should. It is often forgotten as a volunteer role, but it is absolutely one of the best ways to volunteer your skills and experience and make a real significant contribution to a charity. This truly fantastic volunteer role suffers, in my view, due its name. The word ‘trustee’ …
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Why do so many misunderstand DBS?
The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, formerly Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), is widely used throughout the voluntary and community sector to involve volunteers but I never cease to be surprised at how often it is misused, either through misunderstanding or deliberately. At the Hammersmith & Fulham Volunteer Centre, we are an authorised umbrella DBS …