Volunteering round-up: January 2018

Welcome to Shaun

This month we warmly welcome Shaun Delaney as the new volunteering development manager.

Shaun arrives following five years heading up volunteering at Samaritans. He is a trustee of Greater London Volunteering and has previously worked with Volunteer Centre Greenwich, including on Olympic/Paralympic-related volunteering programmes.

Shaun says:

I’m thrilled to be joining the volunteering development team. For years, I’ve used the great resources and support on offer from NCVO and look forward to working with the team and members to carry on championing volunteering and volunteer management.

Christmas volunteers

Throughout the festive period, volunteers across the country provided essential support to those facing difficulties and hardship.

Volunteers support people in so many ways, from providing companionship for isolated older people, to ditching dinner to respond to emergencies.

This excellent article profiles volunteers who gave their time on Christmas Day.

Tackling holiday hunger

Volunteers with MakeLunch fought holiday hunger over Christmas by cooking free and healthy food for children who usually receive free school meals.

Stephanie Denning, a researcher at the University of Bristol, spent 20 months running a MakeLunch kitchen over school holidays. On our blog, Stephanie talks about her experience and reflects on the lessons she learned about managing and retaining volunteers.

New year, new volunteers?

Whether you love or lament the #NewYearNewYou mentality, it provides a great hook for charities to recruit volunteers.

Not only are lots of people thinking about changes in their lives, but doing something good can be pitched as a positive way to beat the January blues. Volunteer Pledge, a new initiative from the International Voluntary Service, is tapping into this opportunity.

See our guidance on recruiting volunteers.

Volunteering and the Law – revised and updated for NCVO members

NCVO will be releasing Volunteering and the Law on 30 January. This is a comprehensive resource, covering everything volunteer managers need to know about the legal issues around engaging volunteers. It will only be available to members.

First produced in 2006 by Mark Restall, the content has undergone an extensive update and been reviewed by Lucy McLynn of Bates Wells Braithwaite, a firm providing specialised legal advice to the voluntary sector.

We will be withdrawing member-only Volunteering information sheets and this refreshed content will replace them.

NHS trust achieves IiV

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is the first NHS trust in the North East to achieve the Investing in Volunteers (IiV) Quality Standard. The trust featured in a recent article in The Guardian for its pilot volunteer programme that seeks to reduce the pressure faced by paid staff.

Find out more about IiV, the sector quality standard for volunteer management.

Conferences

We have two big events for your dairies:

• Charity Regulation Conference – 5 February

The regulatory environment for charities is changing fast. The Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator have new powers. GDPR is coming into force and implementing Brexit will have a big impact on charities’ work. It’s vital that you understand the steps you need to take to get legally compliant.

• Annual Conference 2018 – 16 April

Be inspired to think about your challenges in new ways and bring fresh thinking to your organisation. Join us and explore how to effectively harness diversity in thought and action to strengthen your organisation and make a bigger difference.

Upcoming training

We’ve got all the training you need to become an even better volunteer manager in 2018:

• Good practice in volunteer management – 2 February
  An introduction to good practice. Learn how to apply the principles to your organisation.
• Assessing the impact of your volunteers – 8 February
  Step-by-step guidance on how to assess the impact your volunteers are having your organisation, your beneficiaries, and themselves.
• Volunteering and the law – 16 March
  Understand volunteering in relation to issues such as safeguarding, data protection and health and safety.
• Setting up a mentoring and befriending programme – 27/28 March, London
  Practical guidance on how to set up and manage a safe and effective mentoring/peer mentoring or befriending programme.