Volunteering round-up: July 2019

Volunteers’ Week 2019 – survey

We’ve already started planning for Volunteers’ Week 2020. To help us, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this year’s campaign: you can let us know what you think by taking our short survey.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, is anonymous and will help us plan future Volunteers’ Week campaigns. Please do forward this on to people in your club, group or organisation. The survey will close on Friday 26 July.

As a thank you for completing the survey, we are offering the chance to get a £100 voucher to spend on your volunteers (one entry per organisation) as well as the chance to be involved in shaping our future campaigns and services. If you do give us your details, this will be held separately to your survey responses.

UK Civil Society Almanac 2019

On 19 June, NCVO launched the 2019 edition of the UK Civil Society Almanac. and download all the data and tables for free.

The new data shows that overall levels of volunteering have remained stable. More than one in five people volunteered at least once a month for a group, club or organisation. However, lack of diversity continues to be an issue: formal volunteers are more likely to be older, well-educated and from higher socio-economic groups.

Lisa Hornung, NCVO researcher, has summarised the key Almanac findings and Elizabeth Chamberlain, NCVO’s head of policy and public services outlines what the data tells us about the policy environment.

Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference 2019

The Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference, organised by the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN) and NCVO will be held on 10 and 11 September at Aston University Business School. The conference provides a great opportunity for academics, policy makers and practitioners from the UK and further afield to come together to share and discuss the latest volunteering research. View the programme for the conference and book your place. The early bird rate deadline is 12 July.

NCVO Campaigning Conference 2019

Our annual Campaigning Conference is the major event for campaigns, public affairs, and policy professionals working across the voluntary sector. This year’s conference will take place on Friday 6 September at NCVO in London. Join us to learn practical skills, share knowledge and expand your network. This year’s conference includes a breakout session looking at how organisations can ensure their campaign volunteers are representative of their supporters and present an authentic voice.

Exploring the links between family and volunteering

Over the coming months, NCVO will be undertaking a research project exploring the links between family and volunteering. We’re delighted that this research is being funded by Sport England, Pears Foundation, Greater London Authority and the Scouts Association.

The project, carried out in partnership with the University of Birmingham and the University of Salford, aims to:

• improve understanding of how families engage with volunteering and how organisations engage with families through volunteering
• use the evidence to support volunteer-involving organisations that want to develop or enhance volunteering opportunities for family members.

To find out more about this project you can read NCVO head of research, Véronique Jochum’s recent blog. If you want to be kept informed of the project’s progress and/or would consider taking part, please let us know by completing our expression of interest form.

Employer-supported volunteering research – reflections from the Corporate Volunteering Network

We were delighted to collaborate with the Corporate Volunteering Network (CVN) to produce the Time Well Spent focused report on employer-supported volunteering, released earlier this year.

In  recent guest blog on the NCVO website, the Corporate Volunteering Network provide their perspective on the findings from the report and tell us about their upcoming plans. The Corporate Volunteering Network (CVN) is a peer-to-peer networking group for individuals who work for charities and manage employee volunteering opportunities with their corporate partners.

Investing in Volunteers (IiV)

Investing in Volunteers (IiV) is the UK quality standard for good practice in volunteer management. IiV provides the framework for high-quality volunteering from the perspective of both your volunteers and your organisation. The standard’s nine quality areas cover all aspects of volunteer involvement, ensuring an excellent volunteer experience from interview to exit.

The Investing in Volunteers journey provides an opportunity to review and develop your volunteer management programme in line with the UK standard. You will demonstrate and develop existing practice to ensure meaningful volunteering and enhance your reputation for future volunteer involvement and funding. Find out more about IiV.

You can also read a recent IiV achiever’s blog: Iver Morgan, head of volunteering, apprenticeships and placements at St Mungo’s, tells us about their amazing volunteers, Volunteers’ Week and how IiV helps them support and celebrate volunteering.

New home for Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) at University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia (UEA) and NCVO are delighted to announce that the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) is to move to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia from September 2019, when the new academic year begins.

NCVO is giving the institute’s name and intellectual property to the university. Its extensive evidence bank from over twenty years’ previous work has recently been made freely available on the British Library Social Welfare Portal.

The IVR was set up in 1997 to undertake high quality research on volunteering. It started out as a department of Volunteering England in 1997, and in 2013 it became part of the research department of NCVO. During the last 20 years, IVR has played a leading role in applied volunteering research involving volunteer organisations, the public sector, private sector and the government.

Paul Reddish appointed chief executive of Volunteering Matters

Volunteering Matters have announced that Paul Reddish will take over as their new chief executive. Paul joins the organisation from Project Scotland where he has been chief executive since 2012.

Training and events

Keep up to date with latest volunteering policy, research and practice at our sector-leading training and events:

• Volunteering and the law – 12 July, 15 November 2019 – NCVO Conference Suite, London (One-day course running on two different dates)
  This one-day course helps you to understand volunteering and the law in relation to issues such as safeguarding, data protection, health and safety, equality and diversity, insurance and benefits.
• Good practice in volunteer management – 22 July, 13 September, 18 October, 6 December 2019 – NCVO Conference Suite, London (One-day course running on four different dates)
  This one-day course provides an introduction to the key principles of good practice in volunteer management and how to apply them to your organisation.
• NCVO Campaigning Conference 2019 – 6 September 2019 – NCVO Conference Suite, London
  The major event for campaigns, public affairs, and policy professionals working across the voluntary sector. Join us to learn practical skills, share knowledge and expand your network.
• Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference 2019 – 10 and 11 September 2019 – Aston University Business School, Birmingham
  The conference provides a unique opportunity for academics, policy makers and practitioners from the UK and further afield to come together to share findings and discuss the implications of research. The theme for this year’s conference is ‘a civil society for the future. The early bird rate deadline is 12 July.
• Assessing the impact of your volunteers – 26 September, 28 November 2019 – NCVO Conference Suite, London (One-day course running on two different dates)
  This one-day workshop will give you step-by-step guidance on how to assess the impact your volunteers are having on your organisation, your beneficiaries and themselves, as well as on the wider community and other stakeholders.
• NCVO/BWB Trustee Conference – 4 November 2019 – The Brewery, London
  Join 400 colleagues from across the sector at the leading annual event for trustees, chairs, honorary treasurers, chief executives and anyone who works with a governing board.