From: Volunteering England [membership@volunteering.org.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 3:32 PM
To: Steve Blackman
Subject: News from Volunteering England - help us to free volunteering from
red tape
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Volunteering England
members' enewsletter - 9 February 2011 |
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If this message is displayed incorrectly, or to view on a
mobile device, please click here. In the current spate of news stories on the Big Society it is
worth restating Volunteering England’s position. We believe that there is much to commend the concept.
Volunteering has been placed centre stage in the political debate like never
before, and initiatives such as those to strip away red tape and to encourage
employer-supported volunteering in the private and public sectors will
encourage more people to get involved. There are also some interesting ideas
in the recent Giving Green Paper on new ways to stimulate philanthropy and
volunteering which are worthy of close consideration. Our concern, as I expressed in an interview with the BBC News
Channel on Monday, is that the level of cuts being imposed on the voluntary
and community sector at the moment is threatening to seriously undermine the
capacity of the movement to respond to these opportunities. Volunteering is
hugely good value for money but not cost free. Releasing its benefits
requires investment - in the brokerage services that help people access
opportunities, in development of strategy and research and in the art of
volunteer management. When I hear news from our members that the futures of 30
Volunteer Centres are threatened and that volunteer involving organisations
are reducing investment in volunteer management due to reductions in their
funding, I think we are right to be deeply concerned. Our response will be to continue to push government, both
central and local, to recognise the importance of investing in volunteering
and to ensure that the money already promised, such as the £42.5m fund for
volunteering infrastructure, is rolled out as soon as possible so it can have
the maximum impact. At the same time we will continue to support our members
through the difficult transition period ahead. We will continue to make the
case for closer collaboration and partnership working, including mergers,
where they make strategic and economic sense, and to look for opportunities
for our members to get involved in the delivery of public service programmes.
Above all we will continue to make the case as to why
volunteering matters. I would like to draw your attention to a couple of items
featured in this issue of this bulletin – the Free volunteering from red tape campaign
which you can join on Facebook; our work with Jobcentre Plus to strengthen
its work with volunteering organisations; and our consultation event on the
Giving Green Paper on 15 February. Finally, a word about an event I took part in on Monday 31
January to formally launch the selection process for the London 2012 Games
Maker volunteering programme. It was an inspiring event. Over 250,000 people
have applied to volunteer for the Games, of which 40% have never volunteered
before. As I said at the launch, I think we have a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to use the passion of the Games to leave a lasting legacy – not
of the shiny new stadium variety – but of a new culture of volunteering and
community engagement. That seems to me a prize worth striving for. Best wishes, Dr Justin Davis Smith |
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Voluntary Sector
Cuts website now live Volunteering
England is working in partnership with other umbrella bodies to collect
information on funding cuts. The information is being collected in a single, open-source website which launched late last
month. We would encourage you to provide information on funding cuts you have
experienced so that we can make a properly evidenced case to the government,
to funders and to the public. The
information can also be completed on the funding cuts page of our website and will
automatically transfer to the central website. Voluntary sector
access to Jobcentre Plus On Monday,
Prince’s Trust and Jobcentre Plus renewed their National Framework Agreement,
a longstanding arrangement that sets out how the two organisations will work
together to ensure unemployed people have access to the Trust’s volunteering
programmes. The renewed
agreement establishes “a model of voluntary sector co-location in Jobcentre
Plus offices to enhance the advisory service to customers”. Volunteering
England welcomes the development and looks forward to it being extended to
other voluntary sector organisations; in particular, infrastructure
organisations that have an overview and knowledge of volunteering at a local
level are best placed to provide such advice. We therefore hope that
Jobcentre Plus will approach Volunteer Centres and similar organisations
first when looking to establish partnerships and will be working with them on
this issue. In order to
support this work, we would welcome your input. If you already provide a
drop-in or hot desk or similar in your local Jobcentre, or have done in the
past, please do let us know so we have examples of how this can work and the
benefits it brings to Jobcentre Plus, Volunteer Centres and unemployed
people. You can contact Dan Sumners with your examples or
for a general chat. Volunteering magazine: spotlight on Samaritans
and Student Volunteering Week 2011 For our
lead February feature we hear about the volunteers who are at the heart and
soul of Samaritans. This is
alongside our usual Day in the Life and Good Practice features, a fascinating
AVM hot topic and Dr Stuart’s advice column. If you
would like to be in our Day in the Life of a Volunteer Manager or Volunteer
Centre of the Month features or are keen to write a Book Review, please email
Penny Gee. Volunteering
magazine can be accessed via the online members’ area, where you can also download a PDF of the highlights. If
you have forgotten your membership details, please email
the Membership Team. Let people
across the country know what you are doing to mark Student Volunteering Week 2011 - post details
of your events on our website, for all to see. By submitting this
information, you are raising your profile nationally, as well as ensuring
that any media enquiries from the press in your area can be notified of the
events that are taking place. Please visit the Student Volunteering Week
website to send us details of your own event. Volunteer
Management Programme final report As most of
you are probably aware, the current Capacitybuilders-funded Volunteer
Management Programme comes to an end on 31 March 2011. Over the past 18
months the Volunteer Management Team at Volunteering England has been
delivering Strand B of the programme and working hard to increase the
recognition of, support for and investment in volunteer management. Our final
report outlining the difference that both that Value Volunteer Management
Campaign and Volunteer Management Portal have made is now available to
download from the Value Volunteer Management Campaign site. The
Volunteer Management Team has greatly enjoyed working on the programme and
would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all of you who supported the Campaign
and/or Portal. Fairbridge and the
Prince’s Trust join forces Youth
charities The Prince’s Trust and Fairbridge are uniting to offer more support
to disadvantaged young people across the UK. The two charities will merge on
1 April 2011 with a vision of delivering a more joined-up, wide-ranging
service for an increased number of disadvantaged young people. A full
statement is available on the Fairbridge website. Policy news Volunteering
England believes that nothing should be easier than giving your time to help
other people. The truth is that there are a number of things that often stand
in the way of someone volunteering. Some of them are real barriers; others
are myths and misunderstandings; some are good old fashioned bureaucracy. The aim of
our Free volunteering red
tape campaign is to cut through some of this red tape – real and
imagined – and let people know how easy it is to help out in their community. You can join the campaign on Facebook and find out
more about our work to free volunteering from red tape
on our website, where you can also read about our latest initiative to remove
barriers for volunteer drivers. The
Government is currently consulting on its Giving Green Paper, which looks at
ways to increase the giving of time and money. A copy of the green paper is available on the
policy pages of our website, along with a briefing on its contents. If you
would like to feed into our response to the paper, please join us at our consultation event on Tuesday
15 February in London, or email the Policy Team. Research The first
in a series of Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) working papers
exploring key issues in volunteering research has been published. The first paper,
‘A rose by any other name…’ goes back to
basics by asking ‘what exactly is volunteering?’ The paper begins by defining
the boundaries of ‘volunteering’ before going on to explore the different
dimensions of volunteering and how it has been viewed from different academic
perspectives. In 2009-10,
IVR conducted research exploring the relationship between Volunteer Centres
and local authorities based on a number of in-depth case studies of local
authority areas. The findings explore the nature of these
relationships, draw out some of the key challenges and make suggestions for
strengthening the relationships in the future. IVR has
launched a series of thinkpieces exploring issues of keen interest to
policymakers and practitioners. The first of these short articles explores volunteering and the recession and
challenges the assumption that increased unemployment would lead to higher
rates of volunteering. IVR, in
partnership with Greenstreet Bermen, will be carrying out a Rapid Evidence
Assessment on behalf of DEFRA exploring the factors which make environmental
projects successful at engaging volunteers from the local community. For more
information, please email Daniel Stevens. |
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Events With only a
limited number of delegate places left, our forthcoming Volunteer Management Conference provides an
ideal opportunity to promote your organisation's work, products and services. - Place an
insert in our delegate pack All of
these methods will give your organisation exposure to 100 organisations with
a keen interest in volunteering and volunteer management, including a wide
range of local and national charities. Last chance to
attend our Modernising Volunteering Conferences Our last
two Modernising Volunteering Conferences will be taking place in Derby and
Worthing in the coming weeks. Full conference details and booking information
are available on the Volunteering England website. Volunteer
Management in the Big Society: Association of Volunteer Managers Conference
2011 This
one-day conference will examine the current volunteering landscape for the
Third Sector and will seek to answer key questions volunteer managers face. There will
be a keynote address from Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society, and
confirmed speakers include: - Rob
Jackson, Director of Development and Innovation, Volunteering England and
secretariat for the Volunteer Rights Enquiry To find out
more and book your place, please see the flyer and booking form. Training All
training that has previously only been on offer to projects in receipt of the
Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) funding is now being made available to
all local level volunteer-involving projects. The
following one-day courses are now available: - Move
forward with project management – Tuesday 22 February, Manchester The events
run from 10am – 4.30pm and places are available for £110, including VAT.
Lunch and refreshments are provided. For more
information, please see the training programme. To book a place on any
of these courses, please return the form inside the programme or use our online form. (If you are not an OFV funded
project, please ignore the sections which are for those projects
specifically.) Members' open space
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