Volunteer
Centre Southwark is one of nine volunteer involving
organisations in England to have just been awarded the
prestigious Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard,
recognising the excellent work they do with volunteers.
This achievement demonstrates the huge amount of work
going on behind the scenes to support volunteers and
ensure their experience is positive and well managed.
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Jane
Curbishley, Investing in Volunteers Manager at Volunteering
England expressed how proud she was of the organisations’
achievements. ‘All these
organisations have demonstrated enormous commitment to their
volunteers. Volunteers are key to the work they each do and
achieving the award shows that they have strong policies and
practices in place, ensuring volunteers are recruited, developed
and acknowledged to the very best standards.’
Investing
in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations
involving volunteers. Investing in Volunteers aims to improve
the quality of the volunteering experience by setting standards
for volunteer management. Achieving Investing in Volunteers
also demonstrates to volunteers the value the organisation
places on their contribution. Many organisations could not
deliver their work without their volunteers. Investing in
Volunteers is managed by the UK Volunteering Forum and delivered
by Volunteering England, Volunteer Development Scotland, Volunteer
Development Agency in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for
Voluntary Action.
Each
organisation was assessed against a range of best practice
standards and proved to excel in all aspects of working with
its volunteers.
Investing
in Volunteers Lead Assessor, Maggie Piazza, has worked with
a number or organisations working towards the Investing in
Volunteers Standard. She notes that ‘Organisations
achieving Investing in Volunteers have discovered that it
is not simply about recognising good practice in volunteer
involvement. They have found that it is a developmental tool,
engaging a wide range of staff and volunteers in promoting
cultural change. The Investing in Volunteers process highlights
the real value of volunteering and its contribution to the
achievement of corporate objectives.’
Investing
in Volunteers is unique in that it is the only standard that
focuses on volunteers. It is based on four areas of volunteer
management; planning for volunteer involvement, recruiting
volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers and supporting
and retaining volunteers. Further information about the Standard
can be found on www.investinginvolunteers.org.uk. The Standard
will enhance volunteer management and is rigorous but designed
to be simple to implement and not to generate large amounts
of paperwork. It is the only quality standard that has independent
external validation with a UK Quality Assurance Panel that
makes recommendations to the UK Volunteering Forum, the awarding
body.
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