Blog update 4th February 2010

• VCN meeting next week
• Your opinions matter
• Stress Down Day
• Group volunteering opportunities
• YMCA sleep out.
• Opportunity posters

 

• VCN meeting next week

Just to remind you that the VCN meeting will be taking place next week – Weds 11th February, 2- 4 at the Voluntary Action Centre. 

The agenda for the meeting:

1. Welcomes, apologies and introductions
2. Volunteer Rights
3. Citizenship
4. Registering new opportunities – new forms and guidelines.
5. AOB

If you have anything you wish to add to the agenda, or wish to confirm your attendance please email and let us know. 

• Your opinions matter

As part of the ‘Overcoming Barriers to Volunteering’ strand of the Modernising Volunteering workstream, a survey has been produced to get the views of disabled people regarding volunteering.

The survey findings will inform the East Midlands Policy Action Community Team (PACT) who are focusing on volunteering by people with physical and sensory impairments.

Please circulate the link below to any persons or groups in the East Midlands who might be interested in taking part.

http://survey.vitalise.org.uk

For more information please contact mailto:dclough@vitalise.org.uk, quoting “PACT” or telephone Dave Clough on 07940 979642.

• Stress Down Day

If you visit NCVS tomorrow you may notice something different about the members of staff here.  We are taking part in Stress Down Day on behalf of the Samaritans.  It’s a day when Samaritans tries to raise as much money as possible to enable us to continue to help people in need of emotional support, no matter what the size of their problems.

Samaritans is contacted every six seconds by people in need of emotional support. But to maintain their 24-hour helpline they need to raise more than £10m a year. It’s a campaign that aims to raise awareness of the effects of stress in the workplace and encourages people to take better care of their emotional well-being.

To show your support, all you have to do is wear your slippers to work or take part in a stress-down activity in return for a donation to Samaritans.  Find out more here.

• Group volunteering opportunities

Are you an organisation who is looking for a group(s) of volunteers to take part in a one-off activity or in a short-term activity (e.g. up to two weeks)? If so, please contact the Nottingham Volunteer Centre by email: volunteercentre@nottinghamcvs.co.uk; or on 0115 934 8428. The Volunteer Centre is often approached by groups who would like to volunteer and we would love to be able to offer them a range of opportunities. Opportunities could include supporting an event, painting a room, gardening etc.

• YMCA sleepout

Sleeping rough to support Nottinghamshire’s homeless:  around 100 brave fundraisers, including Notts County’s Michael Johnson, will be hoping for a mild and dry night when they take part in a mass sleep out in the city on Friday 5 February.

The SleepEasy event, to be held in the grounds of All Saints Church, Radford, has been organised by Nottinghamshire YMCA with the dual purpose of raising awareness of the issue of homelessness through the City and County, and generating money to further independent living skills and training activities for residents. Already more than 80 participants have signed up for the event and been hard at work gathering sponsorship.  It is hoped that more than £10,000 will be raised for the 139 year old county-based charity which will be split between the hostels in Nottingham and Mansfield.

Although there is a very serious theme to the night’s events, there will be games and activities staged during the evening to keep participants warmly engaged. Registration starts at 8.30pm, followed by a meal, entertainment and talks from guest speakers, before everyone settles down for an uncomfortable night’s sleep. Breakfast will also be served at 5.30am.

Anyone who is not taking part in Sleep Easy but would still like to support the event can make a donation via www.virginmoneygiving.com, e-mailing sleepeasy@nottsymca.org or calling 0115 8553315.

• Opportunity Posters

Next time you are passing by the Volunteer Centre (or when you come in to VCN meeting…) you may notice the new posters are up on display showing some of the opportunities we have registered on our database – we will be updating the posters regularly so if you want to promote your opportunities, or want to advertise a new role, get in touch and we can help you.

Blog update 22 Jan 2010

In this post:

• Social Media
• Citizenship
• Flocklocal
• Rumbles
• V team news
• Opportunities
• Community Cohesion volunteers
• Tell the City Council how to spend their money!

 

• Social Media

It’s hard to think that it was only 10 years ago that everyone was just getting over the “Y2K” scares of technology no longer working and the world as we know it coming crashing down around our ears – now we are increasingly reliant on IT for our daily lives, both for work and play.  The VCN is an excellent example of this – information is sent to the Volunteering team with ideas for items of interest, we subscribe to several of the online forums and networks for volunteer managers to keep up to date with what is happening outside our local areas, we email out the updates for the blog, the blog itself.  Did you know that the Volunteer Centre Nottingham has a Facebook page?  It is, to be fair in need of an update.  Some Volunteer Centres even tweet regularly.   How do you use social media in your organisation?  Are you a member of any online groups or do you try and avoid them?  Do you use technology to communicate with your teams?  Let us know your thoughts either by leaving a comment (thus making use of technology) or if you would prefer it, at the next VCN meeting.

• Citizenship

NCVS (Nottingham Council for Voluntary Service) is focusing on involving volunteers in projects which surround active citizenship.  Active citizenship is a belief that people should be involved in their society, contributing to its advancement wherever possible,  ensuring that citizens are active in participation and not passive in reception of the benefits of their society. 

Importantly, NCVS wants to enable people who come through our Volunteer Centre to become active citizens, getting involved in volunteering and improving their local communities: we feel that getting people involved locally instils pride in the community. This supports the aims and targets of various groups, such as local area partnerships, local area committees, neighbourhood management teams and the Nottingham Plan to 2020.

If any members of the VCN are aware of any opportunities for involvement, or wish to discuss the active citizenship project, they can contact the NCVS’s Volunteering Officer for Citizenship, Fergus Slade, on (0115) 9348 479 or email him at ferguss@nottinghamcvs.co.uk.

• Flocklocal

Following on from many discussions online about micro- volunteering last week saw the launch of a new website for short term volunteering opportunities called Flocklocal.  The aim of this new site is to match volunteers with local activities.  As they put it:

Volunteering often requires an ongoing commitment. But many people who want to do good just don’t have the time to commit to a long-term project. And sometimes there is an urgent need for volunteers and no easy way to get organised. Some activities take forever to complete.

Flocklocal was created to fill these gaps. Flocklocal matches short-term volunteers with one-off activities. From cleaning a garage to painting a shelter, Flocklocal makes it easy for you to get involved and help make a quick difference in your community.

Flocklocal is non-profit company limited by guarantee and registered in Scotland.

The First Flock was a group of volunteers who gathered at Social Innovation Camp with one driving question in mind: What if we could direct the energy of a flash mob into activities with a social purpose? Their answer? Flocklocal.

Over 24 hours this Flock imagined and built Flocklocal, a website designed to match volunteers with local activities. Their vision has been to reimagine volunteering as a sudden act of “do goodery” that helps neighbours and local communities in immediate need.

If you have any opportunities that you would like to register with them, please go and see their website, or speak to a member of the Volunteer Centre team and  we can promote your opportunities.

Rumbles

Fancy a night out of good food and company, but with a social conscience?  This could be ideal for you:

Rumbles Catering Project Limited’s mission is “to educate and train young persons and adults resident in the county of Nottingham who are disadvantaged, whether or not by reason of their disability or social or economic circumstances, within a realistic working environment so as to enable them to obtain work experience and to promote independent living and personal development”

Rumbles Catering project speciality night in the year 2010 we hope you can come and join us for a lovely evening of fine dining.  The dates for our lovely evening are as follows:-

January 22nd    Scottish night

February 19th    Chinese night

March 26th     Chocolate night

April 23rd     St Georges night

May 21st    Italian

September 24th    Harvest

October 22nd    Voodoo

All evenings are training to support the students.  The evening is a minimum donation of £12.95 per person.  Please contract them on 01623 424836 for your booking.

• V team news

Congratulations go out to Kelly, one of the V team volunteers - She is the first person in Nottingham to complete the vimpact award for 150 hours spent volunteering.
Kelly said: “It’s amazing to receive the award and it’s nice to be rewarded for my volunteering.”
If you want to read more you can read the Evening Post article  online at thisisnottingham.

• Opportunities

The Volunteer Centre are working on some new ways of promoting  your volunteering opportunities with some posters that will be displayed in the window of the Volunteer Centre – if you would like to  have one of your opportunities featured, or would like to change or list a new opportunity please get in touch with the Volunteer Centre team.

• Community Cohesion volunteers

Would you like to help local community groups, develop new skills and gain valuable experience? Want to do something that will really make an impact?!

Community Cohesion Volunteers is an exciting new project involving community groups and volunteers in Nottingham, which aims to build bridges of understanding between different communities.  As a volunteer you will play a vital role as a community cohesion ambassador for your area.  You will use and develop your skills to support community activities whilst learning about a group of people you would never usually interact with.
You will be given high quality OCN accredited training; full support during your placement and expenses will be paid.

For more information please contact: karinamartin@novasscarman.org  or  rebecca.tennant@novasscarman.org

• Tell the City Council how to spend their money!

The Council is consulting on its budget proposals for 2010-11. What should the priorities be? How can they support the extra needs of children and older people?

The Council’s 2010/11 budget proposals are open to public consultation until Sunday 31 January 2010. The results of the public consultation will be considered by the Executive Board in February 2010, and the Board will make recommendations which will then be considered by Full Council in March 2010. A decision will be made on the 2010/11 Budget proposals at this Council meeting and the final 2010/11 Budget will be agreed.

 As part of this they are holding a consultation event on Thursday 28 January, 10 – 11.30am, Voluntary Action Centre, Mansfield Road, NG1 3FB.  Tony Kirkham, Director of Strategic Finance at Nottingham City Council, will give a presentation. There will be lots of time for questions and comments afterwards.

If you can’t attend the event, you can complete the consultation online.

VCN update 8/1/10

• Dates for VCN meetings 2010
• New year, new start
• Spring clean your volunteering
• Volunteer rights
• How can we make Nottingham a fairer place?
• Volunteer training.

 

• Dates for VCN meetings 2010

If you take a look at the VCN meeting dates page you will find the proposed dates for meetings in 2010 listed there.  Usually we meet at NCVS, however it was suggested at the last meeting that members of the VCN host the meetings.  Clearly this will not be possible for some organisations but if you have a meeting room available and you would be happy to host a meeting please get in touch.

• New year, new start

It’s the time of year when people start making resolutions – generally things to make life a bit better, whether it is quitting smoking, losing weight, getting fit… the list goes on!  However whether you have set yourself some goals for 2010 for yourself, have you thought about setting yourself some resolutions for your workplace?  Many people will have decided to look at volunteering,  for personal or career development or simply to meet more people and now is a good time to think about how we work with volunteers, and maybe make some resolutions about the experience that volunteers receive from your service.  Is this a good time to resolve to develop new volunteer roles for your service?  Do you resolve to put in place systems to show how much you value your volunteers, such as sending birthday cards?  Do you want to broaden your own experience and get involved in volunteering yourself?  Remember, whatever your New Year resolution,  if you need any support in working with volunteers the Volunteer Centre is here to help.

• Spring clean your volunteering

Although the weather outside is pretty grim and cold, many people are already thinking about spring cleaning – have you thought about spring cleaning your volunteer opportunites listed on our database?  As many of you are aware the Volunteer Centre sends you details of your listed opportunities once they have been listed for a year to check if the details are correct, but you don’t have to wait for us to check that your opportunities are up to date.  If you have a look at Do-it you will be able to see the opportunities you have listed:  are they accurate?  Have you developed more opportunities you would like to have listed?  Are you still recruiting volunteers?  Remember, the Volunteer Centre staff are here to help so feel free to get in touch.

• Volunteer rights

Last year Volunteering England launched a Volunteer Rights Inquiry and so to give volunteer co-ordinators in Nottingham a chance to contribute their ideas and thoughts on the subject at the next VCN meeting we will spend some time discussing this and gathering information which will feed into the enquiry – the next meeting will be on Weds 10th February.  If you are unable to make the meeting and would still like to contribute please get in touch and we can make sure your views are heard.

• How can we make Nottingham a fairer place?

Join our election debate
Talk to the One Nottingham Board candidates
Ask them how they will help make Nottingham a fairer place
Debate how we can all achieve fairness in Nottingham
Monday 11 January 2010
2 – 4pm, Voluntary Action Centre
7 Mansfield Road
NG1 3FB
You’ll have the chance to talk directly with each of the Board candidates. Come armed with your ideas and have a think about how we can make Nottingham a fairer place.

The Voluntary Action Centre is a fully accessible building, with a lift and accessible toilets on every floor. If you have any particular needs, please let us know and we’ll do our best to help. Contact Jodie on 0115 934 8404 or jodier@nottinghamcvs.co.uk

 What’s the election?
There are three places for the third sector on the One Nottingham Board. The process to elect the three new representatives is being facilitated by NCVS and overseen by Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM). More information.

You don’t have to come to this event to vote, but it’s a great opportunity to meet all the candidates. Voting packs will be sent out by post in early January.

• Volunteer training.

Do you aim to be better trained in 2010?  The Volunteer Centre will be delivering training on volunteer management topics throughout the year – so far the dates are to be confirmed but we will be delivering courses on Volunteer supervision and support, volunteers and the law, an introduction to volunteer management and equality and social cohesion.  We are also looking at delivering short seminars / breakfast meetings on relevant issues – if there is something you would like to receive training on then please get in touch.

Volunteer Co-ordinators Network update 18th December 2009

• Minutes from the VCN
• Access to Volunteering
• Vetting and Barring scheme – Survey
• Christmas Opportunities reminder
• Free laptops
• Work with us!

 

 Minutes from VCN meeting 15/12/09

•  Present:
  Claire McCurdy, Strategic Volunteering Officer
  Hannah Andrews, Youth Volunteer Development Officer
  Leon Hayward, Volunteering Officer
  Fergus Slade, Volunteering Officer – Citizenship
  Mike Rowe – Young Potential
  Carol Penry – Bestwood Advice Centre
  Ecaterina Sanalatii – Co-operative Community Action

•  Welcomes and introductions
All welcomed to the meeting – staff at NCVS introduced themselves and their roles, followed by the VCN members present.
• Guest speaker
We had apologies from Age Concern and so did not have a guest speaker.  Discussed issues about involving older (50+) volunteers.  Some of the issues raised were: Young Potential tend to have younger, mainly student volunteers, and as such tend to be seasonal, although the young people on the project had done some valuable inter-generational work in St Anns.  Bestwood Advice Centre tend to have a mixed group of ages, although the management team members tend to be older.  Co-operative Community Action tend to have a wide mix of volunteers, some under 18 and some over 40.  Discussed research recently published to expand on the older volunteer role and research that had been produced from this.  Most organisations see the value in working with a diverse volunteer pool and do not advertise their opportunities to target a specific age range.  Discussed perception of older volunteers and myths about older volunteers not being confident at, for example IT.
From the discussion Mike Roe brought up the conversion rate he had from potential to actual volunteer which will be brought up at the next meeting as a discussion point.
• Training
Claire Mc asked the group to feedback any ideas they had for training.  Claire putting together a training programme for Volunteer Co-ordinators in the New Year.  Discussion focussed around idea of providing short “masterclasses” as well as longer courses to cover a range of skills and experiences within the group. 
• Good practice resources
Claire Mc circulated a copy of the first of the good practice guides produced as one of the requirements of her post – preparing your organisation for involving volunteers.  The booklets will be small A5 documents aimed as being practical guides for volunteer managers, and will look at the life cycle of a volunteer, forming a library of information to use.  Any comments or ideas please contact Claire directly – all feedback welcome!
• Dates for meetings in 2010,  and any other business
Dates for meetings not arranged pending a members vote via the blog/email on the desired frequency of the meetings (bi-monthly or quarterly).  Once voting done will email list of dates out.  John suggested rotating the venue with VCN members Claire Mc and others to consider inviting VCN members to host the meeting.
Volunteer Rights Inquiry
Claire Mc highlighted the Volunteering England “Volunteer Rights Inquiry” – looking at the emotional and legal rights of volunteers.  The Volunteer Centre would like to host some consultation in the New Year to gather responses from the VCN members.  Other ways of contributing are:  YouTube, Twitter or attending the Volunteering England Roadshows.
NCVS name change
NCVS would like to change it’s name to better reflect the work that it does – many people aren’t confident that they know what NCVS even stands for!  The trustees were given a list of options which they narrowed down to 4.  The options are:
1. Action Nottingham (focuses on doing)
2. The Voluntary Works (everything to do with voluntary)
3. Nottingham community and voluntary service (smallest change just to get rid of council)
4. NCVS: supporting voluntary action in Nottingham (trades on the current knowledge of our brand)

Individual preferences of those in attendance were canvassed.

Access to volunteering

The Access to Volunteering Fund Pilot aims to increase the number of disabled people in volunteer positions by breaking down the barriers they currently face when wanting to volunteer.  Disabled people are 9% less likely to volunteer than the rest of the population. A lack of special equipment, inappropriate premises, the extra cost of travel and the need for support workers to provide assistance often mean disabled people are prevented from volunteering.

Backed by the Office of the Third Sector, the £2million Access to Volunteering Fund will give small grants to organisations to support disabled people in realising their desire to volunteer.

The pilot will operate initially in three test areas – Greater London, West Midlands and the North West.

If you want to find out more details please have a look at the Access to Volunteering webpages.  If you know of any other schemes similar to this outside of the pilot areas please get in touch and let us know.

Vetting and Barring scheme – survey

What will be the impact on your organisation’s services and activities of the Vetting and Barring Scheme being introduced in 2010 onwards by the Independent Safeguarding Authority? Volunteering England need to know if organisations are anticipating problems for volunteering in implementing the scheme, and particularly if they are expecting that they will not go ahead with some services and activities – any information gathered will help inform Volunteering England’s campaigns and media work. 

If you have a few minutes please answer a very short survey on SurveyMonkey :  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XYCVS9H .  Please respond to this survey by at latest 8 January 2010. 

If you are concerned about the Vetting and Barring Scheme, Michelle Brown who runs the CRB service here will be happy to help – please feel free to give her a call on 0115 9348400.

Christmas Opportunities reminder

Christmas is coming!  Just a reminder that if you want to give an extra gift of your time there are plenty of organisations that would be more than happy to hear from you. 

Free laptops

Did you know that BT are giving away laptops and one year’s internet connection for community groups?  Don’t miss this deadline – postal applications must be received by 5th Jan.   

You need to show:

-          you are applying on behalf of a community group or registered charity.

-          how the people who use your service will benefit

-          how you will make the laptop accessible to beneficiaries

-          how many people you expect to benefit in one year

-          how you will support or train your staff / volunteers to help beneficiaries to use the internet

-          how you will continue to pay for the internet connect after the first year

-          you will insure the laptop, and keep it safe

 If you want any help with applying, just call helpdesk on 0115 934 9548 between 10am – 1pm.  We will talk you through how to fill it in.  

More information is on the BT website at http://www.btcommunityconnections.com/index.php  You can apply online, or by post.  Deadlines by post:  5 Jan, online:   7 Jan

In the past silver-surfers, cultural dance groups, conservation organisations, mountain rescue teams, family support groups, healthy living clubs, arts and music groups, sports teams and youth groups have all been award winners so don’t miss your opportunity!

Work with us!

We believe that volunteering is an excellent way to gain the skills and experience needed to be successful in today’s competitive job market, as well as giving something back to the community. Do you have the passion and enthusiasm to work with unemployed people and, through volunteering and accredited training, support them to achieve their goals? You will need previous experience of delivering advice and guidance, a sound knowledge of the voluntary sector and an understanding of the barriers to employment.

£21,519 – £22,957 per annum
37 hours per week

Application deadline: 5pm, Wednesday 20 January 2010
Interview date: Friday 29 January 2010

For an application form please see the NCVS website

The staff and volunteers at the Volunteer Centre Nottingham wish you all a very merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Volunteer Coordinators Network update 4th December 2009

• More hello and goodbyes
• Christmas opportunities
• VCN meeting
• Social events
• Volunteer rights
• Framework Big Sleep Out

More hello and goodbyes

This week we say farewell to Roy, who many of you will know from the VCN meetings and this blog.  We’d like to wish Roy all the best for the future and say a big thank you for all the hard work he has put in.  We also say hello to Leon, who has just joined us as Volunteer Centre Coordinator.

Hello, My name is Leon Hayward and I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself as a new Volunteering Officer and member of the team at Volunteer Centre Nottingham. I shall be working to run the popular interview system we operate for members of the public and to support people to find and take up volunteering opportunities.

The whole team at the Volunteer Centre has made me feel very welcome, in this my first week, and I am looking forward to working in the role. Furthermore, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for Roy Bustin who is leaving the Volunteer Centre. Roy has been coaching and training me this week and I feel that without his help my task would be quite a challenge. I wish him the very best for his future.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the coming weeks, as always please feel free to contact me either by email (leonh@nottinghamcvs.co.uk) or by phone (0115 934 8400).

Christmas Opportunities

Would you like to give an extra gift this year?  We have put together a list of opportunities for people to get involved in seasonal activities to benefit a wide range of organisations this year, ranging from fundraising parties, playing instruments for residents in the Nottinghamshire hospice to setting up for parties for homeless and vulnerably housed adults.  Even by giving a few hours of your time can make a massive impact. 

If you are an organisation that needs volunteers, either for one-off/ seasonal events or ongoing throughout the year, make the Volunteer Centre your first port of call.  We can register the opportunities for you as well as offer help and support.  Contact us at volunteercentre@nottinghamcvs.co.uk or to view our poster please see Christmas opportunities

VCN meeting

The final VCN meeting of 2009 will be on 15th December,  here at NCVS.  The agenda for the meeting so far:

• Welcomes and introductions

A chance to meet new members and the new staff in the Volunteer Centre Team.

• Guest speaker

We have invited a representative from Age Concern to come and talk to us about volunteers and their role supporting older people throughout their range of projects – this is part of the series looking at Equality and Diversity.

• Training

We would like you to help us decide what training would be useful to schedule in before we put together the training programme for 2010, and welcome your input.

• Good practice resources

A chance for you to road test our new good practice booklets used to help volunteer coordinators and managers in their day-to-day work – let us know your views!

• Dates for meetings in 2010,  and any other business

This will probably be a short meeting, but we hope that you are able to join us for a coffee and mince pie!

Social events

Nottingham is lucky to have a number of community festivals (based in the different areas – Sneinton, Meadows, Hockley, Sherwood etc) and a number of community cafes (such as the Crocus Cafe in Lenton, or Pakistan Centre on Woodbourgh Rd).  David Jones from Cafe Sneinton and Sneinton Festival is organising a couple of social events for organisers and volunteers from these groups across Nottingham in order to share ideas and experiences and have some fun. He says ‘I wanted to organise these socials so those involved in their own project can meet like minded people and perhaps share ideas, knowledge and contacts. Who knows what interesting things could come out of it?’

Festival people are invited to go bowling for FREE on Monday 7th December, meeting first at Bunker’s Hill at 7pm for a buffet. And Community Cafe people are invited to African House on Handel St on Tuesday 8th Dec from 6-9pm and bring some food along!

If you are interested in coming along to these events please get in touch with David Jones on 07794343697 or email davidjones103@gmail.com.

Events are supported by the Renewal Trust.

Volunteer Rights

Volunteering England is leading the Volunteer Rights Inquiry, providing  a neutral space for the discussion and deliberation of the issues and concerns that volunteers have no rights dealing with volunteer involving organisations when problems occur, whether rights in law or in procedures for redress.  The Inquiry will look at a broad range of issues including the legal rights of volunteers, and consider potential options for redress when things go wrong.

Following the initial meeting there will be three evidence gathering sessions in early 2010 which will allow Inquiry members to hear from interested parties and explore the issues they have faced in more detail, which people will be able to attend in London, the Midlands and Manchester. People will also be able to give evidence, such as via Twitter, YouTube and the Volunteering England website.

For further information about the Inquiry and evidence gathering sessions please visit the Volunteering England website.  What do you think about volunteer rights?  Do you feel confident in your knowledge of volunteering issues?  Let us know your thoughts!

Framework’s Big Sleep Out

Last night members of the Youth Action Team and the Volunteer Centre’s Youth Magazine were supported by the v team to take part in Framework’s Big Sleep Out, an opportunity to spend a unique night sleeping outside without the usual comforts – having fun, whilst reflecting on homelessness and raising money to support local homeless and vulnerable people. All rough sleepers were given a cardboard box on arrival and challenged to build a shelter or be part of the cardboard city.   The Sleep Out was a “great experience and one which I think will stay with me forever”.

VCN Update – 20/11/09

 

• Another Hello
• Volunteering Over Christmas
• Access To Volunteering Fund
• 1^st4Sport Volunteering Qualifications
• Timebank – Volunteering Stories Wanted
• Framework’s Big Sleep Out
• BBC’s Children In Need Grant Programme

 Another Hello

The Volunteering Team at NCVS continues to grow! Fresh in post and raring to go is Claire McCurdy…

 ”Hi, my name is Claire and I have recently started here as Strategic Volunteering Officer at NCVS.  My job title doesn’t really give many clues about what I will be doing, but I am here to help develop a Nottingham – wide volunteering strategy, develop some good practice guides and toolkits for volunteer managers to use and supporting the volunteers we have here at NCVS, as well as helping update this blog and coordinate the VCN meetings.  If you need any help, or would simply like to introduce yourself then please feel free to either email me at clairem@nottinghamcvs.co.uk or give me a bell on (0115) 9348534″.

 Volunteering Over Christmas

We are getting a lot of interest from people who would like to volunteer over the festive season.  If you have any opportunities that you would like us to promote, please get in touch.  The deadline for registering these opportunities is 27^th November and we’ll be promoting them via this blog as well as helping to signpost the diverse range of people that we see in the Volunteer Centre and at Vinvolved.

Access To Volunteering Fund

New grants helping organisations to enable more disabled people to volunteer are now available.

Organisations can apply for grants between £250 and £5,000, which can be used to help overcome barriers that stop disabled people volunteering, such as a lack of specific equipment, suitable access and/or understanding of disability issues. 

These grants are part of the £2 million Access to Volunteering Fund, which was developed by the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office as a pilot scheme in Greater London, the West Midlands and the North West.

1^st4Sport Volunteering Qualifications

These are brand new qualifications aimed at those working as a coordinator or manager of sports volunteers.

The Suite consists of two qualifications:

• 1st4sport Level 2 Award in Coordinating Sports Volunteers (QCF) (L2ACSV)
• 1st4sport Level 3 Certificate in Managing Sports Volunteers (L3CMSV).

For more information, visit: http://www.1st4sportqualifications.com/fq/sportsvolunteering

Timebank – Volunteering Stories Wanted

TimeBank, the national volunteering charity are looking for stories of volunteers from Nottingham to highlight the amazing work that volunteers do, in a bid to encourage more people to volunteer over Christmas and beyond.  If you have volunteers who would like to share their experience and would be willing to appear in local press, either in the local paper or on the local radio, please contact Alex Delaney on 0207 7856369 or email a.delaney@timebank.org.uk

Framework’s Big Sleep Out

On Thursday 3rd December Framework will be staging their Big Sleep Out in order to raise money for local homeless and vulnerable people in Nottinghamshire.  Staff and volunteers at Vinvolved will be leaving their home comforts behind to spend the night sleeping outside.

For more info about the night and how you can get involved, go to http://www.frameworkha.org/thebigsleepout

BBC’s Children In Need Grants Programme

All over the UK individuals and organisations are coming together today to raise money for the BBC Children In Need Appeal.  We thought it would be the perfect time to point you in the direction of their grant programme which is open to organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people who are 18 years old and under.

Your organisation and project must be based in the UK and you need to be a registered charity or other not-for-profit organisation.

There are four general grant deadlines each year: 15 January, 15 April, 15 July, 15 October.

Within the general grants programme, you can apply for:

- Small Grants of £10,000 or less per year for up to three years

- Main Grants over £10,000 per year for up to three years

More information can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/

Volunteer Coordinators Network Update – 06/11/09

• Goodbye/Hellos
• Volunteer Coordinator Occupational Profile
• Hyson Green Volunteering Day
• DWP volunteer brokerage scheme update
• We’re the Volunteer Centre – talk to us!

Goodbye/Hellos

As you are probably aware, Kate Buchanan has now left her post of Youth Volunteer Development Officer to go off on her travels.  I would just like to thank Kate for her contribution to this blog and for her hard work in developing the VCN.

Hannah Andrews has taken over and has started the job this week, here she is…

“Hi, I’m really looking forward to building on Kate’s great work. I’m always keen to hear your views and opinions so please drop me a line on hannaha@nottinghamcvs.co.uk or pop in to the Volunteer Centre to say hi. Hannah Andrews, new Youth Volunteer Development Officer”.

Also new to the volunteering team is Fergus Slade…

“Hello, my name’s Fergus, I’m the new Volunteering Officer for Citizenship at the NCVS. It’s my job to seek out new opportunities for volunteering so that volunteers have as much a variety of opportunities as possible. If you want to say hello, meet up or just find out what I look like (Sully from Monsters Inc., apparently) I’m in the CVS sat by staircase 1, or you can contact me at my email address ferguss@nottinghamcvs.co.uk. Thanks!”

Volunteer Coordinator Occupational Profile

This is a new resource and outlines exactly what Volunteer Coordinators do. It makes for quite an interesting read and we would like to hear your views on how accurate it is and whether you feel it is a fair reflection on your roles.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/volunteer_work_organiser_job_description.jsp

Hyson Green Volunteering Day

Just to say a big thank you to Hyson Green Jobcentre who held their volunteering day last week. There was a really good turnout with representatives from The DAIN Project, Notts Police and Muslim Hands amongst others. Many people were interested in the Volunteer Centre stall with people looking to use volunteering as a stepping stone into employment.

DWP volunteer brokerage scheme update

The first figures for the controversial DWP volunteer brokerage scheme have been released with nearly 2,400 unemployed people completing a volunteer placement since the scheme was introduced back in April.

The target is to match 34,000 jobseekers to volunteer placements within 2 years (good luck!). The DWP remain confident of achieving this target and expect numbers to “rise significantly” in future months.

As ever, the stats don’t tell the whole story. For example, one off volunteering opportunities are contributing to the targets. Does volunteering in a field one Sunday afternoon really make a significant difference to somebody who has been on the dole for the last six months, thus giving them the edge in the labour market…?

We’re the Volunteer Centre – talk to us!

We see a real diverse range of people who visit the Volunteer Centre to find a suitable opportunity, with the help of our Volunteer Advisors. If your organisation is currently recruiting volunteers, please get in touch. We can promote your opportunities within the Volunteer Centre and online at www.do-it.org.uk.

If you have registered opportunities with us but are no longer recruiting, PLEASE LET US KNOW THAT YOU NO LONGER REQUIRE VOLUNTEERS!

By keeping us informed, it saves a lot of time for all concerned and also means that potential volunteers are not left disappointed.

Thank-you!

 

VCN Minutes – 20/10/09

Here are the minutes from last week’s VCN (short and sweet and drawn from memory as I didn’t make any notes so apologies if I missed anybody’s words of wisdom!)

 

VCN Meeting Minutes

20/10/09

Present:

Roy Bustin, Volunteer Centre

John Murray, Interfaith Council

Carl Biddle, TRACS

Robert Zuiko, STAA

Roy Crampton, Notts Amateur Swimming Association

Barbara Philips, Nottingham Mencap

Ruth Webster, Nottinghamshire YMCA

Sofia Crawford, The DAIN Project

John Murray – Interfaith Council

 

John came in to speak about the work of the Interfaith Council, outlining their values and the work they do to promote and celebrate all faiths in the local community. The core of their work is about getting people of different faiths together, taking part in various activities and awareness raising events.

Developing a Volunteer Policy

 

The group then discussed the advantages of the volunteer policy. Issues raised included the difference between a policy and a volunteer agreement, what should be included and the importance of reviewing it regularly. This led to a discussion about volunteer recruitment methods, use of application forms, references and CRB. It was agreed that more information about the new Vetting and Barring scheme would be useful for a future VCN meeting.

 

Do Volunteer Coordinators get enough support?

 

This generated some interesting comments from the group. Everybody was in agreement that funding (or lack of it) was a problem, and more support from line mangers would be much appreciated! It was also stated that managing volunteers was only part of a role for many, leaving some feeling over stretched.

The importance of monitoring was mentioned, as it gives an indication of success. However, monitoring for the sake of it was seen to be ineffective and the general view was that programmes like V were more concerned with chasing statistics rather than valuing the volunteer.

Some members of the group had attended previous training sessions at NCVS to support their role and would be interested in further training opportunities at the Volunteer Centre in the future.

Hot topic – Volunteering for profit – is it ever ok?

 Whilst the group could see the potential benefits of gaining practical experience in the workplace, the opinion was that volunteering should only be for not for profit organisations. The group felt that using volunteers to contribute to profits was exploiting people and leading to direct job substitution.

 

 

 

VCN meeting agenda – Tuesday 20th Oct 2009

 

The next VCN meeting will be held on Tuesday 20th October, 2-4pm  at NCVS, 7 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FB.

Here’s the agenda…

1. Welcomes/Introductions

2. Guest Speaker

Building on from our last meeting surrounding Equality and Diversity issues, we with be joined by a representative from Nottingham Interfaith Council who will be discussing their work and the contribution that faith groups can make to the community.

3.  Developing a Volunteer Policy

What is a Volunteer Policy?  Why do we need one?  What should it include?  What should we do with it?  What makes a good one?

We’ll be covering both the broad and finer details of the Volunteer Policy – find out whether it’s worth the bother!

Feel free to bring a copy of your own organisation’s Volunteer Policy to share with the rest of the group.

4. Break

A chance to network, catch up with others and make yourself a nice cup of tea/coffee (sorry, no biscuits).

5. Do Volunteer Coordinators get enough support?

We all know the importance of providing regular support and supervision to volunteers, but how well are you supported in your roles?

We’ll be finding out what support structures are in place at your organisations and asking whether we need to start loving ourselves more!

5. Hot Topic – Volunteering for profit – is it ever ok?

• Are volunteers just being used to cut down on staff costs?
• Should volunteers be contributing to profits?
• If it benefits people, why not?

We will be interested to hear your views in what’s sure to be a lively debate.

Please note that only paid members of the Volunteer Co-ordinators’ Network can attend the bi-monthly VCN meetings

Are you part of the VCN yet? 

Or, do you know someone who might like to join? 

The Volunteer Co-ordinators’ Network (VCN) is a group of managers and co-ordinators of volunteers.  We offer support, from helping you to recruit quality volunteers to keeping them happy in your organisation. 

To join Call Roy or Kate on 0115 934 8400 or email volunteercentre@nottinghamcvs.co.uk to find out more.

 

Volunteer Co-ordinator’s Network update 29/09/2009

 

 

• Q&A charities, volunteers and the law – Guardian article
• Response to Vetting & Barring media coverage
• Royal recognition for volunteers
• FREE training
• Impact of the third sector – research project
• Jobs
• NCVS training

 

Q&A charities, volunteers and the law – Guardian article

The second installment of a series of articles in the guardian on charity law, touches on many aspects of volunteering that we often get asked questions about here at the Volunteer Centre.   Click here to see the full article.

 

Vetting & Barring update

As you’re probably aware there has recently been a huge amount of media coverage on the new Vetting & Barring scheme and there has been lots of conflicting information that has confused a great number of people.  We’d like to draw your attention to the following press release that the CRB has recently issued in response to the media coverage, which hopefully will clarify a few things….

Please click here to view the full statement.

 

Royal recognition for volunteers

If you didn’t already know, the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service was created to mark the Golden Jubilee in 2002 and it recognises contributions made to local communities by groups of volunteers.  Friends, family or members of the public can nominate at any time during the year but anyone who would like to be considered for the 2010 Awards, must send their completed nomination forms in by 5th October.  This is a great chance to recognise any volunteers who you feel deserve an Award for their contribution to their local community.  For more details please click here.

 

FREE training

An organisation called Vision Development Consultants are offering FREE training for the following courses:

• 1 day emergency first aid work
• 2 day first aid refresher
• 3 day first aid certificate
• 2 day paediatric first aid
• 1 day manual handling
• Understanding the ‘Top 10′ skills that employers want

To be eligible for this free training, people must be:

• Over 16
• A Nottingham City resident
• Unemployed or working less than 16 hours per week 

Interested?  Download the diary of training and the booking form here

 

Impact of the Third sector – research project

NCVS are looking for an established research team to provide information about the scale and impact of Nottingham’s third sector.  This will build on, but not replicate, previous studies.  To find out more about how you can get involved, please have a look at the Impact of the Third Sector research document.  The closing date for responses is Friday 9th October.

 

Jobs

Dance 4 – 2 jobs – 9th and 6th October

NCVS – Funding Advisor (Nottinghamshire) – 7th October

NCVS – Volunteering Officer – Active Citizenship (Contract til March 2010)- 14th October

NCVS – Volunteering Officer – 14th October

NCVS – Strategic Volunteering Officer – 7th October

The Children’s Society – Senior Project Worker – 2nd October

Karimia Institute – 3 jobs – 30th October

 

NCVS Training

Becoming a registered charity – 4th November

Managing meetings – 19th November

Planning for success – 2nd December

A beginner’s guide to budgets – 10th December