Browse: Home / Volunteering / We need volunteers

We need volunteers

The Volunteer Centre provides a brokerage service between people who want to volunteer and organisations who need volunteers. We work with a wide variety of organisations across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. The Centre holds national quality accreditation in respect of delivering the six core functions of a Volunteer Development Agency.

 

Promoting Volunteering Opportunities

We work with YouthNet – the charity which runs the national volunteering website www.do-it.org.uk  By registering your organisation and opportunities with us we will create a “volunteer advert” which will appear on that website with our contact details for prospective volunteers to find out more about the role

In order for us to help you find volunteers you will need to complete the following online forms so that we can add you to our database and upload your opportunities to do-it:-

Organisation Registration Form (Word document)

Opportunity Registration Form (Word document)

You can then either simply email or post them back to us to register your organisation and opportunities. Please note that this is a separate process to becoming a member of BVSC.

Once you have registered with us, if you have more opportunities to promote we only need the Opportunity Registration Form completed. If you need any help with your volunteering opportunities, we can also help you identify new volunteer opportunities within your organisation and draft role descriptions

If you have any questions about the registration process and/or promoting your opportunities with the Centre please download our Organisation Registration Information sheet (Word document).

We want to know about current good practice in volunteer management

Good practice in volunteering management covers a range of different topics including making sure that you have the correct policies in place and clear role descriptions to ensuring that your volunteers receive the correct level of support and supervision.

The Volunteer Centre keeps organisations up to date with volunteering issues and news through articles in the BVSC Spotlight Magazine and BVSC e-bulletin (which BVSC members receive) and updates on our website.
The Centre also supports the London’s Volunteer Management Charter which has been developed by Greater London Volunteering in close consultation with the London Volunteer Centre network. It gives clear guidance as to what makes excellent volunteering experiences, and provides assurance for volunteers looking to get involved in organisations that support London’s communities. Working through the Volunteer Centre network across Greater London, the Experts in Volunteering team will be reaching out to organisations of all shapes and sizes. For more information please visit http://www.expertsinvolunteering.org.uk/index.php

We would like to find out about training courses

BVSC runs lots of different courses which are organised through the Volunteer Centre,  Development Team and also the Partnership team. Please see details of our current training programme.

The workshops that are delivered by the Volunteer Centre include:-

  • Key Elements of a Volunteer Programme – Creating a Volunteer Policy, confidentiality, expenses, creating attractive volunteering roles, recruitment and retention
  • Taking Care of Risk – How to screen volunteers, inductions, how to take care of risk in volunteering, professional boundaries and frameworks for your volunteers to operate safely in, overview of legal issues and recent case law
  • Support, Supervision, Recognition – Current good practice regarding support and supervision of your volunteers (including using social media tools), how to deal with difficult volunteers and situations, ideas and examples for reward and recognition

These workshops will give you an overview of these topic areas with the option to book a further free one-to-one enhanced support session to implement your learning.

In the autumn of 2011 we will also be launching our “Strategic Overview and Volunteer Manager’s Support Forum” which will include at current national and regional volunteering issues, Trustee
recruitment, the Volunteer Rights Inquiry, resources to help your funding applications, Volunteering England and TUC Drain Guidelines (replacing paid staff with volunteers), “Agony Aunt” session (your questions on  issues that concern you) and interactive session on future support mechanisms for you from the Volunteer Centre. They will be held quarterly with a “hot topic” feature for each session.

We are interested in finding out how to involve volunteers with extra support needs

The Centre runs a Supported Volunteering Project which not only helps people with a mental health issue, a learning disability or who have had a brain injury to find a volunteering opportunity but which also can enable local organisations be welcome volunteers with additional support needs into their volunteer programme.
Our Volunteer Support Project Worker is Sharon Williams and she works 20 hours per week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday although messages can be left for her at any time during our open hours. Please contact Sharon on 020 8304 0911 or by email vspworker@bvsc.co.uk marking your subject line “VSP Organisation Enquiry”
You can also find more information about the project in the links pages of our “I want to volunteer” section

We want to find out about other resources to help us with our volunteers

Please download our Volunteering Resources Factsheet for Organisations :
Volunteering Resources Factsheet for Organisations  (Word document)

None of these links have really helped us

Please either ring us on 020 8304 0911 and ask to speak to a member of the Volunteer Centre Team or send an email to bexleyvc@bvsc.co.uk with your query and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

What is a Volunteer Development Agency – Pages Content

Volunteer Centres (sometimes known as volunteer bureaux or volunteer development agencies) provide support at a local level for individual volunteers and volunteer involving organisations. They have six core functions:-

  1. Brokerage
    A VDA’s primary function is to match both individuals and groups interested in volunteering with appropriate opportunities in the local community. VDAs hold information on a comprehensive range of opportunities. They offer potential volunteers support and advice matching their motivation to volunteer with appropriate volunteering opportunities.
  2. Marketing volunteering
    VDAs stimulate and encourage local interest in volunteering and community activity. This may include promoting and marketing volunteering through local, regional and national events and campaigns .VDAs will manage and promote a national brand for volunteering.
  3. Good practice development
    VDAs promote good practice in working with volunteers to all volunteer involving organisations. They deliver training and accreditation for potential volunteers, volunteers, volunteer managers and the volunteering infrastructure.
  4. Develop volunteering opportunities
    VDAs work in close partnership with statutory, voluntary and private sector agencies as well as community groups and faith groups to develop local volunteering opportunities. VDAs understand the potential offered by the local communities and work with them to realise this potential. VDA will target specific groups which face barriers to volunteering. VDA work creatively to develop imaginative, non-formal opportunities for potential volunteers.
  5. Policy response and campaigning
    VDAs identify proposals or legislation that may impact on volunteering. It will lead and/or participate in campaigns on issues that affect volunteers or volunteering. VDAs campaign proactively for a more volunteer-literate and volunteer-friendly climate.
  6. Strategic development of volunteering
    As the local experts on volunteering VDAs inform strategic thinking and planning at a regional and national level.

For more information please visit www.volunteering.org.uk and click on the “What we do” tab.