draft business plan - volunteer centre camden:...

Business Plan2014-2017

Maximising Impact

CONTENTSIntroduction from Our Trustees 3Maximising Impact 4Our Mission & Vision 5Our Strategic Goals for 2014-2017 6

1.2 Training and Development 10Along with helping more skilled individuals participate in the management of SMCOs, we believe that we should deliver services to help develop and train the existing volunteer population. This will be achieved through three core activities: 10Facilitated Training 10Workshops 10One-to-one support 10

1.3 Skills Sharing 101.4 Promoting Best Practice 111.5 Consultancy 111.6 Collaboration 11

Delivering in partnership 12Partner Organisation Dialogue 12Being outcomes focused 12

1.7 Networking 12

STRATEGIC GOAL 2 – Greater Advocacy for Volunteering 142.1 Volunteer Champions 142.2 Corporate Social Responsibility 142.3 Improved Communication 142.4 Lobbying 15

STRATEGIC GOAL 3 – More People Volunteering 173.1 Promoting Volunteer Engagement 173.2 Volunteer Fairs 173.3 Partnerships and Collaboration 183.4 Outreach Activities 183.5 Online Matching 18

Useful Links/ References 20

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Introduction from Our Trustees

It is a pleasure to introduce you to Volunteer Centre Camden’s 2014-2017 Business Plan.

Our plan is focused on the theme of ‘Maximising Impact’ and supports our view that during times of significant challenges throughout the not for profit volunteer sector, the most important thing we can do is help charitable and other organisations that involve volunteers (Volunteer-Involving Organisations) to deliver their services more effectively.

It is our belief that we can create better communities through volunteering, and this Business Plan details the series of products and services that we will deliver to enhance the volunteering experience, promote the benefits of working with Volunteer-Involving Organisations, and increase the support for the work we do.

There are three cornerstones to our Business Plan that all work together to maximise the impact of Volunteer Involving Organisations. Firstly, we have looked at how to help organisations become more efficient – ensuring they get more out of what they have. With services ranging from the delivery of specialised support and one-to-one mentoring, to creation of training materials and the offering consultancy services, we know we can assist in providing the solutions needed.

Secondly, we understand that organisations who perform well in communities create advocates for the work of volunteers. Not only does this strengthen our capacity to lobby on our members’ behalf, but it also helps to justify why their work is so important. Our Business Plan aims to support this area through the continuation of the Volunteer Champion scheme, whereby specialist support and resource is given to selected ‘ambassadors’ for the sector; as well as through other initiatives.

Finally, from greater support for charitable work comes greater numbers of volunteers – the lifeblood of any Volunteer Involving Organisation. Our planned activities do not focus on increasing numbers alone. We believe that organisations perform better when they have the right people, in the right positions. Therefore we will increase our outreach activities to help reverse the disparities seen in Trustees, such as fewer than 1% being under 24, as well as those seen in the general volunteer pool.

We will focus on working with mid- and small-sized organisations – those which derive greatest benefit from our support and expertise.

We will also seek to work more collaboratively with other organisations across London, to open up the opportunities available to our members and to ensure we too are being as impactful as we can be.

We hope that you will agree that our Business Plan shows how working with the Volunteer Centre can maximise the impact of the volunteer sector.

Jessica BadleyChair, on behalf of the Trustee Board.

Maximising Impact Business Plan 2014-17 - 3 -

Maximising Impact

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Our Mission & Vision

It is our mission to Create Better Communities through Volunteering.

Underpinning our mission are our four visions:

Popularise Volunteering: We want to create communities filled with proud, skilled, and eager volunteers.

Seamless Links: We want an interconnected volunteer sector, where knowledge and experience is shared with ease.

Energised Teams: We want our staff and volunteers to be inspired to be the best they can be – everyday.

Camden, the borough that leads on Volunteering: We want to be the Volunteer Centre of Choice, delivering quality services and creating happy volunteers in Camden and beyond.


Our Strategic Goals for 2014-2017

Our strategy for 2014-17 focuses around the deliverables that we believe will support our theme of Maximising Impact. They are grouped into 16 ‘key activities’ that support one of the three pillars identified in the introduction:

.1. Greater Organisational Efficiency

This strategic goal is both internally and externally focused, as we accept that we can only be the best position to help organisations improve when we are performing at our best too.

We shall continue to focus on developing and sharing Best Practice within the sector, through the promotion of lessons learned and by offering bespoke networking sessions. We will also increase the work we do to help skills sharing, where expertise can be borrowed by organisations and better ways of working developed through mentorship. For organisations outside of the charitable sector, we will find methods to offer our skills to them as a consultancy service. This will enabling our own staff to develop and shall ensure we have access to a diverse revenue stream.

We also know that a vital service offered by the Volunteer Centre is the delivery of specialised training and development. We shall endeavour to provide more of these activities throughout the life of this business plan, acknowledging that we can offer this experience to more individuals and Volunteer Involving Organisations through partnering with other organisations.

We acknowledge that organisational improvements begin at the top, so we shall continue to build upon our trustee recruitment services to help all Volunteer Involving Organisations find the skills and expertise they require at board level.

2. Greater Advocacy for Volunteering We firmly believe that the pool of potential volunteers is much larger than is suggested by the current levels of volunteering. The cause of this may vary from misinformation about the diversity of opportunities and level of commitment required to people not fully understanding the value of volunteering. This strategic goal seeks to improve the number of people talking positively about the volunteering opportunities and experiences.

One consideration we have made in our Business Plan is the need to use a variety of methods of communication, whilst improving how we communicates generally. This will mean that we can reach more people and promote the good work done by Volunteer Involving Organisations s. As well as this, we believe we should extend the work we do under our Volunteer Champions scheme, which has proven to be an exceptional method of generating positive publicity.

We will also continue our involvement in national and international

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consultations relating to volunteering, ensuring our experience and tactic knowledge helps to deliver improvements.

Finally we will expand our work with private sector organisations, helping them to become more socially responsible.

3. More People Volunteering Ultimately we want to see more people volunteering. We believe that key to this is not just ensuring all volunteers have positive experiences, but encouraging them to speak openly and enthusiastically about their time as a volunteer.

4.Central to such promotion of volunteering is to help all volunteers develop the social networks, additional skills, and further connectedness to their communities so that their voice is heard.

Alongside engaging the existing volunteers, we will also continue our activities that help to get more volunteers into Volunteer Involving Organisations. This will vary from the continuation of our Volunteer Fairs, in collaboration with other Volunteer Centre’s, to extending our involvement with Online Matching systems. We will also encourage and support not-for-profit organisations to think differently about how they involve volunteers. Examples include ‘non-traditional’ volunteering, such as short-term or only during School Term Time.

We will also seek to tackle some of the inequalities we see within the volunteer community, through a mixture of outreach activities and targeted publicity. We believe that more can be done to assist parents, as well as other groups, to engage with Volunteer Involving Organisations. We also believe that we are in one of the best positions to help reverse the findings of a recent study by the Young Foundation; which stated that those at risk of poverty are less likely become a volunteer, despite being well placed to benefit from the increased confidence that volunteering offers.


“I think the service VCC provides is excellent.It does not only provide a forum for organisations to find volunteers, it also helps promote partnership working between organisations. This results in more opportunities for volunteers and benefits the wider Community.

- Volunteer Centre’s Annual Survey, 2013 ”

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STRATEGIC GOAL 1 – Greater Organisational Efficiency

1.1 Trustee Recruitment Effective trustees make a big difference to the performance and success of voluntary and community organisations. We want to make sure that all voluntary sector organisations that want Trustees have access to them, and all individuals who want to participate in this function can find the opportunities. We will approach the issue of attracting more trustees through three avenues:

Firstly we will promote available trusteeships though our website, to provide a clear point-of-contact for all prospective trustees.

Secondly we shall continue to deliver our biannual Trustee Recruitment event. This face-to-face activity helps prospective trustees ask questions and understand the needs of particular organisations.

Finally we will work to enhance awareness of trusteeship in places where prospective trustees can be discovered - the workplace. We will continue to foster links with employers; publicise the benefits of staff becoming trustees; and support those individuals that are willing and capable of undertaking the role.

Evidence of needA National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) report found that 39% of charities find recruiting trustees difficult. Trustees are ‘essential to the well-being and effectiveness of the voluntary and community sector’. Since they are responsible for making sure that the organisation operates within the rules, regulations, and laws, it is essential that organisations are able to recruit committed trustees with the right skills and knowledge. 81% of organisations currently rely on word of mouth to recruit trustees. New Philanthropy Capital links this to the lack of diversity among trustees, Maximising Impact Business Plan 2014-17 - 9 -

especially in terms of age. Less than 1% of trustees are young people (aged under-24).

Outcomes

Outcome Measured throughIncreased number of organisations recruit trustees to their board

Annual survey/ placements reported to VCC

1.2 Training and Development Along with helping more skilled individuals participate in the management of Volunteer Involving Organisations, we believe that we should deliver services to help develop and train the existing volunteer population.

This will be achieved through three core activities:

Facilitated Training Our training provision will be designed to complement that of our partners, including Camden-based infrastructure organisations, and other Volunteer Centres. Training needs will be identified through our annual survey of organisations, feedback from events, and one-to-one sessions. We will ensure that we continue to offer value for money and can demonstrate the difference that results from the training that we provide, through the collection of testimonials and monitoring feedback.

WorkshopsShort, structured workshops will be held to facilitate learning, networking, and discussion. They will involve experts in specific areas of volunteer management where relevant, and be delivered in house or in partnership with others. In addition we will deliver specific workshops for trustees to help them understand good practice in the sector.

One-to-one supportWe will offer a point of contact for those managing Volunteer Involving Organisations, offer our support wherever we can to ensure their organisation can achieve excellence.

1.3 Skills Sharing We have recently piloted a a service called SkillShare, which centres on individuals volunteering their specific expertise to any volunteer involving organisation that could benefit from it e.g. a marketing professional writing a marketing plan or training staff. Though this specific platform is still relatively new, we fully embrace the concept behind skills sharing – by making it easier for Volunteer Involving Organisations to access specific skills, you can significantly improve their performance.

Furthermore we view SkillsShare as a direct way of delivering personal development opportunities to those who work in the volunteering sector, as they are able to shadow and interact with these individuals. There are also multiple benefits to the volunteer.

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We shall endeavour during this Business Plan to work out how we can continue to promote this activity, either through existing organisations or by delivering something new.

1.4 Promoting Best Practice We will continue to seek out Best Practice from across the volunteer sector, and beyond, to help all organisations that work with the Volunteer Centre.

One initiative we will continue is the promotion of the 10-point Volunteer Management Charter, which was developed in conjunction with the Greater London Volunteering. This document helps to ensure a ‘win-win’ experience for both the volunteer and the organisations that involve volunteers.

1.5 Consultancy We will continue to offer bespoke training and consultancy services for organisations wanting to purchase these services. This will include:

Mentoring support, In house training, Volunteer project start-up support, Recruitment support to hiring volunteer coordinators, Recruitment and selection to recruit volunteers, Consultancy support to identify areas of development for the future, and

identify key successes.

Outcomes

Outcome Measured throughOrganisations make improvements to volunteer programmes

Annual survey/ feedback from individual services

Organisations are able to achieve more through volunteer involvement

Annual survey/ feedback from individual services

1.6 Collaboration We know that organisations are stronger when working together. No truer is this than for Volunteer Centres, which often operation in isolation within the confines of their borough boundaries despite greater impact being deliverable through partnership and collaboration.

At Volunteer Centre Camden we will develop new partnerships to ensure that we can deliver our work more widely, more efficiently, and more effectively. We will also build on our existing relationships, such as Voluntary Action Camden (VAC), to ensure that a more integrated voluntary sector can be achieved.

Whilst we will need to continue to provide some our standard services in isolation (and at cost) , we believe that there are better ways of working that reflect our organisational values, particularly that of creating ‘seamless links’ within the sector.


Such collaborations may be seen in the sharing of staff resource, co-location of particular activities or functions, and other value-adding activities, such as:

Delivering in partnershipIn terms of service delivery, our most natural partners are other Volunteer Centres located within Greater London. We will explore ways to deliver our services jointly, building on the success of our partnerships that provided team building days for businesses through Involve.

We have previously partnered with other Volunteer Centres to deliver training for our own internal volunteers, and we will continue to develop this area of work whilst expanding this ethos to other areas of delivery.

Partner Organisation DialogueAs well as attending networking events hosted by other organisations, we will provide a programme of events relating to volunteer involvement to seek feedback from partners, better understand their successes and challenges, and to increase dialogue.

We will increase our online engagement with local organisations to continue this two way communication.

Being outcomes focusedWe will also improve our outcomes measurement. By doing this we will be able to better communicate the impact that we make, as well as better identify and share the difference that our partner organisations make in their communities.

1.7 Networking We want people to find our events helpful and inspiring. We want them to result in improved partnerships, greater volunteer involvement, and ultimately more means of having an impact. We will provide a mixture of online and face-to-face networking opportunities, bringing together people with an interest in volunteering such as trustees, chief executives, and other members of volunteer management.

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“The evening proved to be effective and fulfilling as I am now able to move a step furtherto achieve my initial objectives for the foundation.

” Feedback from evening volunteering fair 2015


STRATEGIC GOAL 2 – Greater Advocacy for Volunteering

2.1 Volunteer Champions We believe current volunteers are often the best advocates for volunteering. We will train and offer support to volunteers who want to talk to others about their volunteering experiences; whether in their peer groups, their workplaces, or through our outreach programmes. This will help to create active champions for volunteering and harness the power of word of mouth and relationship marketing.

2.2 Corporate Social ResponsibilityMost private and public sector organisations believe that they should have a demonstrable positive impact to the environment they work in. Alongside initiatives such as sustainable development and the environmental sourcing of materials, a lot of attention has been given to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However some employers find it difficult to find ways of delivering CSR that utilises their staff time well. We believe the Volunteer Centre is in the best place to support these organisations in finding ways of delivering CSR effectively, and can use our tactic knowledge of the volunteer sector to make this process quick and painless. During the span of this Business Plan we hope to demonstrate to several organisations our added value in this area.

2.3 Improved CommunicationWe believe that we must communicate to more people in more ways to ensure that the public image of volunteering continues to improve. We will share ‘success stories’ and news with the local press, and actively promote this activity through social media such as Twitter, Facebook, our website, and our mailing lists. We will develop our online presence to showcase the great volunteering experiences that people are having and demonstrate how volunteering can transform lives.

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Outcomes

Outcome Measured throughPeople will start volunteering as a result of using our services

Feedback from do-it users/ annual survey with people registering with our service

Volunteer Champions feel more confident sharing their volunteering experiences

Training feedback

2.4 Lobbying The Volunteer Centre is well-equipped to provide a fair and accurate description of the pressures of our member organisations, liaising with them to ensure their voice is heard. We will continue to take active roles in activities related to discussing volunteering, such as Greater London Volunteering and NCVO. Furthermore we will keep a close eye on national policy and consultation papers.

Outcomes

Outcome Measured throughGreater staff awareness of partner organisations

measured through staff survey/ supervision/ attendance at networking events/ number of partnerships developed

Organisations that we work with feel develop more connections and partnerships with each other

annual survey/ feedback form from events


““I found the workshop really helpful as, in addition to providing an overview of volunteering and of the structure of third sector organisations, the participants were given time to consider and discuss what skills they could bring to a placement. I felt extremely under-confident with regard to my skills having been out of the workplace for so long and I have to say I received a great deal of encouragement from Catherine (workshop leader) in this respect. We also did some work on preparation for interviews and looked at issues around customer service and equality and diversity, which again, having not attended an interview for some time, I found very helpful.

- Introduction to Volunteering Workshop 2013”

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STRATEGIC GOAL 3 – More People Volunteering

3.1 Promoting Volunteer Engagement Recruiting volunteers is an ongoing need for the volunteer involving organisations that we work with. We want more people to volunteer, from all sections of the community. A vibrant volunteering sector brings huge benefits, both for those organisations who benefit from the time and skills given by volunteers, and for the volunteers themselves who develop new skills, pursue their interests, and participate in the broader community.

In addition to our work across the community, we will focus on building the profile and explaining the benefits of volunteering to three groups which have historically been underrepresented in the volunteering community:

The long-term unemployed, and others at risk of poverty;

Skilled workers with short-term opportunities to volunteer (‘episodic volunteering’);

Members of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community.

3.2 Volunteer Fairs Our 2013 Annual Survey emphasised that the vast majority of organisations we work with are extremely positive about the services we currently deliver. One frequently commended activity were our Volunteer Fairs, which activity support volunteer recruitment.

We will continue to provide this matching service through the fairs, which are held throughout the year. These provide an opportunity for potential volunteers to meet organisations face-to-face so they can discuss how they can be of mutual benefit to each other.

The success of these activities can be summarised rather simply: Whilst the average


online matching services will place around 5% of those who use it, our Volunteering Fairs place 35-46%.

3.3 Partnerships and Collaboration We will foster relationships with other volunteer brokerage services in Camden and beyond. By expanding the pool of available volunteers, and the range of volunteering opportunities, we will improve the ‘matching’ of volunteers to opportunities. This will increase the number of volunteering opportunities that are taken up, and allow volunteers to find the opportunity that best matches their skills and goals.

Outcomes

Outcome Measured throughPeople will start volunteering as a result of using our services

Feedback from do-it users/ annual survey with people registering with our service

Organisations will increase their involvement of skilled volunteers

Annual members survey

3.4 Outreach Activities Volunteer Centre Camden regularly attends a number of different forums to talk to users of other services about volunteering. We want to do more of this. We believe that by making people more aware of the varied and interesting volunteering roles available, and answering questions about volunteering, we can excite and inform more people about taking an active part in the community. Localised marketing activity can also encourage people from under-represented groups to come and find out more about volunteering.

3.5 Online Matching We are excited about the imminent changes to the do-it website introduced by The Do-It Trust. . We will promote the new services to organisations and individuals looking to volunteer. We will use the data captured to identify local and national trends in volunteering, and use this to help inform our work with organisations that are recruiting volunteers to help develop exciting volunteer roles and develop recruitment processes that are accessible and result in the right volunteers in the right roles.

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“Our Business Plan shows how working with the Volunteer Centre can maximise the impact of the volunteer sector.

- Business Plan, 2014 ”


Useful Links/ References

Camden’s Volunteering Strategy 2013-16http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/download/asset?asset_id=3100797

Do-It.orghttp://www.do-it.org.uk/

National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)http://www.ncvo.org.uk/

NCVO Strategy 2014-19http://www.ncvo.org.uk/images/documents/about_us/our-strategy/NCVO-strategy-2014-19.pdf

Volunteer Centre Camdenhttp://www.volunteercentrecamden.org.uk/

Volunteering in Camdenhttp://camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/community-and-living/voluntary-organisations--community-development-and-funding/

Young Foundationhttp://youngfoundation.org/

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