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Rotherham Volunteer Centre Newsletter Edition 5 2014/15 – 15th January 2015

For the latest volunteering news, support and information:

NewsHelp us celebrate our 8 th Birthday The Rotherham Volunteer Centre is fast approaching its 8th birthday and we will be holding a celebration event at Voluntary Action Rotherham on Wednesday the 18th of February 2015.

We will be having a look back at the last year and presenting our volunteers with certificates to celebrate their on-going contribution to our work. We will also be talking about the Rotherham Volunteer Kitemark and launching our new 2015/16 training calendar!

Venue: Voluntary Action Rotherham, The Spectrum, Coke Hill, Rotherham, S60 2HX

Date: Wednesday the 18th February 2015

Time: 10:00am – 12 noon

To book your place, please contact Allison Carr by email to: allison.carr@varotherham.org.uk

Rotherham Volunteer KitemarkThe next deadline for applications for the Rotherham Volunteer Kitemark will be on Wednesday the 18th of March 2015.

For organisations interested in being awarded the Rotherham Volunteer Kitemark, please contact Julie Adamson on julie.adamson@varotherham.org.uk for an application pack.

For more information about the Kitemark please click here.

Volunteer Coordinator Forum Update

RVC coordinates and facilitates a free bi-monthly forum which brings together volunteer managers whether in a paid or unpaid capacity to network, share good practice and generally trouble shoot.  November’s meeting was an extended meeting and saw more new faces from: Rotherham Parents Forum Ltd, SYCIL, SAFFA and Active Regen. Welcome Louise, Deusa, Shaun, Marie and Leanne. Whilst numbers weren’t as high as usual with lots of last minute drop out, the quality of discussion was very high and participants welcomed the opportunity to network and discuss relevant volunteer management topics including: New in Post? Getting to Grips with your Role? Difficult Conversations and Supporting Volunteers with Additional Needs. If you’re not on the forum mailing list and would like to be added please drop me a quick line and then you can benefit from notes taken at the session.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 29th January between 9am and 11am and is being held at our building The Spectrum on Coke Hill in Rotherham . Please note parking is limited so allow yourself extra time. New members always welcome; to find out more or to confirm your attendance contact Alison Thorp on 01709 834462 or email alison.thorp@varotherham.org.uk

Please note I have updated the forum page on the VAR website to include Minutes and Agendas should you need them http://www.varotherham.org.uk/volunteers-coordinator-forum/.

Free Craft Sessions for Adults with Learning Disabilities

Dream will be hosting free craft sessions throughout the year. All materials are provided and all goods made will be sold to raise funds for local charities.

To be eligible for these sessions participants must be aged 18 or over, have a learning disability and NOT have attended DREAM sessions before.

Support is provided during sessions from trained and DBS checked volunteers. Sessions are available as follows:-· 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th March 1.30—3.30· 26th May, 2nd, 9th and 16th June 10.00—12.00· 3rd, 10th, 17th and 14th September 10.00—12.00· 3rd, 10th, 17th and 14th November 1.30—3.30 Places are limited and need to be booked in advance. To book a place or for more information please contact Catherine on 01709 834445 or catherine.oxtoby@varotherham.org.uk.

TrainingStaff – Volunteer Relationships…. 4th February 2015 - 10:00 am

Venue: VAR, The SpectrumCost: £25

This is a brand new course from Rotherham Volunteer Centre and explores staff-volunteer relationships.

This full day course (10:00am – 4:00pm) focuses on identifying roles and responsibilities and developing strategies for improving relationships between staff and volunteers.

Suitable for established volunteer managers (including paid or unpaid staff/volunteers) in the public, voluntary or community sectors, or brand new volunteer managers, who are new to the role.

The course will be delivered by Kerry McGrath, who works in the Volunteer Centre team at VAR.  Kerry has over 7 years experience of delivering volunteering management training and supporting local organisations to improve their volunteer management systems.

This course has been heavily discounted to £25 per place.  The training course includes; lunch, refreshments and a toolkit crammed full with useful templates and good practice information to help you in your role as a volunteer manager.

Click here to book your place.

Makaton Training

Makaton is a language programme using signs and symbols to help people with learning disabilities to communicate. It is designed to support spoken language and the signs and symbols are used with speech, in spoken word order.  DREAM have arranged two Makaton training programmes for 2015 consisting of 4 sessions each lasting 3 hours. Please note that you must be able to attend all 4 sessions or we will not be able to offer you a place. The first sessions will be held on Wednesdays starting on 11th March and finishing on 1st April. The second sessions will be held on Fridays starting on 25th September and finishing on 16th October. All sessions will start at 1:00pm, finish at 4:00pm and be held at Voluntary Action Rotherham. The training costs £20.00 for all four sessions and includes two workbooks that contain all of the signs and symbols learnt during training. We do have a number of free places available for parents/carers. To book a place or for more information please contact Catherine on 01709 834445 or catherine.oxtoby@varotherham.org.uk.

BrokerageChanges to Volunteer recruitment and brokerage services.

As a volunteer centre we have been supporting you to recruit volunteers using the national Do-it Website, this website has been taken over by IVO Do-it Trust and there have been some major changes happening for the past few months. The do-it website will cease to exist in its current format the week commencing the 12th January, where the new site will be launched. You can view the new site here… https://do-it.org Your opportunities are already on here, we have spent around 8 weeks now uploading them. We have still to input logos for

each organisation and a suitable picture, so if you have not sent us your logo please do so asap. If you have a really nice picture of your volunteers/staff in action you could send that too and we can pop it on.

Some of the changes will not affect you at all, however they affect us as a volunteer centre massively. We will not have the backend system (vbase) that we have used for the past 8 years so will have to do a little more work to enable volunteers to get to you, also you will be pleased to know that DO-It recruiter will also cease to exist. We will be going back 2 years in time and be processing all online applications ourselves so from next week the emails you receive regarding potential volunteers will come from the volunteer centre again rather than do-it recruiter.

There is one major change for your organisations – please note – at this time there can be only one contact per organisation for Volunteer Roles, we cannot have a different named person for different roles. (We have asked the owners of DO-it to change this and we are waiting for the developers to decide what to do)

So in brief we need from you the following urgently:

A logo for your organisation (if you have not already sent it)

A picture of your organisation/staff/volunteers (you decide, if not we may attach a stock image for now)

One named contact for all your opportunities.

For you to check on the link above, search for your organisation and then check the roles advertised. Please let us know if these are not correct.

Any questions please contact Julie Adamson at the volunteer centre. Although the new site has caused problems we are confident that in the long run the changes will be worth it and you will be able to find out about potential volunteers much quicker.

Please return comments / logos/ named person details to julie.adamson@varotherham.org.uk

Good Practice DevelopmentSpotlight on Supporting Volunteers

In the last edition of the VC Bulletin I explored the importance of tuning into a volunteer’s motivations for volunteering if you are to get the best from them and keep them. This month I’d like to build on this theme by briefly exploring support and supervision as tools available to you as a manager in balancing the needs of the organisation and those of the volunteer. Whilst most of us use these terms interchangeably as one in the same thing, there is an important distinction, if these mechanisms are going to achieve the balance we desire.

Support has been defined as: ‘The interest, understanding and care which is provided for volunteers, which keeps them going all the time and additionally in times of crisis and enables them to satisfy their needs and those of the organisation’.

Support activities should:

Focus on the person Provide an environment where volunteers can be themselves and express themselves Combat isolation which is common in many volunteer roles

Help to resolve personal problems Make the volunteer feel good about what they are doing and show that their contribution is

valued.

Supervision by comparison has been defined as: ‘A way of monitoring a volunteer’s performance to help them benefit from their placement, to make sure they are carrying out tasks appropriately, encourage problem solving and provide guidance’.

Supervision activities should:

Focus on the task and the demands of the volunteer role Be concerned with evaluating work and work performance Clarify priorities Identify training needs Provide a framework for agreement on change Improve confidence and competence in doing the work Sharing perceptions on how the work is progressing Recognising and dealing with problems The question is now, what support and supervision activities do you have in place within

your organisation to fulfil these key functions? Come along to the January Volunteer Coordinator Forum meeting to explore as a group some of the methods and techniques which you use to communicate with and manage your volunteers, from formal scheduled meetings to casual daily contacts. We will then compare these activities to the functions listed above and consider whether they tend more towards support or supervision and if they go some way to achieving the balance that we desire.

If you would welcome an informal chat about this issue or indeed any other area of volunteer

management good practice, please contact Alison Thorp.Community Volunteer Ambassador Project UpdateThe Community Volunteer Ambassador team continues to promote the many benefits of volunteering to individuals and groups in their communities and to signpost individuals and groups to further support where appropriate. They do this in various ways depending how confident they feel and what time they have available. For some it’s informal conversations with neighbours, group members and associates, for others it’s supporting the VC or representing the VC at local events or writing a volunteering article and for others it may be displaying posters in public places around the borough and sharing their knowledge of groups in their local community. All of these contributions are valuable to the VC team and the wider sector and help to inspire local people and raise the profile of volunteering in the borough. Indeed CVA Shaun Lyons supported me with case study material for a volunteering piece in the Brinsworth Parish Newsletter – Christmas edition, in the hope of engaging communities beyond the town centre. Thank you Shaun!

The team has grown since its inception with 8 active volunteers now on board. Nonetheless, if you are passionate about volunteering and would like to support us to sell the benefits of

volunteering to others as part of your existing role in an organisation or group we would love to hear from you. Alternatively, if you would like to recommend an individual as a possible Ambassador please get in touch by ringing Alison Thorp on 01709 834462 or emailing alison.thorp@varotherham.org.uk

Latest Volunteer Spotlight published in the AdvertiserDecember saw the final publication of an article featuring Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice’ Crucial Crew fundraising team who work tirelessly to raise funds for the hospice through a variety of activities.

Policy, Response and CampaigningVolunteering resources round-up

The value and difficulties of achieving diversity in volunteering is the subject of 'Volunteering for all' article on NCVO's website,http://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2014/11/21/volunteering-for-all/.Research from an 'Innovation in Giving Fund: Volunteer Centre Programme' has been published, looking at how 8 centres used funding to work in new ways, and to develop and test new approaches to increasing volunteering. Nesta has an article 'Five things we can learn about innovation from Volunteer Centres', or download the report via IVR.The latest report on volunteering from consultancy nfpSynergy is based on in-depth interviews and a survey of 500 volunteer managers. Two in three felt there should be a more powerful representative body.

Strategic Development of VolunteeringYouth sports volunteering and leadership

The Institute for Volunteering Research has produced 'Review of evidence on the outcomes of youth volunteering, social action and leadership' to inform its evaluation of the Asda Active Sports Leaders programme. This aims to increase the numbers of teenagers getting involved as sports leaders and in volunteering to help build confidence, skills and interest in social action. Available in pdf via IVR page.

Helping young adults with offending histories 'Helping young adults with offending histories to volunteer' builds on interviews carried out for the 'Is volunteering for everyone?' project. It links through to a series of briefings at http://www.ivr.org.uk/ivr-projects/ivr-current-projects/ex-offenders-and-volunteering, including guidance for volunteer-involving organisations.

Engaging volunteers through digital toolsCharityComms has published a report looking at the role for digital technology in helping charities work more effectively with volunteers. 'Engaging volunteers through digital tools: How charities see the key issues, barriers and opportunities' is available (pdf, 968KB) via registration at CharityComms page.

Best of the WebVolunteer Manager myths

A recent blog post on the NCVO website looks at the top ten myths of managing volunteers in the NHS: Top ten myths of managing volunteers in the NHS

Volunteering advice from 2014 : A couple of volunteering articles which featured in sector year-end lists, plus a couple of new ones.

Challenging the inclusivity of volunteering

Following recent Austrian research which challenges the view that volunteering is necessarily an inclusive activity, an IVR researcher takes a look at different aspects of the UK data in the NCVO article 'Is volunteering really open to all?' at http://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2014/12/04/is-volunteering-really-open-to-all/.

Funding for drug and alcohol treatment

Public Health England (PHE) has announced £10 million of capital funding for services that are helping people in England with drug or alcohol problems to recover from their addiction. Local authorities and service providers are able to apply for capital funding to support recovery-focused projects. Public Health England regional centres are sending out details of the application process.

ServicesDoes your organisation carry out DBS (previously CRB) checks?VAR is a registered body authorised to undertake DBS checks on behalf of all organisations. This means that we have undertaken the relevant training to be able to process applications efficiently and professionally. All information is handled in a sensitive and confidential manner. We offer training to organisations to ensure forms are filled in correctly before they are sent to us which ensures a speedy service for all involved.

Extremely competitive priceOur DBS checks include a small administration fee which is dependent on the type of check required or the organisation asking for it. There are no hidden or extra charges for returned or reissued forms.

Speedy and efficient service

We don’t wait to send them out in bulk, and applications can be processed the same day if they are correctly filled in. Current turnaround time can be as little as 2 weeks.* (*Dependent on the DBS)

Simple, hassle-free sign up process No commitment upon sign up, or minimum/maximum applications to meet. Full guidance provided every step of the way, including on eligible positions.

Please contact Allison Carr (allison.carr@varotherham.org.uk) or 01709 834460 for an information pack.

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