Value Volunteer Management Campaign – Time to Celebrate Success!

After 12 months of dedicated networking and innovative promotion you’ve probably heard about Volunteering England’s Value Volunteer Management Campaign!

This national, cross-sector campaign has been aiming to raise the profile of volunteer management as a profession, and to encourage key decision-makers in volunteer-involving organisations to recognise, support and invest in volunteer management. With the campaign coming to an end in March 2011, it’s time to assess its impact. How successful has it been and how far has it reached?

The Volunteer Management Team at Volunteering England has worked closely with national and local infrastructure bodies, national charities, voluntary and community groups, NHS Trusts, colleges and universities, private sector companies and volunteer management networks to promote the campaign to a wide audience across the country. Thanks to the hard work of these organisations and networks in cascading the campaign to their contacts, the readership has totalled over 150,000 individuals from across private, public, voluntary and community sectors.

The two guides* produced as part of the campaign have been downloaded from the Volunteering England website and distributed by the Volunteer Management team to approximately 2500 individuals, including over 260 volunteer centres. The volunteer centre network has played an essential role in disseminating the key messages of the campaign to volunteer-involving organisations across the regions.

Many volunteer centres are using the campaign materials and resources to help people managing volunteers develop the skills and confidence they need to “influence up” and gain support for volunteering and volunteer management. Others are encouraging local organisations to sign up to the campaign and to assess what they are doing to recognise, support and invest in volunteer management.

The Volunteer Management Portal, developed and maintained by the Volunteer Management Team, provides a gateway to the world of volunteer management with links to 1500 resources across England. So far, over 14,000 people have used the Portal to locate a wide variety of volunteer management training providers and consultants, support and development opportunities.

The campaign has emphasised the huge range of skills and competencies involved in managing volunteers, which has really helped to raise the profile of the profession. Debbie Hill, Volunteer Support Manager at CLIC Sargent, describes one of the most important and challenging skills as: “striking the balance between recognising someone is a volunteer, but also ensuring a level of commitment and reliability.”

To read more about the profession of volunteer management and the types of skills involved, please access the Volunteer Management Portal, which features four case studies from people managing volunteers across private, public and voluntary sectors.

Almost 400 organisations have participated in the campaign directly by signing the Value Volunteer Management Endorsement, providing supporting quotes and videos, and/or contributing to the guides. Here are just three of the huge quantity of supporting statements from organisations across public, private, voluntary and community sectors:

“Investment in volunteer management is really paying off and is boosting the value we’re gaining from volunteering.”
Martin Narey, Chief Executive, Barnardo’s

"Volunteers are completely coordinated and without that management and coordination I wouldn’t be able to provide the service I think is needed."
Chief Superintendent Mick Smith, Havering Borough Commander, Metropolitan Police

“It is not enough to simply offer a menu of volunteering opportunities, sit back and hope that people get involved. In order for individuals, the firm and the community to benefit from employee volunteering, the programme needs to be well managed.”
Adam Johnson, Corporate Responsibility Partner, Herbert Smith

The campaign has served as a platform for organisations to come together and demonstrate the importance they place on volunteer management. Yet what are these organisations doing to increase the value they place on volunteer management? How has participating in the campaign helped them to recognise, support and invest in volunteer management?

Over the last few months, numerous organisations have been using “Recognise, Support, Invest – Your Guide to Valuing Volunteer Management” to help them assess how they currently value volunteer management, why this is important, and what extra steps they could take. Many have written to tell us how they’re planning to increase the value they place on volunteer management. Here are a few of their comments:

The Send Project in Nottingham has committed to ensuring sufficient financial investment in the management of volunteers: “Sourcing additional funding to support the volunteering programme is now a priority.”
Roy Bustin, Volunteer Manager, Send Project

“The Blackfriars Settlement is aiming to appoint a new Volunteer Coordinator post, funded from its own resources in order to strengthen the support given to existing volunteers and reach out to new volunteers and new partnership volunteering opportunities.”
Jackie Wray, Deputy Director Finance, Facilities and Assets, Blackfriars Settlement

“To support the people who manage volunteers, we will be developing accredited courses based on National Occupational Standards in Managing and Developing Volunteers.”
Jacqui Randle, Volunteer Services Coordinator, St Mungo’s

A range of different organisations have commented on how participating in the Value Volunteer Management Campaign has helped them to increase the value they place on volunteer management, for example:

“Having recently invested in the creation of a new Volunteering Department, St John Ambulance is actively working to improve volunteer management practices throughout our large and diverse organisation. This campaign has helped to focus our attention further on a number of areas we were already working on.”
Chris Reed, Head of Volunteering, St John Ambulance

“This campaign has helped us to communicate the value of volunteer management across the University, and how effective volunteer management makes a vital contribution to the University's core objectives, particularly with regard to the student experience and the University's support of the local community."
Professor Ann Caesar, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Warwick

“[It] has been useful in pushing us to case study all our different types of volunteer managers across the organisation to use on our intranet as part of a re-launch of the unit and raising the profile of the different types of volunteer management.”
Samantha Sparrow, Head of Volunteer Unit, Catch22

Finally, a number of organisations have identified how they stand to benefit from increasing the value they place on volunteer management:

“Increased value and recognition of the importance of volunteer management within Globe Gallery will benefit volunteers by increasing their sense of value and their future employability prospects. It will benefit staff because they will feel their work in supporting volunteers is recognised and incredibly important. The community will have improved access to structured and worthwhile volunteering activities and other funders and stakeholders will see how effective volunteer management can achieve a great deal for everyone involved.”
Stephen Pritchard, Programme Manager, Globe Gallery

“People who manage volunteers will benefit by gaining valuable skills and experience from working with a unique group of people, who bring added value towards the implementation organisation’s aims and objectives.”
Ade Fashade, Equality & Diversity Manager, Shelter

“Our work will raise the profile of volunteer management as an area of professional competency.”
Catherine Beedell, Workforce Services Development Manager, ViSTA

To read more about the ways in which organisations plan to increase the value they place on volunteer management, how the Value Volunteer Management Campaign is helping them do this, and the benefits they hope to gain, please access the campaign homepage, which features three case studies from organisations across private, public and voluntary sectors.

The Value Volunteer Management Campaign has been enormously successful in the relatively short period of time that it has been running. It has raised the profile of volunteer management as a profession, increased recognition of, support for, and investment in volunteer management across sectors, provided a range of resources and information for organisations and people managing volunteers, and highlighted the wide range of skills and competencies involved in volunteer management.

It’s now over to volunteer-involving organisations themselves to continue championing volunteer management and increasing the value they place on it. Those that do will certainly reap the benefits, not just in the near future, but throughout many years to come.

• Value Volunteer Management Resources developed as part of the Campaign:

Volunteer Management Portal
The Volunteer Management Portal acts as a gateway to the world of Volunteer Management, signposting to a wide range of resources and information on support, training and development opportunities for people managing volunteers.

Value Volunteer Management Campaign
The Campaign website provides a wealth of information about the benefits of professional and strategic volunteer management.

Influencing Up – A Guide to Gaining Executive Support for Volunteering and Volunteer Management
This guide aims to help people who manage volunteers to increase their knowledge, gather evidence and develop a sound strategy for gaining executive support and investment in volunteering and volunteer management. It is available as a free download from the Volunteer Management Portal.

“Recognise, Support, Invest – Your Guide to Valuing Volunteer Management”
This guide explores what “valuing volunteer management” really means and is designed to help organisations assess how they currently value volunteer management, why this is important, and what extra steps they could take.

Investing in volunteer management – what do your peers have to say?
Three leading executives showcase what their organisations gain from investing in volunteer management. Watch the videos and find out what you might be missing!

Volunteer Management Skills Case Studies
Four case studies from people managing volunteers across private, public and voluntary sectors, emphasising the huge range of skills and competencies involved in volunteer management.

Value Volunteer Management Case Studies
Three case studies detailing the ways in which organisations plan to increase the value they place on volunteer management, how the Value Volunteer Management Campaign is helping them do this, and the benefits they hope to gain.