Accessing a copy of the Investing in Volunteers Standard
An organisation can access the Investing In Volunteers Standards FREE of charge without making any commitment to registering to achieve the actual award. We encourage all organisations that involve volunteers to use the Investing Volunteers Standard as a 'working document' within their organisation. Pick a practice that you would like to develop and add this into your organisation's work plan. Within the staff resources that you have you can work towards implementing all of the Investing in Volunteers practices within your organisation.
Going for Accreditation
An organisation that chooses to register to go through the 10 step process to be assessed against the indicators and achieve the Award will be be required to pay for support and assessment costs.
The figures quoted below should only be considered a guide to minimum costs. Actual cost of accreditation can vary considerably from these figures based on the number of sites and volunteers involved, but we are happy to give a 'no obligation' estimate of cost on request. We require details of your organisation's management,staff and volunteer structure, number of volunteers and sites, number and type of volunteer roles and who is responsible for the management of volunteers on the ground and strategically.
Accreditation Costs
The below figures are for the *Basic Package which includes the support, resources and workshop needed to start the accreditation process within your organisation and includes the assessment of one site. If you are a multi-site organisation additional daily assessment charges will be added to this Basic Package in order to cover the satisfactory assessment of your whole organisation. The number of sites to be assessed and volunteers to be interviewed are decided using a sampling method. It is strongly advised that you should not budget for accreditation without contacting investinginvolunteers@volunteering-ni.org for a quote.
*Basic Package includes:
- Half-day introductory workshop.
- Review and feedback on self assessment and development plan . This includes a verbal and written report from your Assessor which makes recommendations that will assist you to write your development plan.
- Support from an Agency Advisor.
- Access to the restricted area of the Investing in Volunteers web site that gives registered organisations step by step guidance on the accreditation process and access to all required documentation.
- Resource Pack of Volunteer Development Agency publications and good practice checklists.
- Up to 1 days on-site assessment from a trained Investing in Volunteers Assessor, including a final verbal and written Assessment Report.
- External verification of the assessment.
- Travel costs (within Northern Ireland only).
- Use of the Investing In Volunteers logo for three years.
- An Investing in Volunteers plaque for display in your office.
* Basic Package costs
- Organisations with income under £100K, cost = £750
- Organisations with income of £100K-£500K, cost = £995
- Organisations with income over £500K ,cost = £1,500
- Private / Public Sector organisations, cost = £2,500
* Rates for Headquarter or multi-site organisations will be negotiated separately.
Any requirement for additional days of support or assessment (e.g. where we need to interview a larger number of volunteers or where the organisation operates from multiple sites) will incur additional charges at the appropriate daily rate. This will be discussed and agreed with the organisation in advance.
Daily rates:
- Organisations with income under £100K = £200
- Organisations with income of £100K-£500K = £250
- Organisations with income over £500K = £300
- Private/Public Sector organisations = £400
