National Phobics Society (NPS)

Name of Organisation

Why did you decide to go for Investing in Volunteers?

We have a strong commitment towards supporting and developing opportunities for volunteers. Our organisation recognises the positive contributions that volunteers bring to the organisation and indeed we view volunteers as the lifeblood of the organisation. We wanted to work towards a standard that formalised this.

What benefits have you found from working towards Investing in Volunteers?

Throughout the Investing in Volunteers process, we have developed a number of our procedures to ensure that all of our volunteers are well supported. We have extensively developed our organisational policies as a direct result of the Investing in Volunteers process. We have also implemented supervision for all volunteers as a result of the work on the standard, including those volunteers who are remotely located.

Tell us about your experience of the assessment process in your organisation.

The assessment process involved having an external assessor visit the organisation to speak to a number of our volunteers, from a wide range of roles and levels of experience, to explore the volunteer experience with the National Phobics Society. This looked at the recruitment procedure, the training of the volunteers, the support received throughout the volunteering role and the ongoing organisational support through the policies and procedures in place. The interviews were conducted in a safe and none threatening manner for our volunteers enabling them to feel that they were able to discuss any aspect of their role. They also had the opportunity to have to interviews conducted in a face to face setting or over the telephone to ensure that the volunteer felt comfortable throughout.

5 Practical tips you would give another organisation working towards Investing in Volunteers

Ensure that you keep adequate records of any developments made so that you can see how the standard has developed your practice

Be open and honest about the work that you are currently doing to support your volunteers, this will make setting goals much easier

Make sure that your volunteers remain an active part of the process- they will let you know what you are doing well and what could be improved

Be realistic about the timescale, action points requiring management committee approval often take longer than expected

Treat the process as a challenge rather than a problem.