Sutton Mencap Charity Company

Name of Organisation

Why did you decide to go for Investing in Volunteers?

We were one of the charities involved in the pilot scheme four years ago, and found it a useful exercise then.

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

It has helped us focus on the way we use volunteers in the organisation, why we use them, and make sure that we were ensuring their safety and satisfaction to the best of our ability.

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

The assessor was extremely supportive and helpful, and we found the self assessment checklists most useful. We put a lot of work into improving our procedures, rewriting our volunteers’ handbook and generally tidying up our volunteer program.

Unfortunately, there was a five month gap between completing the assessment and actually receiving the award, so we were left feeling rather flat after all our hard work.

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

To work on the assessment as an ongoing process, rather than trying to do it all in one go.
To keep regular contact with your assessor.
To ensure that you communicate any changes thoroughly to the whole organisation.