Westbury Community Project

Name of Organisation

Why did you decide to go for Investing in Volunteers?

To use an established and recognised volunteer organisation to investigate what we might be doing right or wrong in our work with volunteers. Volunteers contribute tremendously to the work we do. Our aim is to be as effective as possible in supporting and recognising their work.

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

It was really encouraging to receive validation for the policies and procedures as well as the various practices we had in place to support and encourage our volunteers. Through the process we however, recognised that there were some areas which needed to be addressed. Also that there were better ways of working to be more effective, which ultimately will help in the development of the organisation as a whole.

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

At first we were a bit apprehensive about the whole process and also to possibly find out that we were rubbish at what we were doing. Our Assessor however, put us at ease from the first session and was there to encourage and support us through each stage. She was easily contactable when we weren’t sure about something and all who were interviewed for the final assessment reported that they were made to feel at ease. This I believe resulted in the absolutely fantastic result of us achieving the award.

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

Ensure all stakeholders are aware of roles and responsibilities
Have regular meetings with volunteers to obtain feedback
Keep all policies and procedures and their practice up to date
Involve volunteers in decision processes
Show appreciation to volunteers for their efforts