Volunteer Centre Lincoln

Name of Organisation

Why did you decide to go for Investing in Volunteers?

We were already a partner organisation, helping other volunteer involving organisations to gain the Award. However, we felt that we wanted to achieve the Award for ourselves before marketing it more extensively to other organisations in Lincoln. As a Volunteer Centre, we promote best practice in all aspects of volunteering and we wanted to make sure that we measured up to the best. We were keen to ensure that our systems were the most effective they could be to support our own team of 11 volunteers. We have a mix of long-standing and newer volunteers who support us in all aspects of our service.

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

This was a very affirming process. We already had a lot of things in place and our volunteers were very supportive of us going for the Award from the outset.

We received some brilliant feedback from our volunteers and this was reflected in the Assessment Report. As a result of the process, volunteers also realised how valued they are, not only by the Volunteer Centre, but by the entire organisation.

However, it also encouraged us to look more closely at certain aspects of our procedures, including developing more extensive risk assessments for all our volunteers. We also sharpened up other policies and procedures as a whole team approach.

Going for the IiV Award also gave us the chance to market what we do more effectively to the decision makers in our organisation, open up better dialogue and provide more opportunities for volunteers to get involved in planning and consultation.

We also carried out a piece of work looking at how our Volunteer Centre’s demographics compared with the diversity of the city we are operating in. This has helped us to reflect more widely on the target groups we would like to aim our marketing at.

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

We were keen to complete the Award quite quickly and the whole process took about 8 months from the time we registered to the assessment visit.

We agreed all deadlines alongside our Assessor, who was easy to access by phone or email.

It was useful to meet other organisations going for IiV at the Introductory Workshop. Once we submitted our self-assessment form, we talked to our assessor, and worked on a Development Plan for a few key areas.

We set a date for the assessment visit and provided information to the Assessor, so she could decide who she wanted to interview. People at all levels in the organisation were selected. Although everyone was nervous, the assessment went very well. Volunteers who were less confident were able to go in together and everyone got a lot out of the process. We were given an indication of how we had done on the day, but we had to wait for the final decision from the Scrutiny Committee.

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

·Plan ahead and think about the timescales and work involved

·Gain the support of your volunteer team from the start

·Involve everyone in the organisation

·Provide regular updates on progress

·Go for it!