Investing in Volunteers demonstrates real achievement measured against a rigorous national standard. Achieving Investing in Volunteers will benefit your organisation in many ways, including:
- enabling you to publicly demonstrate your organisation’s commitment to volunteering
- enhancing your volunteers’ experience and increasing their motivation
- encouraging more people to volunteer with you
- enhancing your reputation in the local community and with funders
- minimising the potential risks arising from the involvement of volunteers.
- ensuring that knowledge of volunteer management is maintained at organisational level
- developing a framework for future strategy and action.
Whatever your reasons for considering the Investing in Volunteers quality standard, every organisation can benefit from taking this opportunity to review its work with volunteers.
If you have no established policies in place for volunteer involvement, in addition to all of the above, Investing in Volunteers will also help you to:
- Raise awareness of the issues surrounding volunteering
- Create a more structured environment for volunteers and their manager(s)
- Become more aware of the boundaries and relationships between volunteers and paid staff
- Develop a clear understanding of volunteers’ roles and make better use of their skills
- Put the proper documentation in place for effective volunteer management.
Even if you already have policies in place, you can benefit from:
- Identifying your weak spots
- Introducing new policies or refreshing old ones
- Becoming more scrupulous about good practice, such as carrying out risk assessments and developing a comprehensive Volunteers Handbook
- Raising awareness of your work with volunteers among staff within your organisation
- Developing a framework for future strategy and action.
Achieving Investing in Volunteers also ensures that knowledge of volunteer management is encapsulated at organisational level, so that information is not lost if a volunteer manager moves on.
Crucially, Investing in Volunteers shows your volunteers – and potential volunteers – how much they are valued and gives them confidence in your ability to provide an outstanding volunteer experience.