Volunteer Co-Ordinators Newsletter & Updates

View this email in your browser

The Volunteer Co-Ordinators group is a peer network of volunteer co-ordinators and managers from around Southampton.

Friday Forum!

3rd June 2016

This months Friday Forum has a focus on older people with two groups coming to discuss the work that they are doing with the cities older population.

First session - 9:30 - 10:45 - Age UK Southampton - Phil Williams, Health & Wellbeing
1. Overview of the services Age UK Southampton are delivering in the city
2. Tackling Loneliness and Isolation
3. Q & A

Break - 10:45 - 11:00

Second session - 11:00 - 11:45 - Alzheimer's Society - Dawn Young
1. Overview of the Alzheimer's Society
2. Feedback on Dementia Week 16th May - 21st May
3. National/local Dementia Developments
4. Q & A

Volunteer Manager Training!

Our first in a new set of training will be available to book onto soon. Volunteer Management - Getting it right from the start focus on looking at the initial stages of getting volunteers on board, and how to manage problem solving with volunteers. To register your interest in this or any future training sessions please email me to be added to our dedicated training email list.

Group Volunteering

We're having an increasing number of companies looking for volunteering opportunities for staff. Now that the weather is turning if you have any large tasks that need tackling - perhaps your outside space could do with a spruce up or you have a room that needs attention please let me know!

Training Courses:

Alcohol - A Brief Intervention

Weight Management - A Brief Intervention

Domestic Abuse and it's effect on Children and young people - PIPPA

Spring was here... Then it went away.

Volunteer Coordinators Forum

Thank you to all who attended the Volunteer Coordinators Forum on Monday 7th March. Slides are available here.

If you wanted to get in contact with someone from the meeting but didn't get a chance to during the networking, please let me know and I can get you in touch.

You can let us know you're attending the next VCG by booking! (please book so I know how many to expect)

Friday Forum - Quality Kite Mark?

Thank you to those who attended the Friday Forum on May 6th. It was a really interesting discussion on a Quality Standards for the city and we really appreciated your comments.

You can view the slides here. These include the results from our interactive voting for the session. If you have any comments you would like to add but were unable to attend, please let me know.

Volunteers Week!

This year Southampton Voluntary Services has teamed up with Southampton Libraries and will be visiting them for a Volunteer Roadshow throughout the 12 days celebration.

If you are doing anything for volunteers week please let me know so that we can promote your event through our social media accounts. It would be great to hear how you're celebrating your volunteers this week.

Information on our Roadshow can be found here...

Free Resources!

Technology Trust has published ‘How to find the best volunteers online – An introductory guide to online recruitment for the voluntary sector’.

A “resource for any charity looking to recruit new volunteers, from young people to trustees”, some of the checklists are perhaps too basic, but the list of possible websites to post different roles and the resource links may be useful.

I'm very happy to announce that we met all the standards for our Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation (VCQA). Showing that Southampton Voluntary Services ability to deliver five core functions:

Strategic Development of Volunteering
Good Practice Development
Developing Volunteering Opportunities
Voice of Volunteering
Brokerage

Thank you so much to all those who agreed to speak to the NVCO about the work we have done with you, and for everyone for bearing with me while I got my head down and completed our submission. We're really proud to have been given this National Recognition for the work that we do and are the only Volunteer Centre in Hampshire to hold the accreditation.

From The Web...

A report has been published from the recent conference on the future of community work in England, in the light of the closures of the Community Development Foundation and Community Matters.

Volunteers Week is a good time to look at recruitment and use the national awareness campaign to get people on board. This article from the guardian looks at what makes some more likely to volunteer than others.

The BBC have done this nice piece for volunteers week. :)

The Queens Speech, announcing measures to be brought forward in the new parliamentary session at Westminster, included NCS is the volunteering programme for young people, which has been a favourite cause of Conservative ministers.

For volunteers week the NCVO have released information about best practice in volunteer management.