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We would like to help you develop your most valuable asset – your volunteers!
Volunteers are a valuable resource bringing with them enthusiasm, skills and experiences, flexibility, fresh ideas and new ways of working. Whether volunteers can offer a regular commitment, one-off, occasional or seasonal help, every volunteer has a unique contribution to make.
If you are a voluntary organisation, community group or public sector organisation operating in South Bedfordshire, we can help by:
Promoting your opportunities
The Volunteer Centre works with organisations to stimulate interest in volunteering and community activity. Follow these five steps to help us help you.
Step one - Register your organisation and opportunities with the Volunteer Centre. Call us for a registration pack or download one here.
Step two - Information on your activities or services helps prospective volunteers get a clearer picture of what you do. Keep us up-to-date with leaflets, publicity materials or newsletters in order to help us to promote your opportunities effectively.
Step three - Referrals. If a prospective volunteer expresses an interest in your opportunities we will contact you and pass on their details. Remember that volunteers are likely to be looking at more than one organisation before making a decision. This is your chance to enthuse about your organisation.
Step four - Invite the prospective volunteer for an informal chat or interview. Remember it is your responsibility to assess the volunteer's suitability for a role before taking up references or a Criminal Recrods Bureau check.
Step five - Keep us informed. Let us know if you take on any of the volunteers we refer to you, or if an opportunity is no longer available. This will help to prevent us from referring volunteers to you unnecessarily. We will then check the information we hold with you annually and you can add or remove opportunities at any time.
In addition to our one-to-one sessions with people interested in volunteering we can actively promote your opportunities through:
- the internet
- volunteering events and information days
- local media
- our volunteering directory
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Developing new opportunities
The Volunteer Centre can assist you in developing new volunteering oppportunities. If you have not used volunteers before, or simply want help in identifying and developing volunteer roles and opportunities, we can advise you.
We offer individual consultations to develop potential opportunities within your organisation. At this stage we can help you look at:
- role descriptions
- person specifications
- volunteer recruitment
- what to expect from a referral from us
- how to welcome potential volunteers
- interview and selection procedures
- further help and support for volunteer coordinators.
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Supporting good practice
The Volunteer Centre can offer advice, information and support on all aspects of volunteer recruitment and management.
Tips, advice, training and practical workshops relating to involving volunteers in your organisation - good practice, pitfalls and sources of further information.
Help to develop and promote clear volunteer policies and good practice covering:
- recruitment
- equal opportunities and diversity
- induction and training
- expenses
- supervision and support
- insurance
- health and safety
- grievance and disciplinary procedures
- confidentiality
- risk assessment
- setting up and running a volunteer programme
- meeting Investing in Volunteers (and other) quality standards on volunteering
Don't forget your own promotion is equally important; we can advise you on how to promote your organisation and opportunities through your own networks, publications and promotional materials.
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How we work with potential volunteers
How we work with potential volunteers
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