Volunteering
VOLUNTEERING –
• v has published its annual review, highlighting examples of over 750,000 new short-term, part-time and full-time volunteering opportunities that have been created with its support. The report can be downloaded, but it is quite large! See http://www.wearev.com/images/stories/downloads/about/annual_review.pdf
• BTCV has produced a new report that demonstrates that every pound invested in a volunteering project gave a social return of £4. 'Inspiring People, Improving Places - The positive impact and behavioural change achieved through environmental volunteering with BTCV' - see http://www2.btcv.org.uk/BehaviourChange.pdf.
• A report from the NYA, ‘Young People’s Volunteering and Skills Development’ found that young people had great confidence in the impact of their actions – and confirmed an increase in levels of identity and self-worth as well as improved teamwork and leadership skills. http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/663194/Young-volunteers-believe-giving-time-win-win-situation/8A2B7AC3FBBE08DF19150CC53D9AA85A/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin
• Making volunteering attractive to young people is key to involving them in their local communities, says third sector minister Phil Hope in an interview with CYP Now - http://www.cypnow.co.uk/inDepth/ByDiscipline/Social-Care/828275/Interview-Community-spirit---Phil-Hope-minister-third-sector-social-exclusion/
• The Citizenship Survey 2007-08 confirm that young people aged 16 to 24 have higher overall rates of volunteering than other age groups (52% compared to 48% for all age groups). Young people were also more likely than older age groups to mix with people from different ethnic groups www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/857938
• Young People Help Out: Volunteering and giving among young people is a bulletin from The Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) that paints a positive picture of young people's engagement in volunteering and giving: over half get involved in volunteering and three-quarters give to charity. Young people volunteer for a mixture of altruistic and instrumental reasons, with young people being more likely than other age groups to say they got involved in volunteering to enhance their skills and employability. http://www.ivr.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/35546F68-CD79-4E0C-AD9A-3E08AFD5B9D6/0/young_people.pdf
• Volunteering levels have shown no upward trend since 2001, despite determined efforts by the Government to boost them, according to analysis by sector think tank and research consultancy nfpSynergy. Examination of four of the Government's citizenship surveys between 2001 and 2008 shows no discernible trend in the number of people volunteering at least once a month. That is true even among priority groups such as young people, which have been specifically targeted by government programmes such as Millennium Volunteers.
VOLUNTEERS? Do you think that you could benefit from involving young volunteers that can bring enthusiasm and creativity to your organisation? The Ivy Project is looking for organisations that want to involve young volunteers or improve the way it works with young volunteers. If this is you, then they are offering a range of support to help do this including:
v training and advice to cover issues such as recruiting & retaining young volunteers and Youth Action
v help to make sure that you have the correct policies in place to involve young people
v one-to-one support to create exciting opportunities in your organisation for young volunteers
v advice on the current funding that is available for young volunteers and support in your application
Does it sound too good to be true? Well it gets even better because this support is not only available now for free, but if you get involved in the next month you will be one of the first organisations to work in partnership with the exciting new V Team which is being launched in April. Interested? Please contact Faye at The Ivy Project to find out more, on 01392 686688 or development@theivyproject.org.uk
vinspired.com is the new online gateway to volunteering activities for 16-25 year olds that youth volunteering charity v has launched. As well as being a database of volunteering opportunities it includes advice and social networking features such as blogs, webchat and photo sharing.
VOLUNTEERING RESOURCES - there is now a volunteering section within resources on the website.
WEBSITE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE - The charity ‘v’ has launched a website where young people can register to receive updates on its progress and join its ‘virtual panel’ which will help shape its future. http://www.vupforit.com/ It has also re-launched its v Bulletin to keep people up-to-date with developments.