Registered Charity No. 1097376 Company Ltd by Guarantee.
Registered in England No. 4689779
» Accessibility Statement
Assistance For Organisations
Topics covered in this section:
» What is a ‘volunteer’?
» How we can help
» How people choose volunteer opportunities
» Checks on prospective volunteers
» Register your need for volunteers
» The information we need to recruit volunteers for you
» Advertising the opportunities registered with us
» Good practice standards
» Recognition for good practice among organisations
» Further help
What is a ‘volunteer’?
The Volunteer Centre Epping Forest and Volunteer Centre Harlow believe that a volunteer is someone who, regardless of their age, race, sex, sexuality and other factors…
- Engages in voluntary activities through their own free will and is able to assert choice.
- Is given the opportunity to help in the community, whatever their abilities.
- Meets an existing need for help.
- Gives their time and skills with no expectation of payment.
- Is entitled to be valued and treated with respect and care by the organisation/people they help.
A volunteer is not...
- An employee or a substitute for one.
- Someone who has a role created to suit their skills or needs. This includes someone who needs to gain particular work experience to further their training.
- A general ‘helper’ with no clear role or responsibilities.
- Someone who is instructed or obliged to give their time without payment in order to meet the requirements of others. This includes placements required to keep receiving government benefits and activities pressed upon an individual by their family, social worker, CPN etc.
Members can request a factsheet on the definition of a volunteer from vbadmin@vaef.org.uk
How we can help
Volunteer Centre Epping Forest and Volunteer Centre Harlow provide a service matching volunteers with volunteering opportunities in a wide variety of organisations including the public, voluntary and community sectors.
We can:
- Promote your volunteer opportunities
- Recruit prospective volunteers on your behalf
- Obtain character references for volunteers within the Learning Disabilities project so that you don’t have to
- Help you to manage your volunteers so that both parties get the most out of the volunteering experience.
Although we recruit lots of new volunteers each year, there are always more opportunities than people to fill them. Also, some opportunities attract more interest than others. We therefore suggest that you use our service in conjunction with other methods of volunteer recruitment. We can provide advice on this.
How people choose volunteer opportunities
Increasingly, most volunteers use the do-it website to search for suitable volunteering opportunities. On receipt of a do-it enquiry, potential volunteers are offered the opportunity to visit our offices for a visit or to chat about volunteering over the phone. This enables us to determine why someone wants to volunteer, the suitability of the opportunity they have selected and whether we have other opportunities that might be of equal or greater interest to the prospective volunteer.
It is extremely important your volunteering opportunities are written in a clear, concise and engaging way.
There are far more volunteering opportunities than there are prospective volunteers which is why some people will be very specific about the type of volunteering they would like to do and will select just one opportunity. Most select several and will decide which opportunity/ies to opt for once they have visited the chosen organisations.
Checks on prospective volunteers
If a potential volunteer is assisted by the Co-ordinators from the Learning Disabilities or Mental Health projects, two character references are obtained before sending people's details to organisations. Where appropriate, we ask for additional information or a risk assessment form from professionals. In all other cases you are responsible for any references and CRB checks on prospective roles.
Once we have helped someone to choose what volunteering they would like to do, we will forward their details to the chosen organisation(s). Depending on a person's needs, the Volunteers Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Co-ordinator may accompany the volunteer on their initial visit to see you and give them ongoing support in their placement. However, once someone is volunteering for you, they become the responsibility of your organisation.
Registering your need for volunteers
First, your organisation should register with VAEF, click here to download the VAEF membership form. The subscription fee depends on which of our services you wish to benefit from. VAEF membership does not mean automatic registration with the Volunteer Centre. This is because not all members require volunteers. To register your organisation with the Volunteer Centre, you should complete an organisation registration form by clicking here once you have registered as a VAEF member.
To additionally register your need for volunteers, please complete as many Volunteer Opportunity registration forms as you have volunteer roles. For example, you may need a volunteer Retail Assistant for your charity shop and a volunteer Administrative Helper for your main office so we ask you to complete a separate form for each one. Click here to download a Volunteer Opportunity registration form.
Please let us know as soon as possible if an opportunity changes or is filled. We will continue to assume that you need more volunteers unless you inform us to the contrary. We welcome feedback on how suitable the people are whom we recommend to you.
The information we need to recruit volunteers for you
In our experience, having a clear, specific opportunity title and a brief, appealing role description is key to attracting prospective volunteers. Members can request a factsheet giving tips on writing appealing descriptions from vbadmin@vaef.org.uk . Please also provide up to date literature about the work of your organisation so that we can show it to prospective volunteers. It will help them to decide whether they would like to volunteer for you.
Lastly, keeping us informed of any changes to your opportunities is vital - a volunteer is easily put off if the opportunities they read about on the do-it website are inaccurate.
Advertising the opportunities registered with us
All volunteer opportunities are advertised on the national ‘do-it’ website: www.do-it.org.uk. This brings in a growing number of volunteers. No contact details for organisations are posted there. All enquiries come through us.
We also distribute leaflets about volunteering, attend promotional events, make presentations, have touring displays, regularly have articles in the local press, and organise one-off volunteering events such as the Volunteers Tea Party and Make A Difference Day.
If you have a particular or urgent need, we can send out email requests to existing volunteers on our database. Please contact us.
Occasionally we can also assist with targeted campaigns and promotions - again, contact us to discuss this further.
Good practice standards
The good practice standards we encourage organisations to meet are linked to the Essex Compact Code of Good Practice on Volunteering. A revised version was unveiled in early 2009. Unlike the previous draft, the Compact now provides an unequivocal definition of volunteering (as an unpaid activity), gives greater clarity about the range of appropriate volunteering activities available, and a Government commitment to free CRB checks for volunteers. The Compact recognises four principles fundamental to volunteering: choice, diversity, mutual benefit, and recognition.
The Volunteer Centre provides advice and support to organisations on good practice in volunteer management. This includes one-to-one meetings, literature and the option to join a local Volunteer Co-ordinators' Forum.
If you register with us as needing volunteers, we will expect you to either have or be actively working towards having the following basic standards applicable to all volunteers:
- Written volunteer policy and volunteer agreement
- Volunteer opportunity assignments each comprising a Role Description and a Person Specification
- Health and Safety policy
- Equal Opportunities policy
- Insurance relating to volunteers
We can provide information on all of the above, and in some cases models, which you can use and adapt for your organisation. We also have a series of member factsheets on topics such as reimbursement of volunteers' expenses. These can be requested directly from the Volunteer Centre on vbadmin@vaef.org.uk
In our experience, potential volunteers lose enthusiasm if they aren't contacted personally within a fortnight of an organisation receiving their details from the Volunteer Centre. We therefore expect all the organisations that use our service to try to ensure they meet this standard. Bear in mind that often a potential volunteer has selected several organisations so the organisation that contacts them soonest and gives the best impression is likely to be the one they choose.
Our leaflet 'Your Rights and Responsibilities as a Volunteer' is given to everyone we assist to find a placement. It outlines what they can expect from the organisations they volunteer for as well as what organisations can expect from them. Click here to download this document. We believe that volunteering should be a mutually beneficial partnership between organisation and volunteer.
Recognition for good practice among organisations
The Volunteer Centre is keen to highlight those organisations that meet more than the minimum standards of good practice. We do this in a variety of ways. For example, we organise a volunteers' recognition event each year where volunteering involving organisations can bring along some of their volunteers to say thank you for all their hard work. We also actively promote the High Sherriff's award, which allows volunteers to nominate the organisations they volunteer for in recognition of good volunteer management practice.
Further help
The team is always happy to help.
Our main office numbers are:
Volunteer Centre Epping Forest 01992 564 256
Volunteer Centre Harlow 01279 308 310
Learning Disabilities Co-ordinator 01992 564 032
Mental Health Co-ordinator 01992 564 431
Access to Arts Co-ordinator 01992 564 159
or email vbadmin@vaef.org.uk stating who you need the email to be directed to.
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