Case Study 1 - Home Connect

The Key to finding and keeping Volunteers

Voluntary Action's Key Skills training events are for those with the job of managing volunteers. The series of 1-day courses is designed for Volunteers Managers, Co-ordinators and supervisors and aims to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to establish and maintain volunteering and volunteers within their organisations.

There is a clear and logical sequence of training beginning with the creation of strategic frameworks for planning for volunteering, moving on to recruitment, selection and interviewing, an introduction to training and then through to supporting volunteers. All theses functions are paramount to establishing an effective volunteering programme in any setting.

These courses aim to raise the skills and competences of participants in volunteering practice and are now linked to the competences in the Skills Framework for Community Regeneration, the National Occupational Standards for Volunteer Managers and the Investing in Volunteering Standards.

"I have been managing volunteers for some time now but had received no formal training. So you can imagine how delighted I was to see that Voluntary Action was providing 4 different training sessions to take you through the whole process from thinking about why we would want to encourage volunteering within our organisation to supporting and supervising them

I found the course to be very comprehensive. It covered all aspects relating to matching volunteers to specific activities as well as looking at what motivates someone to volunteer and how that can help to keep them involved.

The course itself was a great opportunity to further develop my own skills and understanding of volunteering within a community. I have used the skills taught to me and have since matched 3 volunteers to specific activities within our project. The volunteers themselves have benefited from becoming involved within their own communities and their role within our group is very clear to them, which has ensured everyone is happy.  Well for the moment anyway!!"

Heather Molloy, Home Connect. 

If you want to know more about this course or about keeping yourself right when working with volunteers, contact Anne Kidd at VoluntaryAction via email.