Volunteer Co-Ordinators Newsletter & Updates

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

Volunteer Coordinators Group Meeting

Thank you to all who attended the VCG meeting and for being so nice to me on the first one I've run! If you missed the meeting you can still see the information from the power point here.

We also ran a workshop session on "Dealing with Challanging Behaviour". Which actually looking back on it, I should have titled - Problem Solving with Volunteers. I've attached the written up notes from that so that you can have a look or save, so that the next time you have to Problem Solve with a volunteer you can see how other Volunteer Coordinators have dealt with similar instances. I've also included some information on Problem Solving Policy and some tips on preventing issues from arising.

DBS Checks - I've had a request to have a session on this in the next VCG meeting, if you have any specific questions surrounding DBS checks and how this effects your volunteers please email me and I will look to add this into the session. We've been receiving a few updates recently regarding DBS checks, so a good chance for us all to have a bit of a refresher.

What's going on online?
Volunteer Coordinators are a busy people. So I've put (what I think) are links to the interesting and important stuff.

Volunteer or Employee? Are you unwittingly creating contracts with your Volunteers?
http://bit.ly/1JA6LPe

Summer Budget. What implications does the budget have for voluntary sector organisations? Here is a very brief overview with a link to the full budget document:
http://bit.ly/1H1Mkf3

Hands-On? This is an American Volunteer Managers blog so something can be slightly different to how we do things over this side of the pond, but I think this post is a really positive message about the role of Volunteer Coordinators.
http://bit.ly/1GQ8uws

Employer Supported Volunteering. We spoke about it in our meeting, it might/might not happen. However it looks like a go from the Government:
http://tfne.ws/1GUSH1G

John Sennett is a local volunteer who writes a blog which you can read here: http://bit.ly/1JsjPU6, a local perspective on volunteering. John is also organising a world record attempt for the biggest Rounders Match with Active Nation find out more here - http://on.fb.me/1IdZdCC.

Hello!

Meetings, Government Policy and University Volunteers lots to update you on!

Employer Supported Volunteering
We spoke about this as something to consider in our meeting, how as a sector we can use the extra hands of three volunteering days a year.

After being left out of the Queens speech. Speaking at the NCVO conference Andrew Pierce from the Daily Mail said "let me tell you, that policy won't happen". However... Rob Wilson (Minster for Civil Society) had his first speech to the commons on the 26th June and it looks like it's still on the table - the previous link is to his full speech, scroll down to "Local Sustainability Fund" to find his exact comment, alternatively its summed up nicely here.

It means that we as organisations need to think about the impact these additional volunteers will have. Great news obviously - but what capacity do we have for larger groups of volunteers? It was suggested in the VCG that we collate a list of activities that would be suitable for larger groups of volunteers, contacts to make lasting relationships with organisations and what are the things you need help with - though bearing in mind, some organisations and volunteers would like to do something different to their day to day jobs when they volunteer. So if I could ask you to have a think about the things that would benefit your organisations and send me an email and I can put this together. to send out to employers who contact me looking for volunteering opportunities for their staff.

We are having an increase in the number of employers looking for volunteer opportunities so please let me know if you have any availability for groups to come and volunteer with you. I think this can be a great way to recruit new volunteers - they can see the work your organisation does first hand - so it doesn't hurt if at some point during the day you have some registration forms strategically placed...

University Careers Service

I met last week with Rosalie Lamming from the Careers Service at Southampton University regarding role based volunteering. Some of you may already know that the Careers Service at the University provide several different services to the Voluntary Sector in Southampton.

The newest addition to this service is Volunteering. I've attached their menu here. If you would like to know more you can contact her via email at the bottom on the menu, alternatively, we're hoping to arrange to get Rosalie to come to VCG meeting shortly to tell you what it's all about.

Are your opportunities Up to Date?

Just a quick reminder to everyone, if you have any new opportunities or updates to existing roles to let me know. I know some of you Self Serve on Do-It - which is a good recruitment tool, however, if we aren't aware of changes or new roles here at SVS we can't promote them for you in Drop Ins, 1-2-1's, Newsletter or Website etc.

If you want to check what we're currently offering for you please email the Volunteer Development Team and we can check for you.

New Members
We have a few new members to the Volunteer Coordinators Group this month, I'm sure you'll all join me in welcoming...
Mike Harding - Southampton Central Library Learning Centre
Mike Beard - Brain in Hand
Ranj Parmar & Andy Clay from Different Strokes
Mary Flinn - Bursledon Brickworks

Copyright © 2015 Southampton Voluntary Services, All rights reserved.
Volunteer@southamptonvs.org.uk or I.Higgs@SouthamptonVS.org.uk Volunteer Coordinators Group

Our mailing address is:
Voluntary Action Centre
Kingsland Square
St Marys Street
Southampton
SO14 1NW

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