Institute for Volunteering Research

IVR has been commissioned to undertake an impact assessment of volunteering within the NHS. We will work with eight case study organisations, using the Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit, to calculate the value of volunteering to the NHS itself, the volunteers, patients and the wider community. It is intended that the project will provide evidence to senior managers, boards and trustees of the value of volunteering. The impact assessment is underway, and is expected to be completed by March 2008.

For further information please contact:

Simon.Teasdale@volunteeringengland.org

Draft Volunteering Strategy for the National Offender Management Service

IVR was commissioned by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) in 2006 to produce a draft volunteering strategy for NOMS and the prisons and probation service. The strategy identifies the principles required to promote and develop volunteering within the sector and recognises the valuable contribution made by volunteers in helping to reduce re-offending. The Voluntary Sector, prisons and probation services are now being invited to share their thoughts on the draft strategy through a formal consultation. To feed into the development of this important strategy please visit:

http://noms.homeoffice.gov.uk/

Evaluation of the Diana Award

IVR has been commissioned to carry out an evaluation of the Diana Award. This major award scheme recognises the contribution made by young people to their communities and schools through volunteering and other selfless acts and pieces of work. The project will explore the award's status and profile, its impact on award holders, and how it can continue to grow and develop long into the future, particularly in terms of increasing the number of award holders. The project will consult with award holders, schools that have nominated students for the award, and other key stakeholder organisations.

For further information, please contact: Nick.Ockenden@volunteeringengland.org

Implementing the Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit

IVR are providing training, support and advice on volunteering impact assessment to 19 projects in receipt of funding from the Department of Health's Opportunities for Volunteering scheme. The projects are focused on developing the involvement of service users as volunteers and IVR has provided them with training on how to use IVRs Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit and designed tools specifically for their projects. For more information please contact joanna.machin@volunteeringengland.org

The MOVE project

IVR is a partner in the MOVE project and is responsible for the evaluation and monitoring of the project. MOVE is a major new piece of work funded by the European Commission and led by CEV, the European Volunteer Centre. This one-year project will explore and identify the huge range of skills and competences learned through volunteering, stimulating a European-wide debate. The project involves 18 partner organisations from all across Europe .

The main output of the project will a seminar to be held in Spring 2007 which will share good practice from across Europe . The seminar will also debate the possibility of developing a ‘European Volunteer Pass', a portfolio for volunteers to record their skills gained through volunteering. The seminar will also create a Lifelong Learning Network to continue the dialogue and debate initiated by the seminar, as well as implementing its results.

For further information, please contact: Nick.Ockenden@volunteeringengland.org

Natural History Museum Project

In partnership with The Natural History Museum’s research team, IVR is undertaking a new piece of research to evaluate the museum’s learning volunteer programme. This programme, set up in 2005, aims to make learning more accessible to the visiting public and to provide rewarding experiences for the volunteers involved. The evaluation will review and assess the impacts of the programme, providing recommendations for its future development and guidance to other museums seeking to develop a ‘learning’ volunteer programme.

For more information about this project please email: joanna.machin@volunteeringengland.org

National Survey of Volunteering and Charitable Giving

IVR is working with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to conduct a new national survey of volunteering and charitable giving. The survey was commissioned by the Home Office. It will involve revisiting many of the questions in the 1997 National Survey of Volunteering, alongside a series of new questions on charitable giving. The survey will focus on levels and patterns of formal volunteering, employee volunteering and charitable giving. It will include questions on the motivations for volunteering and giving, barriers to involvement, and the personal impacts of volunteering. It will have a sample size of approximately 3,000. Results will be available in Spring/Summer 2007.

Retention and Succession Planning within Further Education Governance

A study exploring issues of retention and succession planning in Further Education governance is currently underway. The research, commissioned by the Association of Colleges, is exploring the factors that affect governor retention, how to keep governors motivated and how to ensure they are well supported in their role. The research project seeks to highlight and share examples of good practice by working with nine Further Education colleges across England as case studies.

For further information, please contact: Nick.Ockenden@volunteeringengland.org

Risk and Volunteering

Volunteering England has been commissioned by the Home Office to examine the issue of risk management within volunteer-involving organisations. The project, which will involve consultation with a range of stakeholders, including the volunteering sector, the insurance industry, and national and local government, aims to improve the way in which organisations manage the risks associated with the involvement of volunteers.

The project consists of six separate but integrated strands:

Mapping Exercise
On-Going Dialogue with Key Stakeholders
Wider Consultation with the Volunteering Sector
Enhancing Good Practice
Contribution to Wider Debates on Risk and Insurance
Ensuring Sustainability

As a result of this project, five reports have been published which are all available on the Volunteering England Risk web page: www.volunteering.org.uk/risk

Risk Toolkit - How to take care of risk in volunteering - A guide for organisations
A comprehensive guide to risk management in relation to volunteers.

On the Safe Side
Drawing on the latest research, literature, surveys and case studies, On the Safe Side gives a picture of the current state of play in the sector.

Cautionary Tales
Case studies of risk management in volunteer-involving organisations

Getting a grip
Risk, risk management and volunteering - A review of the literature

Reasonable Care?
Risk, risk management and volunteering in England - Results of surveys of organisations and individuals

Volunteering and the Media

IVR is currently involved in a series of research projects commissioned by the Voluntary Action Media Unit.

A literature review of published and current research explores the image of volunteering in the media and the power of the media to influence people to volunteer, drawing on evidence from specific media campaigns to recruit volunteers. The full report, published in 2005, can be downloaded here

A survey of volunteer involving organisations and volunteer development agencies was carried out in March 2006 to explore the ways organisations are liaising with the media on volunteering issues. The research looks at the barriers organisations face in dealing with the media and what they need to improve and develop the way they engage with the media on volunteering issues. The report, published in June 2006, is available from here.

IVR are now currently involved in an action research project in partnership with VAMU, one volunteer involving organisation and one volunteer centre. Over a period of six months VAMU will offer coaching and advice to help the organisations in their media activities to promote volunteering. Alongside this IVR will review and evaluate the activities that have been undertaken, the processes involved and the impact they have had. The learning from the project will be drawn together in a final report and is due to be completed by the summer of 2007.

For more information about these projects please contact joanna.machin@volunteeringengland.org

Volunteers as stakeholders and decision-makers: Shaping the research agenda

Recent years have seen considerable changes to the volunteering environment, not least in terms of how organisations involve, manage and relate to their volunteers. With increasing professionalisation , the relationship between volunteers and the organisation (and staff within) has changed. In many cases this has resulted in changes in the extent to which volunteers get involved in decision-making of organisations. These changes raise a series of questions, including:

Are volunteers being squeezed out, do they continue to have a say in the way that organisations are being run, or, indeed, is their role actually growing?
How is the transition handled by organisations? What impact does this have on volunteers, staff and organisations?
How do these changes affect the relationships between board-level volunteers, general volunteers and paid staff?

Recognising the importance of the topic, IVR is currently designing a new research project in order to explore it further.

For further information, please contact: Nick.Ockenden@volunteeringengland.org .

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