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Wandsworth
Volunteer Centre at Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Development
Agency offers help and advice to local residents who
are looking for volunteering opportunities and to
organisations looking for volunteers.
VOLUNTEER
OPEN DAY
Tuesday
21st October 2008 from 11.00am to 7.00pm
On Tuesday 21st October we will be holding our next
Volunteer Open Day. This is your chance to come along
and find out everything you ever wanted to know about
volunteering in the borough of Wandsworth. If you've
ever thought about volunteering but weren't sure what's
out there or weren't sure where to start then why not
pop along? See what volunteer opportunities we have
and chat to one of our expert advisors who can answer
your questions and help you find a role that's suitable
for you.
You can drop-in anytime between 11.00am and 7.00pm.
To attend the open day you must live, study or work
in the borough of Wandsworth.
Volunteer Centre Wandsworth
170 Garratt Lane
Wandsworth
SW18 4DA
For
a location map CLICK
HERE
Wandsworth
Volunteer Awards 2008
It
is time to say Thank You to your volunteers. This year
Wandsworth Council and Volunteer Centre Wandsworth are
holding an awards celebration evening. Our very own
'Oscars' for those that volunteer in Wandsworth.
Nominations
have now closed for the 2008 awards.
The
awards and categories
Care
Volunteer of the Year - for any volunteer that
has worked with and contributed towards a care based
activity.
Community Volunteer of the Year - for
any volunteer that has worked with and contributed towards
a community based activity.
Environment Volunteer of the Year -
for any volunteer that has worked with and contributed
towards an environment based activity.
Sports Volunteer of the Year - for
any volunteer that has worked with and contributed towards
a sport based activity.
New Volunteer of the Year - for any
person who has started volunteering within the last
12 months.
Team of the Year - for any Team that
has planned and delivered an event.
Young Volunteer of the Year - for any
volunteer under 25 years of age.
Volunteer of the Year - for the volunteer
that has given an extraordinary contribution to an organisation,
its service users and fellow volunteers. This volunteer
has gone those extra miles!
Organisation of the Year - for the
organisation that has demonstrated best practices in
volunteer management.
Lifetime Volunteer - for the volunteer
that has given an extraordinary contribution to the
organisation, its service users and fellow volunteers
over a significant length of time. Unlike the other
awards, this recognises the contribution across a number
of years, rather than just the last 12 months.
The celebration evening will be held at the Civic Suite,
Wandsworth Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street at 7.30pm
on 27 November 2008. Nominees will be invited to bring
friends and family with them to celebrate volunteering
in the borough and find out who has won the awards.
Looking
for volunteering opportunities?
The
Volunteer Centre helps match people who want to volunteer
with Volunteer Involving Organisations. We provide individuals
with advice and support to ensure they have a positive
volunteer experience.
If
you are interested in volunteering, download our guidance
notes HERE
and complete our simple registration
form.
The
registration form can be emailed to enquiry@wvsda.org.uk
or sent FREE POST to The Volunteer Centre Wandsworth,
170 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4DA. When completing the
form you can choose how you would like to find out about
volunteer opportunities.
How
can you find out about volunteer opportunities?
By
email or post – we will send you a selection of
opportunities which match your criteria.
Face
to face – you can come in and see us, we will
help you search for a suitable opportunity and help
you refer yourself to the organisation
By
phone – we will give you a call to talk through
different volunteer opportunities with you
When
we receive your completed form, we will contact you
according to how you have selected to find out about
volunteer opportunities.
Face
to face appointments start JUNE 2008 and must be booked
in advance.
Benefits
of contacting the Volunteer Centre are that they:
Work
with hundreds of different Volunteer Involving Organisations
and have a wide variety of roles available;
Have
a team of expert Advisors to support volunteers every
step of the way
Run
specialist volunteer projects for young people, ex-offenders
and others needing additional support
Can
arrange “short-term” volunteering, such
as helping out at a local community event
If
you are nervous about volunteering and need a little
extra help...
Supported
Volunteering Projects
Even
if you feel like you lack confidence to volunteer, are
unemployed, suffer with depression, or have a criminal
conviction, then the Volunteer Centre Wandsworth will
have a project that can support you!
Supported
volunteering projects are highly recommended for anyone
who has experience of the above or who has had a key
worker, support worker or social worker in the last
12 months.
After
completing a registration form, you will be invited
in for a volunteer consultation. During the consultation
you will discuss your areas of interests and what volunteer
role you may like to do. The Volunteer Advisor will
be able to provide advice as to what may be a good option
for you. These consultations are nothing to worry about
and are also confidential; they are designed to help
and to make sure that you get the very best support
to enable you to volunteer!
Looking
for volunteers?
If
you are a voluntary or community organisation looking
for volunteers, we might be able to promote your volunteering
opportunities. Over 1300 individuals contact our organisation
every year because they want to volunteer for local
organisations.
You
need to have Equal Opportunities policy and insurance
that covers your volunteer in your organisation.
Process
to register a new Volunteering Opportunity
The
Volunteer Centre has changed the way in which it helps
organisations recruit volunteers. This new process is
designed to ensure that volunteers match as closely
as possible the skills and attributes specified by you.
The
process is outlined below;
Complete
the Volunteer Opportunity registration form ( see links
below) and send to the volunteer centre.
The
information will be put on to our database and a copy
will be sent to you for approval. Once you have confirmed
that the information is correct the volunteer role will
become ‘Active’.
The
Volunteer Centre staff will then refer potential volunteers
directly to the volunteer coordinator, (or other named
person).
Once
a potential volunteer has been referred to you we will
‘follow-up’ the referral of the potential
volunteer to ascertain whether you have taken on them
on as a volunteer.
If
you decide not to take on an individual, if it is possible
we would like to know the reasons so that we can make
any necessary amendments in our referral process.
If
you decide that the individual referred is suitable
for the role then let us know and we will remove the
volunteer opportunity from our database. The information
will still be stored so if you wish to recruit another
volunteer for the same or a similar role, then you will
not need to provide the information again.
On
a monthly basis we will ask you to keep us informed
of the number of hours that volunteers that we have
referred to your organisation have completed. This information
is required so that we can provide you with certificates
that you can give to the volunteers as part of your
organisations reward and recognition. We will also use
the information to ‘map’ volunteer activity
across the borough as a whole.
When
a volunteer ends their placement for whatever reason,
we would appreciate it if you could keep us informed
so that we can map volunteer activity across the borough
as a whole.
Recruiting for ‘Short
–Term’ or ‘One-Off’ volunteer
opportunities
Occasionally you may require
a large number of volunteers to support your organisation
in an activity e.g. supporting a fundraising event or
stuffing envelopes for a large mail out. The Volunteer
Centre can help you to find people to complete these
roles. We have many different types of volunteer enquiry
throughout the year, some of the people that make enquiries
to the volunteer centre are not able to undertake a
commitment to a long term volunteer role but for a variety
of reasons still wish to volunteer.
These individuals form our volunteer
pool, a collective of people that are happy to turn
up and get ‘stuck in’.
If you want us to inform these
people about your forth coming event then all you need
to do is follow the simple process below.
Complete the short term volunteer
opportunity registration form and send to the Volunteer
Centre. Ideally, you should complete your registration
form about 6 weeks before the volunteers are required.
The information will be inputted
to our data base and a copy will be sent to you for
approval. Once you have confirmed that the information
is correct we will send a summary of the opportunity
to the volunteers.
If a volunteer is interested
in the volunteer role then we will provide them with
more information on the role.
Generally ‘short-term’
or ‘one-off’ volunteer roles do not require
volunteers to be specifically matched to the role, so
we will ask the volunteers to contact you directly.
We will ask you to keep us informed
which volunteers supported your event and the number
of hours that an individual contributed to supporting
your event. We will provide you with spreadsheet that
you can use to store the information on. This information
is required so that we can provide you with certificates
that you can give to the volunteers as part of your
organisations reward and recognition. We will also use
the information to ‘map’ volunteer activity
across the borough as a whole.
If you decide not to take on
an individual for any reason, if it is possible we would
like to know why so that we can make any necessary amendments
in our referral process.
If
you would like any support in the process of recruiting
volunteers or any aspect regarding the management of
volunteers then we will be happy to help you.
If
you are interested in this service, please contact Volunteer
Development Manager on 020 8870 4319 for
discussion.
If
you are not already registered with WVSDA then please
download an 'Organisation registration' form to host
volunteers and advertise volunteer opportunities HERE.
Download
a 'One Off' 'Volunteer opportunity'
registration form HERE.
Download
a 'Period' 'Volunteer opportunity'
registration form HERE.
What
is do-it.org?
www.do-it.org.uk
You
can also search for thousands of other volunteering
opportunities available throughout the UK by checking
the national volunteering website.
Active
Futures Project
The
Active Futures Project Wandsworth works specifically
with people who are homeless or at risk of becoming
homeless. This includes people who have housing support
needs, are in temporary accommodation, bed & breakfasts,
hostels or temporarily staying with friends or family,
as well as people who are street homeless. The project
aims to support and encourage this group of people into
meaningful volunteering roles, providing the opportunity
to develop both personally and professionally. Volunteers
will receive one to one support to find the right volunteering
role for them, whether it is a one off activity or a
long-term placement.
The
Active Futures project, funded by the Big Lottery and
Off the Streets and into Work, is nearing the end of
the 2 year funding and the project at the Volunteer
Centre wanted the volunteers' contribution to their
community to be recognised and congratulated. It was
decided to celebrate the work of the homeless volunteers
with a photographic exhibition illustrating them volunteering
in action. The exhibition at Putney Library on the 3rd
October was opened by the Mayor of Wandsworth. This
was also a good opportunity to highlight the work of
all the volunteer involving organisations in Wandsworth
and neighbouring boroughs who have attended training
on homeless issues and those who have developed voluntary
opportunities for the homeless volunteers.
The volunteers decided that the
best way to promote their contribution to society and
focus attention on the issues around homelessness was
to have an interesting and visual event which could
be enjoyed by the public, the volunteers and the voluntary
organisations that have supported them in their roles.
Many of the photographs were
submitted by the volunteers themselves and others from
organisations such as Street League, Thames Reach, OSW
and NACRO who have successfully supported the volunteers
over the 2 year project.
The project has involved over
220 homeless volunteers who have been involved in a
wide variety of activities including gardening, painting
and decorating, sports coaching, youth mentoring and
shopping for the elderly.
The event was a great success
and we would like to thank all of those who contributed
and attended the event.
The
funding for the Active Futures Project is coming to
an end in December after 2 years. The project has been
very well received by volunteers and organisations.
We would like to congratulate all the homeless volunteers
on the great contribution they have made to the Community.
In the last 2 years the Active
Futures Project has:-
•
Referred and placed 220 homeless volunteers in voluntary
organisations.
• Delivered over 60 outreach presentations at
hostels, supported housing services and to organisations
who work with homeless people.
• Delivered ‘Homeless Awareness Training’
to 45 participants from Volunteer involving organisations
in Wandsworth and Lambeth.
• Delivered ‘Involving your Clients as Volunteers’
to 35 participants from homeless organisations across
London.
• Supported 6 user involvement forums and incorporated
their ideas and views in the project delivery.
We would like to continue to
support homeless people to volunteer. If you need to
contact us in the future please look at the contact
list below.
• If you want information
on other opportunities in Wandsworth and you are quite
happy to contact organisations yourself please call
for Open session appointment or Postal Registration
on 0208 870 4319
•
If you need more support and would like some help contacting
organisations please ring 0208 875 2849 / 0208 875 2847
• If you have a criminal
record, even from a long time ago, we are starting a
new project in January to help people volunteer, train
and gain employment. Please ring 0208 875 2847 for details.
•
For any queries please contact Kirstie on 0208 875 2847.
Thank
you to our funders, the volunteers and local organisations
for supporting the project.
You
can find about some of the people we have worked with
on this project by following these links:
Please
note that Volunteer Centre Wandsworth does not have
any control over the content of these external sites
and cannot accept responsibility for the information
contained in them.
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