Reflections on time in God’s own country

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Chief Executive Jane Colthup shares her thoughts on Yorkshire resilience

With Yorkshire Day fast approaching and my first month as Chief Executive of Community First Yorkshire under my belt, I am reflecting on what’s happened over the last few months. The pandemic has caused many of us to re-evaluate what matters most to us and it certainly made me realise how much I value my connections with friends and family, as well as my local community. In my local community, we’ve had floods as well as the pandemic to contend with this year, so it’s been a challenging year. In both instances, neighbours rallied around offering help, whether to shop for those isolating or to help move furniture upstairs when floods threatened to breach our homes.

We relied on local businesses for deliveries of food and have made a point of continuing to use and support them. They were there for us when we needed them, and the least we can do is to continue to support them. The additional benefits of fewer food miles and the unique, non-formulaic ranges on offer, coupled with some good old Yorkshire chat make the whole shopping experience much more rewarding anyway!

One of the things I love most about Yorkshire is its stoicism. Yorkshire people by nature are hugely resilient. Not much fazes us and our communities have pulled together and helped each other out in thousands of unseen ways. But we need that support and care for each other to continue as we help our beautiful county recover. Many of our charitable organisations are exhausted, having dug deep to do their utmost for those who are vulnerable, lonely or in need. So if there’s anything you can do to offer them support, please do so – they need you now as much as ever. As many of you will already know, giving back to your community will make you feel good too, and is often as therapeutic to the giver as it is to those who receive. Giving doesn’t necessarily mean a financial cost, it could be your time as a volunteer or trustee or an ambassador through sharing their good work over social media or word of mouth.

Going to the Yorkshire Show for the launch of the Rural Commission Report was my first real opportunity to physically meet some of our partners and stakeholders and that Yorkshire stoicism was evident again when the scale of the challenge our rural communities face was laid bare.  We are lucky enough to live in God’s own country, surely one of the most beautiful parts of England, and we must do everything in our power to maintain it by enabling our rural communities to thrive. Better connectivity, both in terms of broadband and transport, more affordable housing and better local education, training and job opportunities will help keep our young people here for a sustainable and vibrant county. We need rural energy to be cleaner and greener to conserve the beauty we have in our countryside and we must ensure our healthcare is delivered in places that are easy to access.

So, whilst yes, it’s been a challenging time, we know we can do this. Let’s pull together and support local businesses and if you can spare time or money to help our wonderful voluntary sector, they’ll love you for it!

 

What do you love about Yorkshire? How are you marking Yorkshire Day this year? Share your thoughts with us on social:

Twitter@CommFirstYorks

Facebook @Comm1stYorks

How do I know if offering flexible volunteering is right for my organisation?

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At the July volunteer coordinator network meeting, we examined how increasing the level of flexibility in volunteering can be a good thing for organisations, volunteers and beneficiaries. The Community First Yorkshire volunteer support team are often asked how particular aspects of good volunteer practice can practically work or be implemented in a specific organisation. So drawing on my own experiences as a volunteer manager I hope the following will give you some idea of whether or not increased flexibility may be a good thing for your organisation.

Firstly it depends on a number of factors, but it boils down to knowing your organisation, your volunteering ask, what your volunteers or beneficiaries need or expect from your service, and an appreciation for any impact or consequence of making changes to the way you support volunteering.

Flexibility in volunteering is viewed as a good thing with good reason. There are a number of ways to incorporate flexibility into a volunteering offer; but it is important to recognise that it is not always appropriate. I have worked as a volunteer manager at two different charities, both at either end of the spectrum in relation to the flexibility of volunteer roles. One charity could only offer very strictly structured volunteering and the other had no choice but to offer hyper-flexible roles.

Strict Structure

The first was a small national children’s literacy charity, I coordinated over 100 volunteers for their West Yorkshire branch. Local people from across Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield volunteered to go into a school twice a week to read with primary aged children. The children the volunteers read with lived in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Most had very complicated home lives, and many came from homes with little or no food – let alone books. The programme was not just about improving literacy skills. It was also about building confidence and providing positive role models. To do this successfully it was essential that a good relationship was built between the children and the volunteer, and the key to this was consistency.

Other volunteer managers that I spoke to at the time were often surprised by the level of commitment we asked of the volunteers. Over one year volunteers committed to reading with the same three children for half an hour twice a week, every week. It was a big commitment and we had a rigorous recruitment and selection process. The dropout rate at the interview stage was huge. On average for every five applications, only three would make it to the interview and only one of them would eventually make it as a volunteer. There was absolutely no flexibility with this role in terms of the time, place, frequency, length or person volunteering, and I became very adept at signposting potential volunteers to other charities.

The benefit of this approach was the change seen in the children. For many children, it was life-changing. Schools saw improvement across all subjects not just reading and literacy and the children were more confident and happy at school. This charity has been working in schools for nearly 40 years and they have a wealth of evidence that this approach works and numerous testimonies from children, schools and volunteers about the difference this approach makes. The common thread is the importance of seeing the same volunteer week in week out.

Hyper flexible

Nearly ten years later and again I was working as a volunteer manager at another small national charity. This time supporting the families of children with a high level of additional need. One of the most important aspects of the work was advocacy and creating a space for families to share their own experiences in their own words. In this sector we all know the importance of lived experience, hearing directly from someone who has been there and got the t-shirt, can carry real power. Because of this, it was decided very early on that the volunteers who supported the charity should all have lived experience.

This meant that the vast majority of volunteers were parents or carers of children with very complex needs. They were incredibly passionate about the cause and dedicated to giving back; however, family life meant that they were usually time-poor and that their circumstances could change very quickly and often very dramatically. Therefore any volunteering had to be flexible.

This was done by creating three separate volunteer roles, which in a time before Covid could be undertaken virtually, from home or in person. They could all happen at a time of the volunteers choosing and they all had a degree of individual choice as to how the task or role was accomplished.

The first was an online supporter – blogging, sharing messages, linking with influencers and using the volunteer’s knowledge of navigating online to reach people who either needed the support of the charities services or who may be in a position to support the charity. The second was a fundraiser; this was probably my favourite role to support volunteers with, as there were some really inventive approaches. With some guidelines, remote support and resources from staff, it was then completely up to the volunteers when, where and how they fundraised. We had skydivers, sponsored challenges, bake sales, volunteers asking schools to make us the charity of the year, fancy dress and everything in between. The third role was parent ambassador and primarily involved raising awareness of the help and support the charity could provide in their local area. This could be sharing leaflets and posters, talking at local events and meetings, meeting with GPs, schools and other statutory bodies and these could all be done in person or virtually and at a time that was convenient for the volunteer.

Where can I find out more?

These are two extreme examples and most volunteering will fall somewhere in between, lots of organisations are or could introduce a degree of flexibility to some aspects of their volunteering offer. What is most important is communicating clearly with your volunteer so that you both know what the other is hoping to gain from volunteering.

To find out how you can incorporate flexibility into your volunteering offer please read our flexible volunteering fact sheet.

You can find out more information on the importance of flexibility in the NCVO Time Well Spent national report on volunteering.

For support with all aspects of volunteer management please visit www.communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk/what-we-do/volunteering or contact our volunteer support team info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk or 01904 7041177.

 

Further support and information

New enquiries – if you need support with any aspect of volunteer management please complete a New Enquiry Form and one of our developments officers will be in touch to support you.

General info – for general information, guidance, templates, online training and resources please visit our dedicated website, which includes 15 factsheets that cover many aspects of volunteer management e.g. recruitment, supervisions and template policies etc.

Volunteer co-ordinator network meetings – a network meeting for volunteer co-ordinators and those in a charity with responsibility for volunteers across North Yorkshire to network and share information, advice, tips and thoughts on all aspects of volunteer management, see here for more information.

Facebook group – if you have not already done so you may like to join our closed Facebook group for V-Net. The group now has over 100 members. The group is for people to share their thoughts, actions and questions on all aspects of volunteer management. You will need a Facebook account to join, please contact us if you need guidance on this. If you already have a Facebook account please click here to join.

Volunteer Charter – we have recently launched a new Volunteering Charter for organisations involving volunteers in North Yorkshire. Our Charter highlights twelve areas a good organisation considers when it involves volunteers and makes a commitment to supporting them. Why not sign up, raise the profile of your volunteering locally and demonstrate to your existing and potential volunteers that you are committed to good practice and providing safe and rewarding roles. Further details are available here

Volunteering post Covid

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Over the last few months there has been increasing interest in, and discussion about, what volunteering might look like after the pandemic. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) recently announced it has been in discussions with Volunteering Matters, The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) and the Association of Volunteer Managers who are now working together to develop a National Vision for Volunteering by the end of 2021. They are seeking to work collaboratively and inclusively and are asking for help, insights, experiences and knowledge.

There can be little doubt that over the last year we have seen the potential of what volunteering and volunteers can achieve. There is increasing research in this area such as the project Mobilising Volunteers Effectively (MOvE) identifying “The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in successful collaboration, community-based working and mobilisation of volunteers that have driven significant change within communities and can offer a new blueprint for social action”.

Does the pandemic give us an opportunity to rethink what we deliver and consider how we can build on the potential of volunteering? What might this mean for volunteering in the future? How can we do things differently going forward? How can we capture and sustain goodwill? What is the change we actually want to achieve?

For organisations is this an opportunity to:

  • Review and consider the involvement of volunteers. Is it possible to offer opportunities for people to make the difference they want to make offering different types of volunteering from micro roles such as helping with one-off events, not requiring a DBS check, to roles where volunteers are asked to commit or participate for longer periods of time?
  • Consider flexible approaches to involving volunteers. We will be discussing flexible volunteering and the potential of increased technology for the management of volunteers at our Volunteer Co-ordinator Network Meeting in July.
  • Build on pathways, relationships and the connection of people and place.
  • Explore further partnership working and the sharing of volunteers across organisations, causes and places.
  • Focus on the quality of the volunteering experience rather than on volunteering by numbers. Getting large numbers of people involved has been really important during the pandemic but we have seen the challenge of recruiting volunteers not knowing if they will be needed.
  • Challenge thinking and ways of doing things, be more inclusive and recognise everyone’s skills and talents, value the contribution and knowledge of people with lived experiences; recognise barriers to engagement and remove them where they exist.
  • Make processes less cumbersome for people to get involved. There has been much discussion about the idea of a volunteer passport that would enable volunteers to move between organisations and opportunities; although it appears more work is needed in this area to fully understand its potential.
  • Explore the value and potential of employee volunteering.
  • Offer more opportunities for young people.
  • Look at how we can develop services and embed them in the community. Arguably we have learnt from Covid the value of a holistic approach.
  • Consult with, and involve existing volunteers to get their views on proposals right from the outset. Volunteers are a resource that needs to be looked after, managed and nurtured. We need to not just maintain engagement, we need to give consideration to how we involve them in helping our organisations to respond in a post-pandemic world. How do we ensure their voices are valued, heard and utilised to help decide on the future ways of developing and delivering our services with others?
  • Raise the profile of volunteering and social action in all its forms.
    It will be really interesting to see what happens next over the next 6 – 12 months. To see how the sector ensures that the positive volunteering narrative, which has captured the imagination of the nation over the course of the last year, does not tail off as the virus recedes… Perhaps now more than ever it is time for groups to be bold and to use this as an opportunity to develop their volunteering offer and capitalise on the goodwill and community spirit seen during the pandemic.
If you would like any support with this Community First Yorkshire can offer further help and support

Volunteer recruitment – search for volunteering roles on the NCVO (the National Council for Volunteering Organisation) website. There are links to multiple volunteering websites from organisations such as Vinspired, Step on Board and Volunteering Matters.

New enquiries – if you need support with any aspect of volunteer management please complete a New Enquiry Form and one of our developments officers will be in touch to support you.

General info – for general information, guidance, templates, online training and resources please visit our dedicated website, which includes 15 factsheets that cover many aspects of volunteer management e.g. recruitment, supervisions and template policies etc.

Volunteer co-ordinator network meetings – a network meeting for volunteer co-ordinators and those in a charity with responsibility for volunteers across North Yorkshire to network and share information, advice, tips and thoughts on all aspects of volunteer management, see here for more information.

Facebook group – if you have not already done so you may like to join our closed Facebook group for V-Net. The group now has over 100 members. The group is for people to share their thoughts, actions and questions on all aspects of volunteer management. You will need a Facebook account to join, please contact us if you need guidance on this. If you already have a Facebook account please click here to join.

Volunteer Charter – we have recently launched a new Volunteering Charter for organisations involving volunteers in North Yorkshire. Our Charter highlights twelve areas a good organisation considers when it involves volunteers and makes a commitment to supporting them. Why not sign up, raise the profile of your volunteering locally and demonstrate to your existing and potential volunteers that you are committed to good practice and providing safe and rewarding roles. Further details are available here