Involving Volunteers guidance and webinar recording

There have been lots of organisations recruiting new volunteers and using existing volunteers to deliver new services as well as individuals who have been volunteering to help. The guidance and templates from Volunteer Now are an excellent resource for organisations and volunteers. 

George from Volunteer Now delivered two webinars on involving volunteers which outline best practice and things to be mindful of as we volunteer during this crisis. If you missed the webinar you can watch it below.

Here are 10 points that George highlighted in his webinar. For each of these Volunteer Now has produced guidance and templates on their website for you to adapt and use.

• Remember your organisation’s value base – this is so important when recruiting volunteers.
• Organisations should work within the guidelines for volunteer management – you need to resource volunteers, have clear roles, provide adequate information, provide training, have adequate insurance cover – contact your insurance company to make sure you are covered.
• Use volunteer registration forms – this ensures that you have enough personal details and you comply with GDPR
• Have volunteer roles – volunteers need to know what you are asking them to do and what they can expect from your organisation.
• It is vital that you do a risk assessment. For example shopping volunteers are being exposed to COVID 19 what control measures do you have in place to reduce risk to them. Driving volunteers – The Association of British Insurers (ASI) have issued a statement that volunteers who are driving as part of the response do not need to inform their insurers during this crisis.
• Volunteer Guidelines on keeping adults safe – you need to have a signed policy statement and ask volunteers to sign a copy of the volunteer guidelines which include how they report concerns and how they will behave.
• Think about how you recruit and manage volunteers to ensure their safety and the safety of service users.
• Informal volunteering – there is guidance on this, it’s still important to follow best practice.
• This is a stressful time – look after your mental health and wellbeing and that of your volunteers.

For the Involving Volunteers webinar with Volunteer Now watch below or click here