GUIDANCE
Registering with the Volunteer Centre Northern Lincolnshire
Introduction
Volunteer Centre Northern Lincolnshire offers a Brokerage Service to groups and organisations that involve volunteers. We advertise and promote your volunteer opportunities in a number of ways:
-Face to face volunteer interviews and variouslocation based Volunteer Roadshowswhere Volunteer Centre staff will recommend volunteer opportunities that suit the skills, interests and aspirations of anyone that wants to volunteer.
-Online through the national volunteer website, social media and our local websites, and
Volunteer Service Outreach
The Volunteer CentreNorthern Lincolnshire Teamis available in various locations around North and North East Lincolnshire including Barton, Epworth and Scunthorpe; Immingham, Grimsby and Cleethorpes.If you need to talk to us about any volunteering related issues you can make an appointment at one of these locations by ringing:
- 01724 845155 (North Lincolnshire)
- 01472 231123 (North East Lincolnshire)
Details of outreach services are available on the VANL and VANEL websites Our aim is to make volunteering accessible for everyone.
How will you receive enquiries from prospective volunteers?
- Online applicants – We will help you to set up an account* on the do-it website so that you receive enquiries about your volunteer opportunities directly through the email address you provide.
- Face to Face applicants – People attending volunteer service interviews will be advised of volunteer opportunities that match their skills, interests and circumstances. We will provide them withtelephone and email contact details*for your organisation so that they can get in touch with you directly.
If the individual prefers, we will email their contact details to you so that you can make initial contact with them. The choice of referral method is usually down to the preference of the applicant.
- Telephone enquiries – Sometimes people ring us about volunteering. Occasionally we are able to deal with the enquirers by telephone call, although we do prefer to invite them in for a chat. If we are able to identify a suitable opportunity by telephone we will register them with the Volunteer Centreand give them your organisation contact details* so that they can contact you directly themselves.
- Email enquiries – We will refer people who enquire about volunteering to the website to consider opportunities available so that they can apply direct. If they enquire about a specific opportunity we will register them with the Volunteer Centre and provide the organisation’s contact details so they can make direct contact*.
- Skype interviews – we are developing our skype service so that we can discuss volunteering with individuals online. This is a new service and is currently under development. We will provide your organisation contact details* to people interviewed via Skype by email so they can get in touch with you directly.
*IMPORTANT NOTE:
EMAIL ADDRESSES - Please ensure you provide us with an email address that you are willing to share with anyone interested in volunteering for your organisation. If you currently use a private email address, we recommend that you set up a new email account that is used specifically for this purpose only.
TELEPHONE NUMBERS - Similarly with telephone numbers, if you provide a telephone number please ensure it is a number you are willing to share with anyone interested in your organisation’s volunteer roles.
If you are unable to provide contact details that can be given to members of the general public, please talk to us so that we can make alternative arrangements with you.
Responding to enquiries
It is best practice to respond to volunteer enquirieswithin 5 working days. This shows the enquirer you are interested in them. A minimum phone call or email will ensure the prospective volunteer knows that you are dealing with them through your normal processes which may include sending out an application form or inviting them in for a chat.
If you are unable to offer a volunteer placement immediately, you may offer to retain the applicant’s details on a waiting list. If you do this, please make sure you tell the person this and give them an idea of when you may get back in touch with them.
Once your account has been activated on the do-it website, you will be able to amend your advertisements to let people know if you are not recruiting to specific roles at the moment, but are still happy toreceive applications for future recruitment drives. Please make sure you let us know too, so that we can inform applicants that use the telephone, email, skype or face to face interview services.
What type of volunteers do we refer?
We provide services to a wide range of people over 16 years of age[1] from a wide variety of backgrounds. By using the Volunteer Centre to advertise for volunteers, your organisation has the chance to reach out to a broad volunteer base.
Screening Volunteers
The Volunteer Centre staff deal with hundreds of people each year; around half apply online, and the rest either ring to attend Volunteer Centre interviews.
The Volunteer Centre does notoffer a free screening service. People that apply online will self-match themselves to the tasks you are asking a volunteer to do and the skills and interests you describe in your volunteer opportunity. Some people also apply for more than one opportunity when applying online. During face to face interviews the Volunteer Centre discuss motivation to volunteer, interests and skills in order to match them to the most appropriate opportunities available. If there is no perfect match, the Volunteer Centre may circulate the volunteers’ skills and interests to organisation’s that may be able to make use of them.
DBS Checks
The Volunteer Centre does not take references or carry out DBS checks on people applying for your volunteer opportunities. It is the organisation’s responsibility to screen people appropriately for the roles they are asking volunteers to undertake through its own safe recruitment procedures.
Contact VANL and VANEL to find out more about DBS services.
Delivering a quality volunteer programme
Do you want to attract more volunteers by demonstrating that you offer a high quality volunteering experience? You can do this by achieving the Supporting Volunteers Award (SVA). Organisation’s that achieve this quality award for their volunteer programme will be highlighted on VANL and VANEL’s websites so that volunteers can identify opportunities that offer a great experience. We will also identify those that are nationally accredited.
SVA provides a low or no cost option to demonstrating quality.
Find out more @ and
Northern LincolnshireVolunteer Managers Network
Organisation’s that register with the Volunteer Service are invited to attend quarterly Volunteer Managers Network meetings. These popular meetings are held at different locations around North and North East Lincolnshire. We choose different days and locationsfor each meeting so that people who work part time are able to attend some of the meetings some of the time. The meetings generally start at 9.30am until approx. 12 noon.
The aim of the network is to provide peer support for volunteer managers (paid and unpaid), good practice information, information sharing and opportunities for collaboration. Minutes of previous meetings are uploaded on to the VANL website @ and
Are you ready to involve volunteers?
New to involving volunteers in your service delivery? Involving volunteers for the first time needs a bit of thought to ensure that volunteers fit successfully into your group and are able to make a positive contribution.
The Volunteer Centre Northern Lincolnshire offers volunteer management training and a range of good practice documents and templates to help you get off to a flying start.
Some of our training courses for volunteer managers include:
-Being a Volunteer Manager – full day
-Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers – full day
-Inducting volunteers into your organisation – full day
-Supporting and Supervising Volunteers – full day
Other volunteer management training is available. Please speak to us about your needs.
Writing a role description
A clear, well written role description gives you the best chance to attract the volunteer that’s right for your organisation. Make sure you describe the tasks you expect the volunteer to do and highlight the skills and qualities they need to do this. Speak to the Volunteer Centre if you need help designing a new volunteer opportunity.
Ready to go?
- Start by completing the Part 1 – Partnership Agreement – this outlines how we will work together in line with current best practice in volunteer recruitment and management.
- Complete Part 2 - Quality health check. This tell us about your internal systems. Organisation’s that fail to complete this form will not be accepted by the Volunteer Centre. Support is available through the Volunteer Centre to organisation’s that are unable to fulfil all requirements of the health check.
- Next complete Part 3 - Organisation Registration Form so that we can upload your information on the do-it website.
- Now, complete Part 4 - OpportunityFormfor each volunteer role you wish us to advertise. Just save each role and send as many Part 4 forms as you have volunteer roles. Once we have set up your online account via the do-it website you will be able to amend/delete your opportunities, and upload new ones.
- Start receiving volunteer enquiries – start recruiting!
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Advancing local Voluntary Action
[1]The Volunteer Centre occasionally receive enquiries from young people under 16 years interested in volunteering. If your organisation offers opportunities for under 16’s to support your service, please let us know.