Heritage Lincolnshire is delighted to have recently retained their Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard, recognising the excellent work they do with volunteers.
Gail Graham, Senior Manager for the Trust said, “Our volunteers are an essential element of our organisation and, as a small charity, we are able to achieve so much more with their involvement. We are very grateful for the time they contribute and are delighted that this award demonstrates our ongoing commitment to them.”
Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers. Investing in Volunteers aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience for all volunteers and for organisations to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by volunteers. Investing in Volunteers is managed by the UK Volunteering Forum and delivered by NCVO, Volunteer Scotland, Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.
Heritage Lincolnshire was assessed against a range of best practice standards and proved to excel in all aspects of working with its volunteers. Volunteering Lead, Jackie Goodall explained, “The Investors in Volunteering process involved a number of volunteers who support many different aspects of the organisation, from Trustees to those involved with individual projects and volunteers who provide support on a weekly basis in our office. It has been an enormously helpful process to help review our current provision against best practise and learn how we can build on what we currently do.”
Investing in Volunteers is unique in that it is the only standard that focuses on volunteers. It is based on four areas of volunteer management; planning for volunteer involvement, recruiting volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers and supporting and retaining volunteers. Further information about the Standard can be found on www.iiv.investinginvolunteers.org.uk. The Standard will enhance volunteer management and is rigorous but designed to be simple to implement and not to generate large amounts of paperwork. It is the only quality standard that has independent external validation with a UK Quality Assurance Panel that makes recommendations to the UK Volunteering Forum, the awarding body.