Supported volunteering and the Our Museum initiative
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Supported Volunteering and the Our Museum Initiative Creating a Community of Volunteers at St Fagans: National History Museum Loveday Williams: “Our Museum” Coordinator, St Fagans: National History Museum
description
Loveday Allen of St Fagans national history museum at WCVA's 2013 Volunteering Conference.
Transcript of Supported volunteering and the Our Museum initiative
Supported Volunteering and the Our Museum Initiative
Creating a Community of Volunteers at
St Fagans: National History Museum Loveday Williams: “Our Museum” Coordinator, St Fagans: National History Museum
What is Supported Volunteering?
Supported Volunteering refers to schemes where volunteers receiveadditional support in order to carry out their volunteer roles
A volunteer may require extra support for a variety of reasons. Forinstance, they could:
be lacking in confidence after a long period of unemployment have physical disabilities or health conditions have learning disabilities have mental health issues be homeless be striving to break patterns of negative behaviour, such as gambling or
drug misuse be a non-English speaker
(Volunteer England Website October 2012)
What is Inclusive Volunteering?
“Inclusive volunteering is about makingvolunteering accessible for everyone. The
Government’s Compact Code of GoodPractice recognises the need ‘to effectively
tackle discrimination to ensure thatvolunteering is open to all.’”
(Can Do – A Guide to Involving Young Disabled People as Volunteers;Leonard Cheshire, Russell Commission, Scope:http://www.scope.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/Volunteering/can_do_itvolunteering_toolkit.pdf)
By ensuring that your project is inclusive, you are automatically increasing your pool of potential volunteers
A more diverse group of volunteers will:
Offer a wide range of skills, experiences and perspectives
Increase the sustainability of your project Reflect your community and provide more opportunity to
build partnerships within it Broaden your client groups’ understanding of diversity
issues Bring new ideas and a ‘breath of fresh air’ to your
organisation
Scope Inclusive Volunteering Companion A toolkit for engaging and supportingdisabled volunteers in your organisation
Why Offer Supported Volunteering?
Supported volunteering allows us to widen access and offer opportunities to different audiences
Supported volunteering enables those previously unable to volunteer the chance to engage with organisations and gain new and exciting experiences and skills
Supported volunteering will bring added value to any organisation offering such opportunities
Case Study Exercise
Read the Case Study provided Then answer the following questions:
• How do you think volunteering benefited Robert?
• Can you identify the things he’s gained from volunteering?
Approaches to Supported Volunteering Plan in advance Establish a programme with realistic targets and goals in mind Manage expectations Train staff appropriately Train volunteers appropriately Establish a clear time frame and recruit on a rolling cycle Introduce Volunteer Mentor opportunities Hold regular supervision sessions Establish individual goals with volunteers Monitor and review volunteers progress against goals Have a beginning and an end Help volunteers to progress to new things, possibly
independent volunteering with you or another organisation
St Fagans – Our MuseumBuilding a Community of Volunteers
Case Study
The benefits of being inclusive and ways to develop supported volunteering in your organisation
Group Work
Methods to including Best Practice
Results
Allows people to take part Accessible and inclusive Develops skills and experience Raises confidence of those that take part Adds value to your organisation Attracts funders Great for raising awareness among staff and
the public at large Good for generating case studies and good
news stories
Action Planning
What can we do?
How can we do it?
When can we do it?
Summary
It does not need to involve new staff or much additional resource
You do not need to introduce an all encompassing programme
It is simply good to try and include some of these methods into your overall volunteer programme
Trying to develop roles and support structures which allow for wider access and more people to take part will help your organisation develop
It is likely that such an approach would please funders and attract more external support, be it corporate volunteers or financial donations/benefits
Enabling more people to take part brings more experience and texture to organisations and helps people to develop
Contact Details
Loveday Williams ‘Our Museum’ Co-ordinator
St Fagans, National Museum of Wales
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 029 2057 3456
Diolch i chi!
Thank you!
Cwestiynau? Any Question?
