Written by Volunteer Manager Yvonne Atkins
We are thrilled to announce that Who Cares? Scotland had been awarded the Investing in Volunteers (IiV) accreditation. By signing up to be assessed as part of IiV, we are making a public commitment to both existing and potential volunteers, and ensuring we are accountable for having high-quality volunteer management.
Investing in Volunteers is a UK quality standard award in involving volunteers and Volunteer Management. This is a unique award ensuring it focuses on volunteers, emphasising the value that an organisation places on volunteers. Work on applying for the Investing in Volunteers award started in January this year. Who Cares? Scotland was assessed against six quality areas:
- Vision for volunteering
- Planning for volunteers
- Volunteer Inclusion
- Recruiting and welcoming volunteers
- Supporting volunteers
- Valuing and developing volunteers
Being assessed against these 6 different areas helped the organisation evaluate the quality of our volunteer management and involvement, prove and improve the effectiveness of our work with volunteers, and enhance our reputation of volunteer experiences.
Having reviewed our final assessment report, our highlight was reading these comments:
“Although new to IiV and the assessment journey, the organisation evidenced an impressive level of knowledge and understanding of best practice in volunteer management. This is already well embedded in the volunteer journey and the programme as a whole. What really stood out was the positive volunteering culture, and the feeling of ‘team/family’ that shone through all interviews.”
This is an amazing achievement for Who Cares? Scotland and one which we are all very proud of. It is important to us that we have a quality volunteering programme of trained, supported, and valued volunteers to ensure we have the best quality support for our members. The Investing in Volunteers award is the gold standard for volunteering. We couldn’t have done this without the hard work and dedication of our amazing staff and volunteers.
The assessment process provided us with a great opportunity to engage with staff and volunteers about the volunteering model and learn more of volunteer’s experiences with us. The different aspects of the assessment have all helped us to gather valuable feedback. This has helped us to see that we are on the right track for a fantastic volunteer experience and meaningful volunteering for all as well as helping us to focus on the volunteering development needs and plans for the future.
We are proud to have achieved this award and shown our commitment to IiV and our volunteers and we are committed to maintaining good practice in volunteering. We are committed to ensuring all volunteers have a positive experience with us and that we have the best people in front of our members.
