A Volunteering Strategy for the City of Edinburgh

Inspire others to Volunteer by sharing your Volunteer Stories!

Newsflash - October 2009

We are looking to pull together some inspirational or moving volunteering stories for a feature article in the Edinburgh Evening News. We are particularly interested in speaking to volunteers for whom the experience of volunteering has been life changing. Perhaps volunteering got them out of a rut; was their first step towards paid employment; helped them to come to terms with bereavement; or was part of their journey to recovery following mental illness. Whatever their story we’d love to hear it! We know people volunteer for a whole multitude of reasons and what people get out of it is as varied as the types of opportunities available. As someone involved in the recruitment or support of volunteers we hope that you will be able to help identify volunteers who might be willing to share their story?

This is a great opportunity to inspire others to volunteer, to get some publicity for your organisation and the work that you do, and to acknowledge and celebrate the very vital role that volunteers play in our society.

We hope to use a small selection of stories in other local press, and also on our new website and as part of our social media campaign to promote volunteering.

In the first instance we would be really grateful if you could encourage your volunteers to complete and submit their story to us for consideration, download the Volunteer Story Form here and to complete it and submit it by email (or post back to us – whatever is easiest). If you would like further information about this project please contact Lara on 0131 225 0640.

INSPIRING VOLUNTEERING: A Volunteering Strategy for Edinburgh

Text from the Foreword to the Volunteering Strategy:

People in Edinburgh want to volunteer. They want to give their time to help other people and to make Edinburgh a strong and trusting community. Every year around 1 in 5 people in Edinburgh are actively involved in some kind of volunteering. They volunteer in community groups, in schools, hospitals, museums, sport, art and conservation, and on boards and committees, to name just a few examples. Through Volunteer Centre Edinburgh alone, 600 agencies offer over 1000 different opportunities to volunteer. This is just the tip of the iceberg; a huge amount of volunteering still happens directly through local groups, clubs and societies and faith communities.

But there are challenges for volunteering. Many people who want to volunteer don't know how to start. Many people have never been asked to volunteer or they lack the confidence to make the first approach. There is a big opportunity gap in volunteering with fewer people volunteering from less affluent households. Many people can't find a volunteering opportunity that matches their skills, their interests or their time, and some people find the experience not quite as good as it should be.

There are also challenges for volunteer involving agencies. It is often hard to find the resources to support volunteers properly and make sure volunteering is really inclusive. There is a sea of red tape to navigate to make sure volunteers are involved safely and legally.

This Volunteering Strategy is the first Scottish local strategy to be developed by community planning partners. It provides a framework of actions to rise to these challenges and build and strengthen volunteering in Edinburgh . It was developed by a sub group of the Edinburgh Compact Partnership, and the Volunteering Strategy Working Group, which met between August 2005 and November 2006. Almost one thousand individuals were consulted through a one-day event in Edinburgh City Chambers in November 2005, eleven consultation groups and five surveys.

We know that this Strategy is ambitious in its aims. It calls on all partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors to commit to it, to resource and implement it in order to make a real difference to volunteering in Edinburgh.

The Foreword to the Volunteering Strategy was written by Edinburgh Councillor (and former Lord Provost) Lesley Hinds.

Download Inspiring Volunteering here

iGIVE - Implementation Group Inspiring Volunteering (in) Edinburgh

The implementation group is working towards implementing the Action Plan, within the terms of the Edinburgh Compact. The group includes representatives from the voluntary and community sector, Careers Scotland, the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Interfaith Association, Lothian & Borders Police, NHS Lothian, and Scottish Business in the Community. Each representative will undertake to progress the strategy action plan within their agencies and communities of interest.

Download the Role and Remit of iGIVE here

Inspiring Volunteering Conference 2008

The Inspiring Volunteering Conference 2008 was held on Monday 1st December at the Head Office of the Bank of Scotland. Information from the conference which you can download includes:

Speech by John Swinney MSP
Speech by Jenny Dawe, Leader of City of Edinburgh Council
Speech and Interviews by Harriet Eadie, Director of VCE
An update on the Achievements of the Volunteering Strategy
A report on the Question Time Session of the panel of "experts"
Biographies of the iGIVE Panel Members
Biographies of Question Time Panel Members

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