Sustainable Volunteering Strategy.

2021 -2026

 

Our goal is for JHASW/CHHIDC to be a place where people feel inspired to volunteer, have the opportunity to do so, and have excellent volunteering experiences.

 

To achieve this vision, the following priorities need to be in place:

1. People are inspired to volunteer.

2. People have the opportunity to volunteer.

3. People have excellent volunteering experiences.

 

1. People are inspired to volunteer.

• Promote volunteering with JHASW/CHIDC widely online (JHASW/CHIDC website and social media) and at the community events, e.g., during the Volunteers’ Week, 1-7 June every year.

• Advertise the volunteering opportunities on different platforms to make them accessible to all members of the community.

• Respond to volunteer referrals and enquiries in a timely and welcoming manner to encourage prospective volunteers to take up volunteering with us.

• Put in place a simple and clear process to recruit volunteers.

• Produce a recruitment and induction pack.

• Increasing the number of Welsh-language participants.

 

2. People have the opportunity to volunteer.

• Create flexible volunteering opportunities to suit people’s other commitments.

• Create a variety of different roles.

• Create clearly defined volunteering opportunities including what the role will entail and what skills, knowledge, and experience are required.

• Match the skills of potential volunteers with the opportunities available.

• Provide training and support to enable the volunteers to perform the tasks with confidence.

• Reimburse volunteers’ travel expenses to enable a greater diversity of people volunteering with JHASW.

 

3. People have excellent volunteering experiences.

• Provide induction to each new volunteer.

• Provide clear guidance about what we expect in terms of commitment from our volunteers, and an open and transparent way to resolve issues when this commitment is not met.

• Ensure the volunteering roles meet volunteers’ expectations.

• Support and assist the volunteers in their roles.

• Nominate a member of staff or a volunteer to offer guidance and advice to help the volunteers carry out tasks effectively. Inform the volunteers who their principal contact is.

• Ensure the volunteer supervisor/coordinator receives adequate guidance, support, and training that they need to carry out their role.

• Provide training to ensure the volunteers gain the skills and knowledge that they need to carry out their work (e.g., Digitisation, Copyright, and Metadata, image editing, handling museum collections).

• Provide opportunities for volunteers to gain an accreditation/qualification if they wish to (e.g., Agored Cymru accreditation in ‘Digitising materials for museums, libraries and archives’, Level 2, Credits: 3).

• Provide opportunities to gain practical experience in working with historical records.

• Formally recognise volunteers’ contribution (e.g., internal awards, articles in newspapers and newsletters, thank you letters, certificates for hours contributed and training completed, authorship acknowledgements on published material, time credits, etc.).

• Ensure the volunteers have an opportunity to provide feedback and that it is taken into account.

• Provide opportunities for meetings with other volunteers, peer support, networking, exchanging skills and knowledge to improve confidence and communication skills.

• Improve existing processes and partnerships and create new ones (e.g., with County Voluntary Councils).

• Build a long-term volunteering base (volunteers with diverse skills, undertaking a variety of roles).

• Provide the opportunities for volunteers to improve their CV and increase their employability.

• Provide a reference to the volunteers – on delivery of the task and when/if requested.

 

How do we achieve our goal?

 

• Create an annual action plan outlining what we shall do in that year to facilitate the above. (The first plan will be produced within 3 months of the publication of this document).

• We will ask volunteers to complete a SWOT analysis of volunteering on an annual basis to help us identify how we can build on our sustainable long-term volunteering. Their comments will be incorporated in the Volunteering Strategy and Sustainable Volunteering Policy.

 

Our approach to volunteering.

 

In developing our Strategy, we used the acronym ‘FLEXIVOL’ to help us plan and deliver a credible, enjoyable, and rewarding volunteering opportunity:

 

Flexibility, Legitimacy, Ease of access, eXperience, Incentives, Variety, Organisation and Laughs.

 

Applying these principles will help us provide opportunities to attract and retain volunteers.

 

• Flexible: We understand that people’s commitments may change over time and we respond positively to adapting the time they are able to contribute. We recognise that each volunteer brings a different skill set to the organisation.

 

• Legitimate: We set workloads and deadlines by mutual agreement with the volunteers, rather than impose them. We acknowledge their contributions and, where possible, credit them by name.

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• Ease of access: We promote volunteering opportunities across a range of digital and physical media, both specialist and general.

 

• eXperience: We offer training in specific aspects of our work; some of this training will enhance volunteers’ transferable skills.

 

• Incentives: We offer some accredited training, certified in-house and partnership training, selective expenses and time-credits.

 

• Variety: We offer the opportunity to switch between roles in a given project and the opportunity to take on new roles in forthcoming projects.

 

• Organisation: We provide an efficient, safe, open and supportive volunteering environment, where input from volunteers is encouraged and recognised.

 

• Laughs: We try to ensure that volunteering with us is not only rewarding, but enjoyable. We provide opportunities for networking and socialising.