Volunteering Lincolnshire

Caty Collier / Gill Williamson

PurposeNeeds identified by the TLI group:

•Greater understanding of the range and diversity of volunteering, and its part within the whole scope of civil society and community action

•Greater understanding of the dynamics of volunteering – the drivers and the environments that enable volunteering to flourish

•Greater recognition of the need to invest in and support volunteer-involving organisations in order to achieve high quality volunteering opportunities

Aims• Act as the voice on volunteering issues in Lincolnshire

• Collectively promote, support and develop volunteering across the county

• Build cross-sector relationships that help to develop a positive environment for volunteering

• Enable and encourage networking, learning and collaboration on volunteering issues

• Promote access to quality volunteering opportunities for all residents, particularly those under-represented in volunteering

Membership

• Steering group of up to 8, from Involving Lincs full member organisations

• Wider membership of Involving Lincs full/associate members

• Benefits: – Low cost publicity through joint action

– Networking / peer learning

– Opportunities for joint tendering

How the group will run

• Meetings of steering group every 6 months

• Scope for additional working groups

• Role and responsibilities of chair, host and minute taker rotate amongst steering group members

• Additional role on steering group for ‘webnag’ - to check Involving Lincs website activity and prompt contributions

Activities could include:• Promote and maintain Involving Lincs website volunteering

pages - gateway to volunteering

• Collective promotional activity, eg countywide volunteering awards/celebration

• Campaigns and advocacy, eg Volunteers Week, volunteering within public services

• Take forward key themes arising from the Transforming Local Infrastructure programme, eg reducing barriers to volunteering

• Identify and co-ordinate opportunities for joint volunteering projects

Progress so far

• First meeting Sept 2013

• Task group on volunteer recognition awards – 18 Nov 2013, Lincoln

• Next full meeting - 3 March 2014, Grantham

Volunteering Lincolnshire

• What could we achieve by working better together?

• Are the priorities right?

• How else could collaborative working benefit volunteering in Lincs?