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Welcome to Volunteer Centre

Swindon’s Annual Review for 2009 / 2010

Contents Page

View by Kaye Franklin, Chair of the Trustees

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Review of the Year 6 - 9

Projects:

• vSwindon/vWiltshire 10 - 11 • Involve Swindon 12 • Empower Swindon / Gateway Project 13

• Wiltshire Infrastructure Consortium / Step Up Project

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• Supported Volunteers 15

• Celebrating Ten Years of Volunteering Centre Swindon

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Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2010

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Thank You / Acknowledgments 18 - 19

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View from the Chair After a year of staff changes and taking on new pieces of work, the previous year has been one of consolidation and productive work. Our staff team is ably led by Sue Dunmore, but the whole organisation, staff, volunteers and trustees work very closely together with a common interest, i.e. to promote volunteers and good practice in the voluntary sector. We cover all aspects of volunteering - we work with all ages and with many of the diverse community groups in Swindon and beyond. As I step down from the Chair I reflect on my many years of volunteering. I have had lots of fun, learnt new skills, met amazing people and developed my own knowledge base. I hope new and existing volunteers find their lives as stimulating as I have. I mentioned the Supported Volunteers Scheme in my previous Chair’s report. Despite funding issues, the group continues to meet twice a week, delivering several services to various groups. They also produce some creative work, i.e. greetings cards and their Easter watering cans are colourful and a great success. What about the future? The financial climate is very uncertain and I am aware of the stress and worry this causes groups of any size. I emphasise again, as in previous reports, the essential and vital work they do for the well being of so many. I feel sure there will be cutbacks in funding for voluntary organisations and self-help groups. I do hope they will be able to continue with the high quality service they offer. Swindon and the wider community deserves and needs the voluntary sector to have a strong voice in the ‘Big Society’ that we all hear so much about.

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My thanks to all our funders, we appreciate their faith in our organisation and they are listed on page 18 in this report.

The team and volunteers deserve a standing ovation. Always helpful, professional and friendly.

My fellow trustees have worked hard over the past year, by attending meetings and events. I know the team appreciate all the support and advice they offer.

I am happy to be handing over to a new Chair. The organisation will continue to grow and develop under his chairmanship.

I wish all the team, the volunteers and the trustee board sincere good fortune and best wishes for the future.

Kaye Franklin Chair Volunteer Centre Swindon

Kaye Franklin, (Chair), John Reeves (Vice Chair) and on the right Kathy Liston (Treasurer) at Volunteer Centre Swindon’s Annual General

Meeting 2009

Patrick Hamilton, Speaker and Manager

Volunteer Centre North Devon and Sue Dunmore (Manager) at Volunteer Centre Swindon’s Annual

General Meeting 2009

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Volunteer Centre Swindon has six core functions as a Volunteer development agency: brokerage of volunteering opportunities, marketing volunteering, good practice development, developing volunteering opportunities, campaigning and the strategic development of volunteering. This review looks at what we have done within those functions and how the activities have achieved our planned objectives for the year. Brokerage Volunteer Centre Swindon’s primary function is to match individuals and groups interested in volunteering with appropriate opportunities in the local community. Much of this work is funded through a contract with Swindon Borough Council. Potential volunteers can meet with us face-to-face during our drop-in sessions, by telephone, or through the internet, either through our own site or through the national volunteering websites www.do-it.org.uk and its partner, aimed at the 16-25 age group, www.vinspired.com. We can report that the total number of enquiries was up 71% over the previous year with 1106 new potential volunteers using our services. In total we responded to 2753 enquiries of which 2228 came via the internet. We conducted 409 face to face interviews and 116 telephone enquiries. We would like to thank all staff for the efficient delivery of the service.

Key Achievements

2753 the number of requests for

information about volunteering

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Volunteers Week

Marketing Volunteer Centre Swindon is committed to raising awareness about volunteering in general, along with marketing specific opportunities. We promote and market volunteering through local, regional and national events. We also work with the local media to advertise any events that are taking place. We use our contacts with local businesses to raise awareness and to encourage employee volunteering. We attended over thirty events organised by other organisations such as New College, Swindon College, Intel, Zurich, and Swindon Borough Council to promote volunteering. Volunteering has been promoted through articles in Swindon Advertiser and radio interviews have been conducted on Community Radio 105Fm and BBC Radio Swindon. Volunteer Centre Swindon participated in Volunteers’ Week through events across the borough. We have continued to produce our Latest Opportunities leaflet which is distributed to 76 contacts including libraries, job centre, employment advisors, support workers and colleges. Good Practice Development Volunteer Centre Swindon promotes good practice in working with volunteers to all volunteer-involving organisations.

Julie Gibson and Mandy Ramsdale at the Parade during

Volunteers Week June 2009

Example of a new marketing poster.

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We facilitate a volunteer organisers’ forum and training events for those responsible for the recruitment and management of volunteers on a quarterly basis, publish a newsletter four times a year and promote training courses on relevant topics. Events this year have included the Recruitment and Retention of Volunteers and Volunteers and the Law. Developing Volunteer Opportunities A key area of our work involves developing new opportunities for volunteers to help meet the range of interests and abilities they wish to offer to the voluntary sector, as well as helping organisations to identify innovative ways to get more volunteers involved. We were successful in helping to identify and promote more than 178 new opportunities and encouraged more than 49 new organisations to advertise their volunteering vacancies with us. Campaigning Volunteer Centre Swindon has been involved in local and area network meetings of representatives from the Volunteering Centres that work with national bodies such as Volunteering England to campaign on behalf of the sector regionally and nationally. We have participated in work carried out by the England Volunteering Development Council

Key Achievements

Worked with

49 new

organisations

Volunteer Recruitment and Retention workshop

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With our colleagues on the Swindon Consortium and Wiltshire Consortium, we undertook work that influenced decisions to ensure that resources available in the region benefit the voluntary and community sectors. Strategic Development of Volunteering The Management Committee of Volunteer Centre Swindon undertook a review of the organisation’s strategic direction for the coming four years. Part of our role is to reflect the targets that Swindon and Wiltshire have set through their local area agreements and other strategies. We participate in local committees to help shape volunteering in the community e.g. Compact, Local Area Agreement and Wiltshire and Swindon Consortiums. Work undertaken by Volunteer Centre Swindon was highlighted in the Cabinet Office of the Third Sector “Building Stronger Communities” report. Volunteer Centre Swindon has also been a delivery partner of the Pride of Swindon Awards that recognise the work of individuals within Swindon.

Key Achievements Attended launch of

“Building Stronger Communities” report. At the House of Lords

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Key Achievements

Developed

664 Short term

458 Part time

20 Full time

Volunteering Opportunities

for young people to take up

PROJECTS V It was the first year of the v funding which was given to us in partnership with BTCV. Our role in the projects, which covers Swindon and Wiltshire, is to develop opportunities and the capacity of organisations to involve young people aged 16-25. Both vinvolved Swindon and vinvolved Wiltshire grained REACH Quality Accreditation during the year. vinvolved Swindon aims to support charities and community groups to offer new and innovative volunteering opportunities for Swindon's young people aged 16 - 25. It also works with young people to broker them into volunteering and reward their activities with accreditation. Since April 2009 vinvolved Swindon has developed 664 short term opportunities, 458 part time opportunities and 20 full time opportunities for 16- 25 year olds, we have worked with 36 organisations to offer good practice advice through workshops. We have run two successful workshops, the first one was held in November 2009 titled How to successfully recruit and retain volunteers in your organisation and the second in February 2010 titled Volunteers and the Law.

Quote

“My volunteering gave me the opportunity to change

my life around and see things with a new

perspective. I was able to go back to university

and complete my degree.”

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Key Achievements

Developed

1093 brand new volunteering opportunities for young

people to take up and

brokered

414 new young people into

volunteering

Supported

44 organisations to involve

young volunteers

vinvolved Wiltshire Year two of the vinvolved project was hugely successful with us continuing to build on relationships made in first year and developing new ones to ensure we had a strong reputation in supporting and enhancing youth volunteering activities. As a result , there has been high visibility of vinvolved activities across the county. Key achievements include a successful Youth Volunteering Conference, held in October 2009, aimed at local organisations interested in offering volunteering placements to young people. Capacity building workshops were offered including Involving Young People as Trustees, CRB vetting and Barring, Accrediting Youth Volunteering, Funding for Volunteering Projects and more. It was very well attended and feedback was incredibly positive. A charity Fashion Show, a project born out of ideas from the Youth Action Team, raised over £700 for Cancer Research UK and, involved over 60 young volunteers in a range of roles. Working closely in partnership with Cancer Research UK we ran ‘customising clothes’ weekly workshops regularly attended by over 30 volunteers. Their efforts culminated in a Fashion Show at the Olympiad Chippenham. This event was supported by the three main Parliamentary Candidates for Chippenham.

Young volunteers learning how to custom-ise donated clothing to prepare for our Fashion Show which was organised in part-nership with Cancer Research UK

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Key Achievements

4 Promotional Events

held

Involve Swindon 2009 - 2010 saw the re-branding of Swindon Employees in the Community Network to Involve Swindon with a smart new logo, the launch of a website, www.involvedswindon.co.uk and the commencement of activity to raise the projects profile within Swindon. As in previous years, two networking events were held at the De Vere with the highlight being the repeat of a previous year’s Meet and Match (speed dating) event in November. Around 80 people attended this representing over 50 different organisations or companies. 65 different employee volunteering opportunities ranging from team challenges to skills based volunteering to regular volunteering were completed. In February 4 employee volunteers donated over 150 hours of their time to help 2 different organisations resolve their IT issues. In March a company responded to a plea from an organisation to relocate and redecorate their new premises. This resulted in a 2 day employee volunteering marathon. Advisors from Involve Swindon have delivered training to representatives from charities on how to engage with employee volunteers and develop lasting relationships that benefit all. As we progress into 2010, foundations laid this year will help Involve Swindon build on its successes and provide more and better support for its members.

Arval staff undertaking a Team Challenge

Bank of New York Mellon

Gardening at Legge House

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Gate

Gateway Project Poster

As from April 2008 Empower Swindon and the Wiltshire Infrastructure Consortium became two separate consortia. Volunteer Centre Swindon has continued to be an active member of both. Empower Swindon This new consortium is made up of organisations which offer support to voluntary and community sector and social enterprise organisations in the Swindon Borough. It was formed in response to national government initiatives to strengthen third sector organisations through strengthening the support available to them, and local requirements to focus this support on the Swindon Borough area. The Gateway Project is a three year, Big Lottery funded project to provide specialist advice to newly emerging groups in Swindon , with a particular emphasis on the neighbourhood renewal areas, northern expansion and rural areas of the borough. This project is being delivered in partnership with Voluntary Action Swindon, Community First and the Charities Information Bureau South and West. Work has been carried out developing publicity materials , communications sent to parish clerks and community workers.

Key Achievement

32 Organisations helped through the Gateway

project

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Wiltshire Infrastructure Consortium (WIC) Volunteer Centre Swindon has continued to sit on the board of WIC, which offers support to voluntary and community sector and social enterprise organisations in Wiltshire. Step Up Project is a three year, Big Lottery funded project delivered in partnership with the Learning Curve and Charities Information Bureau South and West to provide specialist advice to any voluntary or community group throughout Wiltshire. Volunteer Centre Swindon provides volunteer management support and advice from thinking about recruiting volunteers through to their support and retention. We have formed a working relationship with Wiltshire and Swindon Sports Partnership and have already attended two events to provide information and advice. We held a Volunteer Forum on volunteer recruitment and retention. We also held a training workshop on ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority) Vetting and Barring in conjunction with ncvo (National Council for Voluntary Organisations), to improve groups’ knowledge of volunteer recruitment with over 30 organisations attending. Our new website will host information on our three specialisms and provide a one stop shop for organisations to find information, recommendations and signposting to further sources of information relevant to their interests.

Key Achievements

Volunteer Forum

on Volunteer Recruitment and

Retention we presented to approx

40 attendees

Carol Harrison Step Up project Volunteering Advisor and Terry Deegan, Chair of Wiltshire Infrastructure Consortium at the Wiltshire Voluntary Sector

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Key Achievements

Supported Volunteer Project Over the year 13 individuals, all clients of the Richmond Fellowship, have attended either the Tuesday or Thursday group. A variety of routine clerical/admin tasks have been undertaken for a wide range of voluntary, community and statutory organisations, including Voluntary Action Swindon, BTCV, the Willows and Swindon Carers. We have also carried out support for one off events such as Swindon Mela and the Mad March Hare. Group members are offered opportunities to progress into other volunteering roles, paid employment or further training. Informal fun craft activities such as Christmas card making have been offered and two group members accessed a flower arranging course through our support.

“We are very grateful to all the volunteers for their hard work

….” Susanna Jones, Swindon Carers

Centre

Quote

“A way of rebuilding confidence and

self- esteem for the future and another step

upwards towards recovery.”

5 Volunteers progressed into other volunteering, training or employment

opportunities

Richard Moynihan and Sayed Naqvi Supported Volunteers

- Thursday Group

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Ten Years of Volunteer Centre Swindon

Volunteer Centre Swindon celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2009. On 9 September trustees, former trustees, staff and colleagues came together to celebrate with a buffet lunch. This event gained extensive coverage in the Swindon Advertiser. At our Annual General Meeting in September our work was further celebrated. Patrick Hamilton, a trustee of Volunteering England and Manager of North Devon Volunteer Centre, talked about the role of volunteering over the last ten years and how it has changed society. This was followed with a celebration cake and tea. Staff of Volunteer Centre Swindon took part in a team building challenge as part of Volunteer’s Week in June. It gave us chance to ‘practise what we preach’ while at the same time gain team work skills and help the local community.

10th Anniversary Celebration Cake

Volunteer Centre Swindon staff volunteering at Legge House

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Volunteers Carol Bourton Lee Concadoro Rachel Dunn Louise Farmer Liz Gibbs Delia Greenwood Angela Hewitt Debbie Holbrook Kay Hitchcock Liz Morgan Richard Moynihan Sayed Naqvi Chris Titchener Members of the vSwindon and vWiltshire Youth Action teams

Staff Sue Dunmore Manager Jo Banks Sue Fuller Julie Gibson Louise Hallett Carol Harrison Emma Leyland Mandy Ramsdale Mel Bond Zena Bowsher Des Pike Jo Temby Funders and Donors Allen Lane Foundation Capacity Builders DFEE ( in partnership with BTCV) Intel Nationwide Zurich Swindon Borough Council

Thank You

Trustees Kaye Franklin (Chair) John Reeves (Vice Chair) Kathy Liston (Treasurer) Jan Aylward (resigned Dec 2009) Mark Crosby (resigned April 2010) Annabel Elrick John Fowler Fiona Clark

Thank you to all organisations and individuals we have worked with during the year.

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FUNDERS AND DONORS

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1 John Street, Swindon, SN1 1RT

Tel 01793 420557 Email: info@swindonvolunteers.org.uk

www.swindonvolunteers.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1078012

ACCREDITED MEMBER