Volunteering News
How do you know that volunteers really make a difference?
Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS, continues his series of articles in support of Leaders of Volunteers. This time, Dave looks into how you can measure the difference volunteers make to your organisation. Measuring the impact of involving volunteers can be crucial for understanding the effectiveness of their contributions and ensuring that their efforts align with… Read More
Volunteers' Week 2024 - Now's the time to plan
Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS, continues his series of articles in support of Leaders of Volunteers. This time, Dave looks into what local groups can do to celebrate their volunteers during Volunteers' Week. Volunteers' Week serves as a platform to celebrate, promote, and support volunteering, recognising it as a fundamental pillar of social cohesion, community… Read More
The Big Help Out
Last year, a number of national charities jointly promoted a volunteer event to mark the coronation of King Charles III. This was the Big Help Out, and it is being run again this year at the end of Volunteers’ Week (Monday 3 to Sunday 9 June 2024). Here at Nottingham CVS, we will always prioritise local voluntary groups, so we acknowledged the Big Help Out but didn’t promote it. Now, in its… Read More
Using inclusive language in volunteering
Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS, continues his series of articles in support of Leaders of Volunteers. This time, Dave looks into the use and significance of inclusive language in volunteering. At the last Leaders of Volunteers Network meeting, we had an interesting discussion about the use of inclusive language in volunteering. Since then, I have done… Read More
Imposter Syndrome in Leaders of Volunteers
Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS, continues his series of articles in support of Leaders of Volunteers. This time he has some tips to help identify and resolve "imposter syndrome". In the past few weeks, I have had a number of conversations with Leaders of Volunteers facing a similar crisis of confidence in their own ability. So, I did some digging about this and re-… Read More
Who looks after Leaders of Volunteers?
NCVS Volunteering Development Officer, Dave Thomas, writes: Volunteers really can do anything! Every day, in organisations and groups across Nottingham, volunteers are stepping up to tackle a myriad of different challenges. The most effective volunteers also have good leadership. That’s where Leaders of Volunteers come in. We might call them Volunteer Managers, Volunteer Coordinators or Volunteer… Read More
Unveiling volunteer motivation: insights from the latest data
Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS, has been reviewing some of the latest reports on VCSE sector trends, helping to draw out the facts and figures which relate to volunteering. Leaders of Volunteers already know that volunteers are the unsung heroes of our society, dedicating their time, energy, and skills to support various causes and organisations.… Read More
Thank you to our Cheers for Volunteers partners
A big thank you to all fourteen volunteer-involving organisations who took part in “Cheers for Volunteers” at the Victoria Embankment Memorial Gardens. The event this month (October 2023), was designed to celebrate volunteers in the south of the city and to generally promote volunteering. All sizes and types of organisations had stalls. Nottingham Green Guardians and Parks Volunteers, Community… Read More
Supporting and Supervising volunteers
A good practice article for Leaders of Volunteers by Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS. Two of the many hats that Leaders of Volunteers wear are those of Volunteer Supporter and Volunteer Supervisor. Often these two hats seem interchangeable, but it is good to think of them both as separate parts of volunteer leadership with quite different functions. In my Mind your… Read More
What's in it for me?
Dave Thomas, Volunteering Development Officer at NCVS, writes occasional blogs, reflecting on practice development for Leaders of Volunteers. In this latest thought-piece, Dave attempts to answer his own question... Leaders of Volunteers will have heard me saying "What’s in it for me?" in training sessions, network meetings and, seemingly at random, in other conversations. It's not… Read More
