Volunteering England (VE) is today urging the public and voluntary sectors to raise their game in order to meet the challenges issued by the Commission on the Future of Volunteering in its Manifesto. Volunteering England Chief Executive Justin Davis Smith praised the breadth and depth of the research and pledged that VE would play an active role in ensuring the recommendations are implemented.
Volunteering England welcomes the recognition of the importance of management and training in improving the experience of the individual volunteer and the organisations in which they work. It accepts the need for volunteering infrastructure to adapt and modernise if it is to survive and flourish, and will be examining the implications of the Manifesto with its members more fully over the next month.
Dr Davis Smith said:
“As a movement, we must acknowledge that there are still multiple barriers to volunteering, and many of them are not new. So we have to find real and lasting solutions, based on the comprehensive evidence the Commission has unearthed. We hope to provide some of these through our work with Capacity Builders, addressing issues including diversity, faith volunteering and informal models of volunteering, working with sector partners.
“Indeed, partnership must now become our watchword: partnership between central and local government on a £5 million p.a. matched fund for the strategic development of infrastructure; partnership between Government and the sector, enhancing and strengthening existing networks rather than creating new initiatives; and partnership between sector organisations, complementing each other, rather than competing.
“Volunteering England is committed to lobbying for change, and will campaign alongside sector partners to address the challenges raised by the Commission, including the need for more sustainable and strategic government funding for the sector, a less bureaucratic and risk-averse mindset within volunteer-involving organisations and greater take-up of employer-supported volunteering among voluntary and statutory bodies. We also look forward to working with the Commission for the Compact on new research and guidance around full cost recovery for volunteering.
“We acknowledge the need to get our own house in order and will not shy away from the challenges of modernisation if we are to provide an environment in which volunteering can truly thrive.”
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Notes to editors
- For more information or interviews with Justin Davis Smith, please contact Cat Dean on 020 7520 8932 or email cat.dean@volunteeringengland.org. For out of hours enquiries contact Sonya Roberts on 07952 128 057
- Volunteering England aims to improve the quality, quantity, impact and accessibility of volunteering throughout England. For more information please visit www.volunteering.org.uk
- The Volunteering England Convention Transforming Passion into Power: Volunteering at the heart of social change is being held on 23-25 April 2008. Make sure the dates are in your diary. For regular updates, www.volunteering.org.uk/convention
