Role of VCI

Volunteer Centres Ireland (VCI )is the national organisation with responsibility for developing volunteering nationally and locally, a mandate approved and supported by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. We are a membership organisation, established by volunteer centres to co-operate and network on any issue relating to volunteer centres and volunteering in Ireland.

Vision Statement

Our vision is for a society in which:

• Everyone has access to volunteering opportunities that are fulfilling and engaging, and which contribute to the development of community and the betterment of society.
• Volunteers are respected for the time and effort they contribute

Mission Statement

It is VCI 's mission to:

• Support and enable the development of a volunteering infrastructure, especially through local volunteer centres
• Develop and promote best practice volunteering
• Through presenting a national picture, inform future initiatives and influence policy within the sector and publicly

Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of VCI are as follows:

• To promote and facilitate volunteering in Ireland
  
• To promote and facilitate equal opportunity and diversity in volunteering in Ireland
• To promote and develop best practice within volunteer centres and the organisations and individuals they work with
• To facilitate the sharing of information and resources between volunteer centres
• To enable volunteer-involving organisations to build capacity through effective volunteer management
• To link with relevant volunteering bodies nationally and internationally
• To stimulate debate around volunteering and keep volunteering at the forefront of the policy agenda
• To inform future initiatives and influence policy within the sector and publicly

VCI POLICY STATEMENTS

There is a certain context in which VCI operates which informs the sense we have of our own organisation as much as it does our opinion on what needs to be done to properly support and develop volunteering in Ireland. We refer to these as policy standpoints. Policy standpoints are positions or viewpoints on volunteering that we in VCI share and agree upon. Our list of policy statements is not an exhaustive list. Indeed, we think it would be limiting for us to have policy statements on every aspect of volunteering. In addition, we commit to reviewing them regularly to assess their continued relevance and to amending them if necessary.

• VCI believes passionately in volunteering and the incalculable benefits it brings to all involved: the individual, the organisation, community and society
  We believe that volunteering should be a personal choice, undertaken of one’s own free will
  
• We believe in equal access to and opportunity in volunteering so that everyone in Ireland, no matter who they are or where they live, whether abled or disabled, whatever their nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual persuasion, can be a volunteer
• We believe that voluntary work should be appropriate and fulfilling
• We believe it should benefit the individual volunteer as well as the organisation, group or individual they volunteer with
• We believe volunteers should be made aware of their rights and responsibilities when volunteering
• We do not believe that volunteers should be paid for volunteering
• Nor do not believe that volunteers should be left out-of-pocket as a result of their volunteering – indeed we see this as a barrier to volunteering. However, we recognise that many organisations currently do not have the resources to cover expenses
• We believe that while voluntary work is unpaid, it is not free, and that there is a cost to an organisation for engaging volunteers
  We believe that in order for volunteering to be a personal choice available to any person in Ireland, there needs to be an infrastructure – or enabling structure – to facilitate, promote and develop volunteering
  We believe the enabling structure needs to provide assistance and support to individual volunteers as well as to community and voluntary groups and organisations
• We believe the enabling structure needs to be sufficiently transparent, flexible, responsive and proactive to reflect the heterogeneity of volunteering and volunteers
• We believe there needs to be a coordinated and collective approach from a variety of stakeholders to the development of volunteering infrastructure
• We believe that local volunteer centres form a vital part of the volunteering infrastructure of this country
• We believe that everyone in Ireland should be able to access the services of a local volunteer centre and that the quality of services provided by them should be of an equally high standard across the country
• We believe that community and voluntary organisations need support and assistance to help them think creatively about volunteering and how they can build capacity through volunteering
• We believe that community and voluntary organisations need training in volunteer management and that a national volunteer management training programme needs to be established and implemented in Ireland
• We believe the State has a responsibility to assist the development of volunteering, financially and otherwise
• We believe legislation should be enacted which represents the State’s support of volunteering, in particular with relation to the current ambiguity surrounding welfare payments and volunteering
• We believe that a proper safety and vetting service should be in place to protect volunteers, organisations and their clients
• We believe there are misconceptions around volunteering that need to be addressed and that even the term volunteer (both as a verb and a noun) needs to be re-appropriated and re-presented in all its many and varied forms
• In addition to believing that volunteering needs to be supported, we believe that volunteering should be encouraged
• We believe there should be a national policy on volunteering