Year: 2018

Domestic Abuse Volunteer Named Volunteer of the Year

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

Domestic Abuse Volunteer Named Volunteer of the Year

Mary Fitzgerald from Co. Clare was today named Christine Buckley Volunteer of the Year at the Volunteer Ireland Awards. Over 1 million people in Ireland volunteer and these awards aim to say thank you for the hard work, dedication and impact of volunteers across the country.

From an early age Mary wanted to make a difference to people’s lives. In her teens, she was moved by the pictures on TV of the street children in India and she travelled to volunteer with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.

On her return, she was touched by the plight of Clare families fleeing from domestic abuse who were forced to stay overnight in the reception of the local Garda station. As there was nowhere in Clare for them to go, Mary took some of these women and children into her own home. Wanting to do something about the situation, she founded Clare Haven Services in 1993 which eventually led to the development of a 24 hour refuge for those escaping domestic abuse.

Mary is also passionate about helping young girls and boys identify abusive patterns early on in a relationship and in the 1990’s she delivered school workshops on healthy relationships. This has now become part of the current SPHE programme in secondary schools.

According to Volunteer Ireland CEO Nina Arwitz “Mary is a real inspiration and the embodiment of the volunteering spirit. She saw a need in her commnunity and took action to make a difference in people’s lives. All of our nominees and winners tonight have incredible stories to share and we are delighted to be able to thank and celebrate them tonight. Hopefully their stories will inspire others to get involved in their communities.”

Other winners on the night include Laura Brennan who, despite having been diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer at age 25, advocates tirelessly to raise awareness of the HPV vaccine. The award for Outstanding Group was taken home by Pullough Community Action Group who created a community shop in their village which is fundraised for and manned by volunteers.

This year we are pleased to partner with Healthy Ireland who share our ethos of volunteering contributing to healthy, vibrant communities. Kate O’Flaherty, Head of Healthy Ireland said
“We are delighted to partner with Volunteer Ireland on this year’s awards. Volunteering has been proven to have many health benefits to both the individual and local communities. Tonight’s nominees are a great example of volunteers getting involved in their communities and making them healthier, happier places to live.”

The eleventh Volunteer Ireland Awards took place on Friday 7th December in the Carlton Hotel, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. Winners were announced in eleven categories along with the overall Christine Buckley Volunteer of the Year. The award is named after Christine Buckley who was a vigorous camapigner for those who suffered institutional abuse and sadly passed away in 2009. Volunteer Ireland is proud to honour the memory of such an inspirational volunteer.

Ends

 

Notes to Editor

Volunteer Ireland Awards Winners 2018

Volunteer of the Year

Mary Fitzgerald, Haven Horizons, Clare

Having been touched by the number of people fleeing domestic abuse in the Clare area, Mary Fitzgerald took some of the women and children into her own home and then set up Clare Haven Services to provide 24 hour refuge. Seeing the need, she also set up Haven Horizons to establish prevention programmes which address the lack of awareness and education around the underlying causes of domestic abuse.

Animals and Environment

Maeve O’Donoghue, Mullingar Dog Shelter, Westmeath

Maeve O’Donoghue set up and runs the Mullingar Dog Shelter Facebook page dedicated to reuniting dogs with the their owners and in some cases finding them new homes. The number of dogs put to sleep since Maeve began volunteering has reduced significantly.

Arts, Culture and Media

Louise Borre, Galway International Arts Festival (and others), Galway

Louise Borre is such a vital volunteer at the Galway International Arts Festival, she was promoted to Big Top Team Leader and had venue managers request her on their team. She is invaluable to the festival but still find time to volunteer for Cosáin Galway too.

Camapigning and Awareness Raising

Laura Brennan, HSE (and others), Clare

At just 25 years old and with a terminal cervical cancer diagnosis, Laura Brennan spends much of her time advocating in favour of the HPV vaccine, encouraging parents to protect their daughters from HPV and cervical cancer through various media engagements, public speaking opportunities and social media.

Children and Youth

David O’Hara, Solas Project, Kildare

Dave O’Hara is a mentor in Solas Project’s After School’s club for children aged 11 – 13. Dave is a volunteer of all trades – he is the handy man, the class clown, the extra pair of hands, the homework genius and also a great support to staff.

Community

Cormac Sertutxa, Irish Red Cross – Tralee Branch, Kerry

Cormac Sertutxa has taken on many roles since he joined the Irish Red Cross in Tralee four years ago. Through his role as Health and Safety Officer he develops supports and services to vulnerable people in his local community and has become one of the first people trained as a Psychological First Aid Facilitator.

Health and Disability

Mary Arrigan-Langan, Octopus Swimming Club, Galway

Mary Arrigan-Langan set up Octopus Swimming Club in 1981 for people with physical disabilities. The club allows people with a range of disabilities to become ‘water free’ and get the physical and emotional benefits from swimming and being part of a club.

Safety and Emergency Services

Nancy White, Lorrha Community Responder Group, Tipperary

Nancy White single handedly brought together a group of volunteers and set up the Lorrha Community Responder Group. She has organised an incredible number of CPR/AED training sessions across the area and acquired 5 new defibrillators for the community.

Social Work and Social Inclusion

Sheila Busher, Arklow Community Action Resource Centre, Wicklow

Sheila Busher has been helping her community for over 15 years. With Arklow Community Action Resource Centre, she currently organises two nights of the Foodcloud deliveries to over 160 families in need in the local area.

Sports and Recreation

Sinead Kelly, Raphoe Town Football Club, Donegal

In just 2 years, Sinead Kelly took Raphoe Town Football Club from less than 10 girls playing to over 30 players and a number of teams entered in the Donegal Women’s League. Sinead has positioned the club in the heart of the community, building strong and positive links with local schools and clubs and making an impact in local community initiatives.

Outstanding Group

Pullough Community Action Group – Community Shop Volunteers (8), Offaly

Pullough Community Action Group was set up by a group of 8 volunteers who felt the small rural village needed to have a shop where local people could buy basic groceries and meet their neighbours on a regular basis. The shop – which is manned by volunteers and brought new life to the village – is open seven days a week.

Volunteer Manager of the Year

Sara Murphy, Victim Support at Court (V-SAC), Dublin

Sara Murphy manages the Victim Support area in the Criminal Courts of Justice which deals mainly with murder and rape trials. Sara is known and loved by the court services, gardai and the legal professionals within the court. She is as much a friend as a manager to all the volunteers and other staff members of the service and ensures that everyone feels comfortable and confident with what they are doing.

My experience as a Charity Trustee

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Emma Kerins is Head of Policy and Public Affairs with Chambers Ireland. She is also a voluntary trustee of the board of the YMCA Dublin. She tells us what being part of a charity board is like.

Just over one year ago I formally joined the Board of the YMCA Dublin.

My background was in human rights law and currently I work in public affairs, and at that point, had done so for about five years, working in Dublin for the most part, but also having spent some time working in Northern Ireland and New Zealand.

While I wouldn’t say I got itchy feet, I did have the urge to do something else outside of my normal Monday to Friday job and volunteer part of my time with a different organisation, perhaps with a more charitable focus or engaged more in front line services.

It was at this point that I came across an opportunity to join the Board of YMCA Dublin, who were looking for new Directors/Trustees with skills like my own. As both a charity and social enterprise, it immediately struck my interest. I contacted the organisation, made an application and was subsequently invited to join.

I’m now one year into serving on the Board of the Dublin YMCA, so how have I found it? It has been, so far, an experience I have found both challenging and rewarding. Joining a Board of Directors is serious. In order to carry out your duties, you need to be sure you can commit the time required. You also need to ensure you fully understand your role and legal obligations when it comes to both governance and your fiduciary responsibilities to the organisation.

Serving with a Board, particularly that of a charity, is also a great privilege and an extremely positive experience. You really get to know another organisation and through this, you have the chance to actively support the team in implementing its programmes and services.

From a personal perspective, it’s also a fantastic learning opportunity. It puts you in a position where you’re working closely with many other people, often from very different professions, with different skillsets to your own, in order to achieve a common purpose.

As well as being a valuable learning experience, it can also be a very meaningful one. Having the chance to volunteer your skills and your time to a charity and supporting its long term development is something that I am delighted to be a part of.

There is a perception that you need to be certain age or have a certain skillset in order to be eligible to join a Board, but I have not found this to be the case. Diversity on boards has been proven to contribute to stronger and more ethical organisational governance. Having a mix of ages, genders, professions and ranges of experience brings a wealth of expertise to an NGO, so my advice would be not to let any such perception intimidate you. So long as you have the time, enthusiasm and commitment to carrying out your duties, there is no reason why both you and a charity can’t reap the benefits.

Charity Trustees’ Week runs from from 12th – 16th November with events taking place around the country. Join the conversation online using #TrusteesWeekIrl.

Always learning…

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Our Training and Programmes Manager, Stuart Garland, reminds us of the importance of listening and learning from others this International Volunteer Managers Day.  Join the conversation on social media using #IMVDay18.

Any of you who follow me on Twitter will sometimes see me use the hashtag #AlwaysLearning.  You may have heard me refer to myself as a Volunteer Management & Leadership Specialist, never an expert. I am always listening to other stories and experiences both locally and internationally.

If I am delivering training on some element of volunteer management and I ask the question “Does anyone have a challenging volunteer and can you tell me about the challenge?” there is usually a stony silence before someone finally gives in with a story that starts with “Well I had this challenge once…” Then a few minutes into the story others in the room begin to nod with agreement or throw their eyes to the sky and say “I’ve a volunteer just like that and this is how I dealt with them…” All of a sudden people are vying for airtime to tell their challenging story.

Sometimes we aren’t that open to share our stories about challenging volunteers or volunteer management issues. I’ll often get a phone call that goes something like this. “I need to talk to you confidentially about this situation … please never tell anyone … I can’t tell you our organisation” The reality is that I’ve heard this exact story already, and probably as recent as no more than a month ago.

We all make mistakes, and hopefully we learn and become more mature.  We may think that another Volunteer Involving Organisation is better than us, in reality we are all dealing with the same situations, what we do and how we react to these challenges is what differentiates a quality volunteer programme from a poor one. It is also about the processes or procedures you have in place to deal with those challenges, without creating an overly burearatic programme full of red tape.

We can all learn from each other. I don’t claim to be an expert in Volunteer Management in Leadership. I am just a specialist in the area. I am #AlwaysLearning and so should you. Never miss out on opportunities to talk to and learn from others in our field.

The role of a Volunteer Manager is often a lonely one, one person in charge of a group of volunteers. Reach out and talk to your fellow Volunteer Managers, talk to us in Volunteer Ireland.

It’s good to talk … about volunteering

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Volunteer Ireland’s Training and Programmes Manager Stuart Garland shares his thoughts on talking, listening and learning from others as volunteering evolves globally.

 

Learning from others

I am one of those people who will gladly talk to people about all things volunteering, from recruitment to retention, from screening to strategy.

These conversations often start with a Volunteer Manager saying “what I am about to tell you is confidential and you can’t tell anyone”, a conversation follows about the challenges they are facing.  They are usually in shock at the end of the conversation when I say “Do you think you are the only organisation facing these challenges?”

Volunteer Involving Organisations are facing the same challenges in terms of volunteer management and leadership worldwide, the problems facing Volunteer Managers in Leitrim are the same of those in Lagos, Lima, Latvia or Lithuania. The question is are we adapting to these challenges?

Some time ago I met some colleagues from the Venezuela.  They we’re very envious of the amount of formal volunteering in Ireland.  At the time in Venezuela informal volunteering far exceeded formal volunteering.  They were very surprised when I said I was very keen to learn from them.  What could I possibly learn from them? Lots.

What do the stats say?

Recent research (2018) by the UN Volunteers Programme reports that the majority of volunteering globally is informal.  Of the 109 million full-time equivalent volunteers 70% volunteered informally for individuals while only 30% volunteered formally through an organisation.  They go on to report that in Ireland there is a Full Time Equivalent of 132,273 volunteers, 72,533 of whom are involved in formal volunteering.

Research carried by nfpSynergy (2017) reported that 21% of people said they “lost faith in charities” and 40% said they “didn’t have the time to volunteer”. Episodic (short term) volunteering is nothing new and was reported as a growing trend as early as 2006 by Handy et al.

In 2016, Volunteer Now and Colin Rochester reported that 80% of micro volunteering was carried out on line usually on smart phones, mainly by young people and it has been most popular in the UK where more than half of all micro volunteering actions took place in 2015.

From another perspective the Central Statistics Office (2016) report 200 different nationalities in Ireland. There were 535,475 non-Irish nationals living in Ireland.  How many nationalities are represented in your group of volunteers?

Adapting to change

You might consider that virtual volunteering, e-volunteering, micro volunteering, taster volunteering, family volunteering, slacktivism are all fads, perhaps you’ve not have heard of them before. Society is changing around us and our volunteer programmes need to adapt too.

Your volunteer programme may need formal volunteers engaging with you on a regular basis but just think of the potential diverse group of volunteers you could be engaging by changing the types of volunteering you offer.

What works for one organisation may work differently for another, we can’t continue to say ‘that wouldn’t work for my organisation’ without trying, without adapting to the local demographic, not just the current demographic of your pool of volunteers.  We all have to learn – learn from researchers, academics, practitioners, our peers, our colleagues.

We may be happy with our volunteer programmes, we might be dealing with challenging situations in volunteer management or struggling to recruit or retain volunteers, but guess what? Others are having the same challenges as you.

We’ve got to listen to others. We’ve got to learn from others.

“It’s good to talk … about volunteering”

Volunteer Ireland offers a range of training (online and face to face), capacity building events, conferences and seminars throughout the year to help build your networking opportunities to meet with and discuss these topics with likeminded individuals.  You can find further details at www.volunteer.ie/services/training-for-vios/training-calendar/

e-VOC: Fourth Transnational Meeting in Galway (Ireland)

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On 18th and 19th June, the four partner organisations of the e-VOC project met in Galway (Ireland) for the fourth project meeting.

The e-VOC project aims at improving the offer, accessibility and quality of training for the professionals of the European voluntary sector on the validation of competences. To do so, four organisations from four European countries have joined forces to develop the first open and multilingual online training course for the professionals of the European voluntary sector on the validation of competences.

During this meeting, the partners presented and evaluated the improvements implemented on the online training course since the last meeting in Rome, in January 2018. Afterwards, the partners went through the plan for the next project activities: the events that will take place in Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Ireland to present the online training course to Volunteer Coordinators and other professionals from the voluntary sector.

The online training course will be accessible for free in three languages (English, Spanish and Italian) from September 2018. Those who are interested in accessing the online training course as soon as it is published can now register at www.e-voc.eu

This project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, is a joint initiative of: the Spanish Volunteering Platform (Spain), CSVnet (Italy), EDOS Foundation (Netherlands), and National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland).

For further information at www.e-voc.eu

 

My personal volunteer story

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Bastin Jose volunteered at Volunteer Ireland as part of his degree at IT Tallaght. He spent time with the corporate team and played a huge part in the Points of Light Global Gathering in Dublin. These are his thoughts on volunteering.

I have always wanted to get involved in volunteering and loved helping others. I had volunteered beforehand and really enjoyed it. It was always in the back of mind to get out and volunteer but with college and a part-time job it was hard to find time for it. However, as a part of degree, it was compulsory for me to either spend a semester abroad or obtain an internship at home. As a lover of languages, I chose to spend a semester abroad in France. Unfortunately, it did not go as I had planned and I was in bit of a sticky situation. This was however a blessing in disguise, as I was able to obtain an internship at Volunteer Ireland.

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and that was due to the amazing staff at Volunteer Ireland. It was great to work with a group of people who were always happy and motivated to be promoting volunteering and volunteering opportunities in Ireland. From organising & taking part in Team Impact Days to the Points of Light Global Gathering event, Volunteer Ireland has given me such a great experience, more than I could have ever hoped to gain

This internship enabled me to become more open minded, to discover various aspects about volunteering, to give back to the community and to meet & work with great people. It has really changed my outlook on life and given me unforgettable moments. Interning at Volunteer Ireland, provided me with the opportunity to experience being in an office working environment as well as an outdoor working environment. I had the honour of organising and taking part in the Points of Light Global Gathering. This was an amazing experience for me, as I had the opportunity to meet and interact with people from all around the world. All this experience that I gained during my four-month internship at Volunteer Ireland will greatly benefit me in future endeavours both personally and professionally.

I certainly believe that everyone would benefit from volunteering, as it provides opportunities to not only help others but help your self-development. Volunteering helps us to become more open minded and in touch with our communities. The beauty of volunteering is the fact that there are so many ways that you can volunteer, as you’re not limited to a certain area or activity. It is an avenue to meet, interact and work with new people. That feeling of pride and satisfaction you receive after volunteering is truly incredible.

People helping people – LinkedIn’s most powerful tool

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Eamonn Fitzgerald is LinkedIn for Good Manager (EMEA) based at LinkedIn’s Dublin Office. He talks to us about the importance of employee volunteering within the LinkedIn community.

When I joined the LinkedIn for Good team back in 2016, I was excited at the prospect of working for a company that had such an ingrained culture of helping others. Creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce – that’s our mantra, in fact, it’s LinkedIn’s vision statement. That means that the goal isn’t just the focus of the LinkedIn for Good team, but it’s what every employee at LinkedIn has committed to pursuing.

Now while we know that talent is distributed equally, access to opportunity is not. Individuals from certain communities, and of specific backgrounds, face unique hurdles to economic opportunity. That context, that reality, informs our work as the social impact arm of LinkedIn. How can we leverage our core assets to remove these hurdles, empowering all individuals to connect to opportunity?

When we talk about core assets, we’re talking about more than just money. In fact, ask any member of my team what our most powerful asset is – grant donations are probably pretty far down that list. The real game-changer is our people. That’s why we place LinkedIn employees, and LinkedIn members, at the centre of everything we do. In fact, we have three distinct channels that unlock the power of the volunteer.

1 – Empowering our employees to pursue their passions:

At LinkedIn we provide space for our employees to pursue their own passions, and to engage with the causes they care about. Late last year we launched a new internal employee social impact platform called LinkedIn Gives – a place for employees to donate, fundraise, and volunteer with any nonprofits they believed in. This platform empowers our employees to make a difference in whatever way they see fit, ensuring that we have an ability to track employee volunteer hours and contributions across all 30+ LinkedIn locations around the world.

Allowing some of our employee volunteers to identify their own opportunities is an important feature of our overall volunteer strategy, often acting as a great first point of contact between LIFG and a new employee. Once our employee volunteers become more comfortable with the concept of volunteering, we’re then able to direct them to more high-skill or strategic volunteering opportunities with our flagship nonprofit partners, where they can make use of their deep knowledge of our platform to positively impact people’s lives.

2 – Connecting our employees to the right partners:

While we might be the experts on all things LinkedIn, we accept that we aren’t always the experts on the unique employment challenges faced by some. That’s why we’re committed to a cross-sector partnership model, collaborating with NGOs that are already successfully solving these problems, and that would be able to leverage the time and talent of our employee volunteers. One of our strongest partners in Ireland is Jobcare – an NGO that has helped thousands of jobseekers escape the trap of unemployment over the past 25 years.

Partners like Jobcare are the perfect fit for LinkedIn Coaches, our structured employee volunteer programme that connects participants to mentors, jobs and networks. To date this partnership has seen us reach almost 1,000 jobseekers through a variety of programs and supports. These include bi-monthly training workshops in our EMEA headquarters in Dublin, working with around 60 jobseekers per session to teach them all about leveraging LinkedIn for their job search. In addition, our employees offer mock interview trainings and staff advisory stations at Jobcare’s regular networking events. Allowing our employees to find the volunteering opportunity that appeals most to them and adds genuine value to the participants themselves.

3 – Inviting our members on the journey:

At LinkedIn, when we talk about volunteering, we don’t just think about our employees. At our core, we’re a community of more than 560 million members, all of whom pursue their own version of success. However, they also want to help others achieve that goal too. More than 41 million LinkedIn members have proudly listed their past volunteering experiences on their LinkedIn profiles. This isn’t just to brag, it’s known to positively increase their chances of landing that next job. 27% of jobseekers are more likely to be hired, when unemployed, if they volunteer.

In addition, over 10 million LinkedIn members who have proactively signalled their interest in finding volunteering, board service, or mentoring opportunities on our platform. Our Volunteer Marketplace serves up skilled volunteer opportunities to our members across Ireland, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. In 2017 we connected more than 388,000 members to volunteer opportunities around the world. Our partnership with Volunteer Ireland has allowed us to share thousands of local volunteering roles with our members.

The long and short of it is that no matter your product, no matter your resources, people remain the key ingredient to successful corporate social impact programs worldwide. Employee volunteers can add genuine value to the right partners when given the chance, and organisations like Volunteer Ireland help companies like LinkedIn to mobilise our users at scale. We hope you’ll reflect on the ways that you might get involved with local organisations or through your own corporate social impact programmes this National Volunteering Week.

What is Microvolunteering?

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To celebrate Microvolunteering Day 2018 (15th April), we have a special blog on the little known phenomenon of microvolunteering.

What is microvolunteering?

There are lots of different definitions of microvolunteering but the generally accepted one is ‘bite-sized, on-demand, no commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause’. Microvolunteering is quick and convenient – a microvolunteering opportunity might take less than two minutes to complete and in some cases can be done from the comfort of your couch in your pyjamas.

A great example of microvolunteering in Ireland took place during the 1916 centenary celebrations. The organisers had hundreds of letters written during the time which had been scanned onto a digital archive. Unfortunately, they were still quite hard to read – that’s where volunteers came in! Volunteers were able log on in their own time and transcribe the letters into typed documents. This meant that the letters could then be widely shared and read. You could give 5 minutes or 5 hours – either way you were giving back to a good cause.

Why microvolunteering?

If you ask someone if they’d like to volunteer, more than likely they’d say yes but that doesn’t mean they always have the time. As people lead increasingly busy lives, they are finding it harder to take time out to volunteer. Nowadays, people are looking for short term, flexible volunteering opportunities and that’s where microvolunteering comes in.

Being able to give back in bite sized chunks of time or at a time that suits your schedule makes volunteering accessible to even more people. It also serves as a great ‘taster’ for volunteering to those who would like to volunteer but aren’t sure what’s right for them.

What is Microvolunteering Day?

Microvolunteering Day is an internationally celebrated day that takes place on 15th April every year. Organised by Help for Home, it is a unique opportunity for dedicated microvolunteering platforms, volunteer-involving organisations and individuals to join together in a synchronised effort to promote their contributions and demonstrate the power and potential of the microvolunteering concept.

Are there any microvolunteering opportunities in Ireland?

While microvolunteering is still a lesser known form of volunteering this side of the water, there are plenty of opportunities to get you started. These are just a few examples:

Help the environment

Take part in Birdwatch Ireland’s Garden Bird Survey. Each year between December and February, Birdwatch Ireland ask the public to take note of the highest number of each bird species visiting their garden every week. Keep a note then simply submit the information online.

Or you could use Inland Fisheries Ireland’s handy app and help them track invasive species. Volunteers can take georeferenced photographs that will immediately be uploaded to the IFI server.

Transcribe stories from your couch

Help digitise and preserve the National Folklore Collection. Dúchas.ie are asking volunteers to help transcribe the Schools Collection – a series of stories collected by primary school children in the 1930’s.

Get cultural and identify photos and manuscripts

The National Library of Ireland use The Commons on Flickr to upload their hundreds of photos, prints and manuscripts. The public are then invited to help date and provide information on the images, helping add to the National Library’s archive.

Corporate volunteering – It’s more than just painting a wall

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

This month’s blog is brought to you by Terri O’Brien, Corporate and Programmes Manager at Volunteer Ireland. Terri manages Volunteer Ireland’s Team Impact Days service and advises companies on their employee volunteer programme. 

In my line of work, people often ask ‘what’s the point of corporate volunteering, when all they do is paint the same wall over and over again?‘ All I can think is – they have this wrong, employee volunteering is about so much more than that. The idea of painting the same wall or doing the same job over and over again is a common misconception when it comes to employee volunteering. That would be a waste of time for everyone involved!

In order to ensure employee volunteering is worthwhile and meaningful, for both the charity and the volunteer, it is the responsibility of charities, community groups and volunteer development organisations such as Volunteer Ireland and Volunteer Centres to ensure certain systems are in place. For instance, the employee volunteer project or progamme should support a clear and identified need in the organisation thereby having a positive impact on the charity – its premises, staff, and/or service-users.

Expectations, tasks, activities, supplies, materials and budgets should be clearly agreed at the outset. Employee volunteer programmes tend to be most successful when there is a distinct beginning and end point to the programme. In addition, there should be a dedicated team leader (either internal or external) to support, guide and motivate volunteers on the day and to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Equally, there is a responsibility on companies to meet the real needs that are out there in our communities. My advice is to think about the impact you want to have. Is it just about a day out for your employees or do you really want to make a difference to those in your wider community?

Remember, if you want to do something meaningful which has real impact then chances are you will need to provide a budget. The reality is small community groups and charities do not have the money to purchase project supplies and materials such as paint and plants or to provide lunch for your team.

Some large charities may have the resources to fund these projects but small community groups and organisations, particularly in the most socially disadvantaged parts of the country, are working on a shoestring with limited resources.

It’s important to take into account that while it seems like volunteering is free, charities invest significant time liaising with companies, planning employee volunteer events and managing the volunteer day itself. It is best practice for companies to provide additional financial support for supplies such as: indoor or outdoor furniture, shelving, additional plants or even getting a small contractor to do an essential job that only a skilled tradesperson can do.

Providing additional budget is about ensuring the success of the project and generating maximum impact so that your employees can take pride in a job well done and feel more motivated when they return to work.

So my message to charities is, don’t ask a company to paint the same wall again and again but rather ask them to work on a real and identified need that will positively impact your organisation. And for companies, think about where and how you can have maximum impact in the surrounding community, be sure to make a budget available and never assume that employee volunteering is free.

Volunteer Ireland Thanks Volunteers for Dedication During Extreme Weather

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

Emergency Vehicle

Volunteer Ireland has today expressed gratitude to all of those volunteers who did their utmost to help their community during the recent extreme weather conditions. Thousands of volunteers across the country came together to support those in need.

According to Volunteer Ireland CEO Nina Arwitz, the spectacular response from volunteers came as no surprise. “Ireland has the highest levels of volunteering in Europe and the voluntary effort over the last number of days exemplifies this. Thousands of volunteers battled the elements to ensure roads were clear, provide support to the health service and rescue people from dangerous situations. It is a testament to their hard work and dedication that there have been so few reports of accidents and injuries. Thousands of volunteers also braved the snow to deliver services to the homeless, man helplines and ensure that that those most at risk were not left behind.

Ireland also has high levels of what we term ‘informal volunteering’ – people helping a neighbour, a friend or the local community. Social media is awash with stories of people digging their neighbours’ driveways, buying food for elderly friends and coming together to make way for emergency vehicles. We extend our deepest thanks to every person that made a difference this past week.”

Anthony Lawlor, Irish Red Cross National Director of Units echoed the thanks for the volunteers. “The Irish Red Cross volunteers have completed in excess of 5,000 volunteer hours nationwide since last Tuesday and we’re extremely grateful to them and their families for the commitment and dedication they have shown.”

Commander John Wright, National Director of the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps stated “The teamwork demonstrated by the volunteers in all the agencies was truly amazing and one we were proud to be part of. In particular, I am grateful to our volunteers for the sheer scale of calls they covered (216 out of 470) throughout the duration of the event”.

Oliver Allen RGN, St John Ambulance National Volunteer Coordinator added “Our volunteers provided a range of support such as basic humanitarian assistance to those in airports by providing blankets and stretchers for those whose flights were cancelled which afforded them some degree of comfort. Volunteers also provided ambulance transports to help get patients to and from important hospital appointments. Whilst we transported patients we also transported staff to hospitals and assisted community nurses and palliative care nurses to get to their patients. We are very grateful to our amazing and dedicated volunteers for giving up their time for sake of others, which is in fact one of our organisation’s mottoes “Pro Utilitate Homminum” or “In the Service of Humanity””.

Notes

About the Irish Red Cross

The Red Cross Movement, with 97 million members worldwide, is the largest humanitarian aid organisation in the world today. It was founded by Swiss business man Henri Dunant following the battle of Solferino in northern Italy in 1859, which saw over 40,000 people killed or wounded. The Irish Red Cross was formally established in 1939. Their programmes and services aim to prevent and alleviate human suffering.

About the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps

The Order of Malta Ambulance Corps (The Ambulance Corps) as part of Order of Malta Ireland is one of the largest voluntary providers of first aid, ambulance and community care services in Ireland. It was established in 1938 and has developed into an organization of more than 3,000 members across more than 80 units throughout communities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.  The Ambulance Corps operates as a volunteer led organization, with a small number of full-time paid administrators working in headquarters on Clyde Road in Dublin 4.

About St John Ambulance Ireland

St John Ambulance is an international humanitarian organisation with over 500,000 volunteers in over 20 different countries. It has been offering First Aid and CPR training as well as assistance to sick and injured members of the public for over 100 years. The organisation is run by unpaid volunteers at all levels, up to and including the Commissioner, the de facto Chief Executive Officer. St John Ambulance Ireland began in in Guinness’s Brewery in 1903 and since then the organisation has been at the forefront of acute care and training throughout Ireland for over 100 years.