Thank you to all the members who attended this lively and informative discussion.

A number of our guests still have the challenge of not being allowed to have group events so they are having to consider other options to celebrate volunteers’ week. However, in other areas they have been able to organise small group picnics and ‘High Teas’ for their volunteers.

At Helpforce our social media theme for May will be Volunteers’ Week and we would love to hear about your plans and activities so that we can share resources and support you.

In the first instance, please contact us by email at: network@helpforce.community

There was some interest within the discussion group for support with social media so we are working with our Head of Communications to put together a workshop for you. More details will follow shortly. In the meantime thank you to those who shared their social media details, we will follow / connect with you and start sharing!

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

National Volunteers’ Week is a great opportunity to organise activities and showcase what you do:

• Increase visibility of your volunteers

• Highlight achievements of your volunteers

• Spotlight on innovation and volunteer support in specific departments

Your volunteers feel more valued and their support is recognised and celebrated

• Staff have an opportunity to say ‘’thank you’’

• Senior leads and CEOs have an opportunity to recognise the value of volunteers …get a great quote!

Volunteer stories, including images and quotes, including plaudits from staff on how their volunteer(s) support their work and are valued by patients:

• Use stories and plaudits to highlight impact of volunteers on patients/visitors/staff… plus the views from volunteers themselves and why they like to volunteer for your organisation

Planning

• Identify who can help…?

• Set up a meeting with your Comms department and identify the key lead who will support your Volunteers week celebration ambitions

• Check in with your volunteers for ideas …perhaps a small focus group of volunteers as ‘Volunteers’ Week planning group’

• Identify key tasks and roles for staff and volunteers

• Consider identifying volunteer(s) who could interview fellow volunteers about what they do, also staff who could contribute volunteer stories and images

• Check out what your local VCSE sector community-based services are doing and link in with a community based event …..could help with developing new volunteer recruitment pathways and opportunities for a more diverse volunteer cohort

• Check in with Equalities and Diversity and Inclusion leads on how they would like to highlight diversity of your volunteers/promote inclusion opportunities to attract a wider demographic of volunteers

• ‘’Thank you’’ badges/cards….

Volunteers week ..in action

Use the whole week for daily blogs with a ‘champion volunteer’ featured each day

A great idea!

Thank you to Shaun Furlong from Northern Care Alliance for sharing these photos of your 'Appreciation Station'