Drop in session - Funding Volunteering

Last week we held a session to talk to different systems about approaches to getting volunteer projects funded.

The slides from the session are attached.

We looked at how projects need to be aligned with ICS priorities, how projects need to demonstrate integration and how the design of projects needs to take account of the relative position within a system.

One of the key bits of understanding that we developed through the webinar is that we need more clarity on what we mean by "funding". It's a broad term that encompasses grant funding through charitable means and services that are commissioned as part of a system. There are common elements of the approaches taken to access these funding streams but also important differences.

A key bit of feedback from systems was about the need to stop seeing volunteering initiatives as projects in isolation. Instead we need to look at where volunteering can add value in existing (or newly developed) pathways.

This makes a lot of sense. If we are going to promote volunteering as a key element of integration then we need to recognise that pathways through systems are the things that will make integration work.

We are going to incorporate this feedback into our guide to funding and make that available as soon as possible.

This is the start of our work on funding and we are keen to work with those systems that are looking at funding as an issue for their volunteering plans.