Chair’s statement

Annual R

eview1

st April 2008 - 31

st March 2009

Volunteer C

entre Tamesid

e95-97 P

enny Mead

owA

shton-under-Lyne

OL6 6E

P

Tel: 0161 339 2345

offi

ce@tam

esidevb

.org

.ukw

ww

.tamesid

evb.o

rg.uk

Volunteer Centre Tam

eside is a registered

charity, numb

er 514804

My

first

yea

r as

Cha

ir ha

s b

een

an e

njoy

able

and

inte

rest

ing

year

whi

ch in

volv

ed m

uch

lear

ning

and

new

exp

erie

nces

. A

lot

of t

he y

ear

has

bee

n sp

ent

gett

ing

to k

now

vol

unte

ers,

st

aff a

nd fe

llow

man

agem

ent

com

mitt

ee m

emb

ers

and

d

isco

verin

g w

hat

goes

on

“beh

ind

the

sce

nes”

.

This

yea

r sa

w lo

ng a

wai

ted

rec

ogni

tion

of t

he w

ork

we

do

in

rela

tion

to p

rom

otin

g vo

lunt

eerin

g as

a r

oute

to

emp

loym

ent.

Th

e re

cess

ion

has

had

a m

ajor

imp

act

on o

ur w

ork

with

a

mas

sive

incr

ease

in p

rosp

ectiv

e vo

lunt

eers

com

ing

thro

ugh

the

doo

rs.

We

wer

e d

elig

hted

to

rece

ive

fund

ing

from

the

Offi

ce o

f the

Th

ird S

ecto

r Im

pro

ving

Rea

ch fu

nd, w

hich

will

ena

ble

us

to

offe

r in

tens

ive

sup

por

t to

BM

E g

roup

s w

ho w

ish

to in

crea

se

thei

r ca

pac

ity t

o in

volv

e vo

lunt

eers

.

We

took

par

t in

a n

atio

nal p

ublic

ity c

amp

aign

org

anis

ed

by

Volu

ntee

ring

Eng

land

in w

hich

som

e of

our

vol

unte

ers

high

light

ed h

ow v

olun

teer

ing

has

help

ed t

hem

ove

rcom

e p

erso

nal d

ifficu

lties

. Bot

h lo

cal a

nd n

atio

nal p

aper

s ra

n im

pre

ssiv

e ar

ticle

s an

d t

hese

hav

e al

so b

een

used

as

case

st

udie

s fo

r p

ublic

ity a

nd fu

ndin

g b

ids.

This

yea

r ha

s se

en a

maj

or p

iece

of w

ork

“Mea

surin

g th

e Im

pac

t of

Vol

unte

er C

entr

e Ta

mes

ide”

bei

ng u

nder

take

n an

d I

wou

ld li

ke t

o th

ank

ever

yone

who

par

ticip

ated

in

focu

s gr

oup

s an

d c

omp

lete

d q

uest

ionn

aire

s, a

s w

ell a

s th

e vo

lunt

eers

who

wen

t ar

ound

Tam

esid

e “m

easu

ring

our

imp

act”

. The

res

ults

of t

his

will

form

a d

etai

led

rep

ort

to b

e p

rese

nted

at

the

AG

M.

I wou

ld li

ke t

o th

ank

ever

yone

who

has

sup

por

ted

the

or

gani

satio

n an

d m

e, e

spec

ially

my

man

agem

ent

com

mitt

ee

colle

ague

s, n

ot fo

rget

ting

all V

CT

volu

ntee

rs a

nd s

taff

who

he

lp u

s to

ach

ieve

our

ob

ject

ives

thr

ough

out

the

year

.

Bes

t W

ishe

s fo

r 20

10A

mrit

Mis

try

Vision statementFinanCe and statistiCs

Sundry

Bank Interest

GM

FRS

Capacity B

uilders

Outreach

PC

T Transport Schem

e

Measuring Im

pact

BLF

Goldstar

TMB

C G

rant

Staff &

Managem

ent Charges

Cleaning

Payroll S

ervice

CR

B C

hecks

Room

Hire

Publicity S

ervices

Photocopying

Contribution to O

verheads

Income

Exp

enditure

Cleaning

Depreciation

Bank C

harges

Specific P

roject Costs

Repairs &

Decorating

Water C

osts

Heat &

Light

Publications &

Subs.

Sundry

Insurances

Accountancy

Information &

Events

Other O

verheads

Advertising &

Publicity

Post, P

rint & S

tationery

Telephone & S

oftware

Meeting E

xpenses

Volunteers Expenses

Travel & S

ubsistence

Training & C

onferences

Staff C

osts

Our d

etailed Trustees R

eport and

Accounts for the year end

ing 31/3/2009 is available on req

uest

Incom

ing R

esources fro

m g

enerated fund

s£

Reso

urces Exp

ended

£

Voluntary income

0C

haritable A

ctivities370,265

Activities for generating fund

s101,304

Governance C

osts1,715

Investment incom

e1,238

Incom

ing reso

urces from

charitable activities

334,326

Total inco

ming

resources

436,868To

tal Reso

urces Exp

ended

371,980

Net m

ovement in fund

s64,888

Balance at 1st A

pril 2008

171,374

Balance at 31st M

arch 2009236,262

Payroll S

erviceThe service sup

ported

12 voluntary organisations to process their staff p

ayroll and is also fund

ed through a contract w

ith Bolton

Direct P

ayments S

upp

ort Agency to sup

port over 250 custom

ers during the year und

er review. This year custom

ers received a

government incentive of £100 for online sub

mission of their year-end

returns to HM

RC

which is shared

betw

een customers w

ho are eligib

le and ourselves und

er our payroll agreem

ent. It is expected

that customer num

bers w

ill greatly increase over the next 12 m

onths increasing dem

and on staff tim

e.

Office A

ccomodation &

Room

Hire

V-Involve, a volunteering brokerage agency for young volunteers, rents our ground

floor office space ensuring that young p

eople

wishing to volunteer in the local com

munity have ongoing sup

port and

advice in Tam

eside.

Com

munity and

voluntary organisations hired our m

eeting room on a sessional b

asis and the room

was used

by 18 organisations

including: tw

o wom

en’s groups, R

SP

CA

, Ashton M

encap, C

AB

, Tamesid

e Forum of D

isabled

Peop

le, Learning Disab

ility Service,

Peop

le First Tamesid

e, Carers’ C

entre, West A

frican Develop

ment and

TMB

C.

Other R

esourcesC

omm

unity and voluntary organisations have access to: d

isplay screens, O

HP, collecting b

oxes, the internet, a digital p

rojector, lap

tops, b

inding m

achines, laminators, d

igital cameras, a full colour p

hotocopier and

V-Base, the national volunteering

opp

ortunities datab

ase.

Volu

ntee

r C

entr

e Ta

mes

ide

hold

s a

visi

on o

f act

ive

com

mun

ities

in T

ames

ide,

sup

por

ted

thr

ough

the

d

evel

opm

ent

of a

vol

unte

erin

g ac

tivity

to

enha

nce

loca

lor

gani

satio

ns a

nd c

omm

uniti

es. W

orki

ng in

par

tner

ship

w

ith t

he p

ublic

and

cor

por

ate

sect

ors

to fa

cilit

ate

max

imum

op

por

tuni

ties

for

invo

lvem

ent

of in

div

idua

ls, o

rgan

isat

ions

an

d c

omm

uniti

es in

imp

rovi

ng t

he q

ualit

y of

life

for

all

Tam

esid

e re

sid

ents

.

It is

our

aim

to

bui

ld a

str

ong,

vib

rant

bas

e fo

r vo

lunt

eerin

g an

d v

olun

tary

act

ivity

thr

ough

dev

elop

ing

volu

ntee

ring

opp

ortu

nitie

s, r

ecru

iting

and

pla

cing

vol

unte

ers,

and

sup

por

ting

volu

ntee

r re

crui

ting

agen

cies

in T

ames

ide.

Volu

ntee

r C

entr

e Ta

mes

ide:

• Va

lues

the

con

trib

utio

n w

hich

vol

unte

ers

mak

e to

so

ciet

y.

• E

mb

race

s an

d c

eleb

rate

s th

e d

iver

sity

of t

he

ind

ivid

uals

, gro

ups

and

com

mun

ities

in T

ames

ide

that

it

serv

es.

• B

elie

ves

that

eq

ualit

y of

op

por

tuni

ty is

a fu

ndam

enta

l rig

ht a

nd w

ill w

ork

pro

-act

ivel

y to

put

thi

s in

to p

ract

ice.

• B

elie

ves

in t

he e

qua

lity

of a

ll th

e se

ctor

s (p

ublic

, co

rpor

ate

and

thi

rd s

ecto

r).

• B

elie

ves

that

pre

fere

nce

shou

ld b

e gi

ven

to w

orki

ng

colla

bor

ativ

ely

and

in p

artn

ersh

ip w

ith a

genc

ies

in a

ll se

ctor

s to

max

imis

e th

e b

enefi

ts

to t

he g

roup

s an

d

ind

ivid

uals

tha

t it

sup

por

ts.

• W

ill s

eek

to a

void

com

pet

ing

for

scar

ce r

esou

rces

w

ith t

he g

roup

s th

at it

sup

por

ts, b

ut r

ecog

nise

s th

at it

w

ill n

eed

to

acce

ss r

esou

rces

in o

rder

to

dev

elop

and

su

stai

n its

act

iviti

es.

Pr

oje

Cts

an

d V

olu

nte

er C

en

tre C

or

e F

un

Cti

on

s

Volunteers from the Community Action team can be seen

travelling around the nine towns of Tameside as they support

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service in their aim

to ensure that all Tameside residents have working smoke

detectors.

The service also provides information on how to live as safely

as possible in your home and importantly how to escape from

your home should a fire occur. Residents are being encouraged

to contact the us to make a booking. All volunteers are wearing

the new uniform that displays the logo prominently.

Our volunteers come from a wide cross section of the

community and complete mandatory training before they are

able to make assessments. To ensure that the assessments

are completed to a high standard volunteers are observed

completing assessments on a bimonthly basis.

Community aCtion team

Another busy year for the Miles of Smiles project, and once

again there were more passengers than we were able to work

with. We recognise that we need to recruit more volunteers as

the awareness of the service continues to gain momentum.

There have been several requests from new transport projects

who want to learn about our experience, I guess this now

means we are now no longer a “new project”.

For a while the team have considered the possibility of

having an accessible vehicle to support the transportation of

passengers in wheelchairs and we are delighted to have been

able to order a Volkswagon people carrier thanks to funding

from London Clubs international. This funding application was

supported by Help the Aged/Age Concern and the introducers

were the local POPPs team. We expect to take delivery in

June/July 09, see next years review for how it has benefited

Tameside.

miles oF smiles

The Goldstar Building Bridges Project has supported 63 disabled people to volunteer with 24 organisations in Tameside and Greater Manchester. These successful outcomes have been achieved through a combination of tailor made support to volunteers and the dissemination work in sharing best practice with volunteer recruiting organizations. We have undertaken 37 organisational visits, promoted Goldstar to 72 organisations and provided training to 69 beneficiaries. In the first 6 months of the Improving Reach project, we worked with 10 BME (Black Minority Ethnic) groups that showed an interest in receiving support to increase the capacity of the organisation and in all aspects of volunteer management. For this first phase we have worked in partnership with T3SC to identify and make contact with organisations currently listed on the BME networks.

Goldstar & imProVinG reaCh

A major element of our core work is the matching of individuals interested in volunteering with organisations requiring volunteers. Currently on our volunteer database (vBase) there are 502 different volunteering opportunities, with 269 of those opportunities currently actively recruiting volunteers. For the period of April 2008 to March 2009 we referred 1,257

volunteers to opportunities held on vBase. Volunteers can either apply through the internet via the do-it website or they can come in to the Volunteer Centre and see one of our advisors.When asked about the benefits volunteering can bring, 87%

agreed that their vocational or work related skills had improved as a result of volunteering, and 74% felt that their confidence and self esteem had increased.

BrokeraGe

We market our services in a variety of ways, our website -

www.tamesidevb.org.uk, where volunteers and organisations

can find out about the services we offer and make contact

online with us. All of our publicity is designed and produced

in-house, enabling us to ensure that we can get across the right

message to the relevant group. Giving talks to groups about

volunteering and our projects is a key part of our work and an

effective method of publicising our services, whilst having a

visual presence at local events helps to raise our profile.

When Individuals were asked about the way we publicise and

promote volunteering, 77% agreed that it gave them a good

idea of what we do and the services we provide. However,

it was felt that we need to make better use of local media,

such as Tameside Radio and the local press to reach a wider

audience.

marketinG VolunteerinG

To ensure that we are able to offer the best possible

brokerage service it is essential that we have a diverse and

expanding range of volunteer opportunities. We currently

have 198 organisations on our database with 502 volunteering

opportunities. Our work with organisations ensures that we

constantly have new opportunities to offer to our clients. Alongside our work with organisations, we also offer

volunteering roles within the organisation, and currently have 51

volunteers. The volunteers work on the reception desk and as

admin support in the offices, and on two projects facilitated by

VCT - Miles of Smiles and Community Action Team.Of our Stakeholders, 71% agreed that we have significantly

increased the number of volunteering opportunities in the area.

deVeloPinG VolunteerinGoP

Po

rtu

nities

We work closely with organisations throughout Tameside

to develop good volunteer management practices; this is

done through organisational visits, training and the Volunteer

Coordinators’ Forum. During the year we completed 38

organisation visits, issuing each with a toolkit. The toolkit

includes essential elements of how to set up and run a

volunteer project, with sample policies and procedures for

organisations to use and develop.

In September we began a new project - Improving Reach, to

work with BME (Black Minority Ethnic) groups to increase their

capacity to manage and support volunteers. This project is

provided through the use of organisation visits and intensive

one-to-one support with the organisation.

We delivered training to 49 organisations, with 57 volunteer

managers benefiting. Of those organisations surveyed 93%

agreed that we provide good-quality training to organisations

and/or volunteers

Good PraCtiCe deVeloPment

Volunteers’ Week in June saw the culmination of much work

on behalf of the Cross Sector Policy Group (formerly Compact

group) with the launch of the “Tameside Compact Code

on Volunteering”. This was adopted by Tameside Strategic

Partnership.

We lead on TMBC’s Local Area Agreement, National Indicator

which measures the rise in Volunteering in the borough.

We also participate in TMBC’s Volunteering Development

Group who will be responsible for “A Volunteering Strategy for

Tameside” in 2010.

When asked if we are effective in ensuring that volunteering is

high on political and funding agendas that affect the area 64%

of our stakeholders agreed.

strateGiC deVeloPment oFVo

lun

tee

rin

G

When Volunteer recruiting organisations were asked if we are effective in developing local consultation and representation of volunteer-involving organisations, 65% agreed, whilst 72% agree that we have been effective in helping create a volunteering friendly policy.

We successfully campaigned for volunteers to be included in the Government’s “Train to Gain” initiative designed to up-skill the nations workforce. This was initially for paid workers but following the campaign led by Volunteering England, Volunteers are now eligible for free NVQ training.

Sue represents the Voluntary Sector on Tameside Strategic Partnership and regulary comments on and supports issues relating to Volunteering.

We are partners with T3SC and St Peters Partnership in a venture called Tameside Learning Consortium which will provide training opportunities across Tameside. We contributed to the consultation regarding Greater Manchester Congestion charge and were successful in getting questions regarding volunteer drivers included in the consultation.

PoliCy resPonse &Ca

mPa

iGn

inG