Hackney’s community is changing – and so is its volunteer centre. The VCH trustees recently approved a new business plan to guide us through from now to March 2014. We all know it’s tough out there – both socially and economically – and it may not get much easier even two years from now. But VCH has a strategy to help the community, young and old, rich and poor, work together to make Hackney a better place to live.
Here are our seven main goals:
1. Make VCH an Active Citizenship Centre: enable all citizens to take part in meeting community needs, in person or online.
2. Community Development: Empower people, in networks and informal groups, to form projects/services that meet community needs in a period of economic distress.
3. Social Media: Making volunteering by Hackney’s residents and groups happen by talking to each other – and doing it.
4. Supported Volunteering: Helping everyone, especially marginalised groups, to volunteer and find pathways to employment.
5. Corporate Responsibility: Bridging the gap between firms and the community through volunteering by professionals offering help, advice, training.
6. Volunteer Involving Organisations: Promote a wider variety of volunteers and activities for them through training and consultancy.
7. The Place to Volunteer: Raising VCH’s profile and the rewards of giving back to the community throughout Hackney and beyond.
What VCH does
VCH aims to be a benchmark of best practice in volunteering and organisation management. We are match makers, putting people together to improve each other’s lives – whether those people are organisations who need volunteers, individuals who want to become volunteers or people who need support in the community. We support local groups to get the very best out of their volunteers and develop connections and networks to champion good volunteering practice across Hackney.
Since 1997 we’ve helped over 10,000 people find the right volunteer role, while we work with over 400 not-for-profit groups giving them skills they need to manage volunteers effectively. We’re here to make sure that volunteering works; for volunteers, for organisations, for the people being helped and also for Hackney.
VCH believe that Hackney should have the best quality services and are proud to hold the following quality standards: Investing in Volunteers, and Volunteering England’s Volunteer Centre Accreditations.
To find out more about what a volunteer centre does, take a look at What is a Volunteer Centre? (PDF).
