Volunteer Centres - Our Unsung Heroes

After hearing recently that my local Volunteer Centre is being closed down following the redundancy of its manager, I was glad to finally hear some good news. The Big Lottery Fund has committed £500k to build the capacity of London’s Volunteer Centre network to involve and support more volunteer involving organisations. And about blinking time! I’m frankly fed up with this government’s persistent refusal to spend any money on developing a sustainable local volunteering infrastructure for the general public. And if I see one more person look down their nose when I mention a Volunteer Centre... Ok, so at some time you or someone you know might have had a less than perfect experience with your local Centre - get over it!

Volunteer Centres (VCs) are, in my humble opinion, the unsung heroes of the volunteering sector. As a network they are more often than not under-funded, over looked and constantly criticized for what some might see as questionable levels of service, yet in the majority of cases they are forever pulling proverbial rabbits out of hats to ensure they stay open and continue to provide a lifeline to local third sector organisations and volunteers. VCs have proven time and time again that they are extremely effective at engaging the hard to reach, especially the unemployed and those with special needs, and have kept many a volunteering project open for business through their invaluable support.

So why do they get seem to get such a bum wrap? When I joined the Active Community Unit in 2003, the view there of VCs was not a positive one. Yet when I tried to pin down why all I could seem to fathom was that a handful of civil servants and the odd Minister had had unfavourable experiences of a VC in the past. I’m the first to admit that not all VCs are perfect but I’ve always felt that this is because they are constantly having to justify their existence in an ever decreasing funding environment – if they are only funded for one part time worker then it’s hardly surprising that they are not going to be open five days a week, let alone evenings and weekends. And constantly being criticized can create a negative ‘bunker’ mentality that some VC managers find hard to shake off. Yet despite this they will more often than not help you find the volunteering opportunity you’re looking for and will go the extra mile to do what they can. And where they are well funded they can do amazing things. I know this because I used to run one where the local council saw volunteering infrastructure as a sensible investment. Because of this it meant that we spent less time running after funds to pay the heating bill and more time supporting organisations, engaging volunteers and innovating new developments. And we were by no means alone, almost without exception a consistently well funded VC delivers exceptional value for money and is able to demonstrate significant community impact – common sense really, you get more out than you put in, like volunteering itself.

Given how much money this government has invested in various national initiatives, I’m amazed at how little of this has been directly spent on Volunteer Centres, especially as many of these national schemes have been dependent on their goodwill and support to succeed. The official government line has been that it is not their job to fund local infrastructure; but this does not stop them from funding local infrastructure for nationally driven schemes such as the Experience Corps, MV, v, and Mentor Points. And given that they have funded VCs for the odd emergency or to respond to the huge surge of interest during the Year of the Volunteer, this line is pretty flawed.

I’m not alone in my feelings here. The Commission on the Future of Volunteering recommended that the country needed to have a well funded and robust local volunteering infrastructure, and Volunteering England have consistently lobbied government to address this issue. VCs themselves have worked hard to get their house in order, adopting a common brand identity and adhering to a national quality framework that would make much of the corporate sector break into a sweat. So what else must they do? And why is this government not taking any notice? Ironically it was the previous government that last took this issue seriously. Their Make a Difference programme match funded the creation of local VCs where none had previously existed – a modest programme by today’s standards but one that has nevertheless left a lasting legacy, with many of those newly created VCs still thriving today.

If we really want to make it easy for people to volunteer then we need to put our money where our mouth is and fund a service that is at least as accessible and visible as the local Job Centre. The DWP brokerage scheme, although not perfect, is a step in the right direction but it is not enough and it looks as though for the time being we must continue to rely on the hard work and ingenuity of the likes of Greater London Volunteering to persuade the powers that be to invest in this much needed network.

I just hope that given the huge increase in volunteering enquiries the recession has brought we don’t lose more Volunteer Centres to funding cuts, otherwise volunteers coming forward will be turned away and that is not good for them or the communities that need their help.

Posted by Jamie Thomas, CEO of Red Foundation and former executive director of the Kensington & Chelsea Volunteer Centre