Bursaries To Help Organisations Achieve IIV

Recognition and funding are two of the many issues which face smaller organisations within the voluntary and community sector.  The challenge is for them to be able to evidence the quality of their work without creating an additional excessive workload.

Investing in Volunteers is the UK Quality Standard for all organisations that involve volunteers in their work.  It is designed to help organisations review and improve their volunteer management and procedures.  It is a nationally recognised award that allows them to publicly demonstrate and promote their commitment to volunteering.  Volunteer Now has responsibility for the rollout of Investing in Volunteers across Northern Ireland, and manages a clear and supportive process to go through, in order to achieve the award.

Funding has been kindly provided by the Department of Social Development to support an Investing in Volunteers Bursary Scheme, in order to widen accessibility of the award.  The Bursary Scheme provides funding towards the basic package costs of the award, with most successful groups only having to pay £200.  This represents a minimum saving on standard costs of over £700!  Applications will be assessed against set criteria and only groups with an annual income of less than £500,000 will be considered.  It is a genuine opportunity for smaller organisations to avail of a nationally recognised standard.  If you feel it may be of interest to you now, or in the future, we would be delighted to hear from you.

An application pack setting out full criteria is now available to download from our website - click here - or via email from david.fitzsimons@volunteernow.co.uk.  The cut-off date for application is 30 July 2010.

Further information about the standard is available on the Investing in Volunteers website - www.investinginvolunteers.org.uk.