Volunteering Matters

{{Short description|British charity}} {{Infobox organization | name = | full_name = | founded = {{start date and age|1962|04|23}} | founder = Alec Dickson | dissolved = <!-- or |defunct = --><!-- use {{end date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | purpose = Volunteering and social action | logo = File:Volunteering-Matters-FinalLogos VM-FullColour-PrimaryLogo.png | location = HQ, London, {{postcode|EH|8}}, U.K. | region_served = England, Scotland and Wales | website = www.volunteeringmatters.org.uk | former_name = Community Service Volunteers (CSV) | footnotes = | bodystyle = }} {{primary|date=June 2021}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}

'''Volunteering Matters''' is a UK charity focused on "''the advancement of citizenship and community development for the public benefit through the promotion of volunteering''".<ref>{{Cite web|title=OSCR {{!}} Charity Details|url=https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-charities/search-the-register/charity-details?number=39171|access-date=2021-06-09|website=www.oscr.org.uk}}</ref> It was founded in 1962 as Community Service Volunteers (CSV) by Mora and Alec Dickson.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Community Service Volunteers (CSV) becomes Volunteering Matters|url=https://volunteeringmatters.org.uk/news/national-charity-community-service-volunteers-csv-becomes-volunteering-matters/|access-date=2020-04-07|website=Volunteering Matters|language=en-US}}</ref> In the 2018/2019 financial year, Volunteering Matters engaged around 20,000 volunteers through its hundreds of voluntary projects across England, Scotland and Wales.

As of 2021, the president of Volunteering Matters is Lord Freud.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kay|first=Liam|title=Volunteering Matters appoints new president|url=https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/article/1582237|access-date=2021-06-09|website=www.thirdsector.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Register of Interests for Lord Freud - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/3893/registeredinterests|access-date=2021-06-09|website=members.parliament.uk|language=en}}</ref> He succeeded Lord Levy, who had been President from 1999, in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Volunteering Matters announces new President|url=https://volunteeringmatters.org.uk/news/new-president/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Volunteering Matters|language=en-US}}</ref> The charity is led by a Trustee Board headed by Anne Heal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/governance/register-of-interests/anne-heal---register-of-interests-q4-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=592b7966_29|title=Ann Heal Register of interests}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Meet Anne Heal CAF Trustee {{!}} Governance and Committees at CAF|url=https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/governance/our-trustees/anne-heal|access-date=2021-06-10|website=www.cafonline.org}}</ref> Its Chief Executive since 2024 is Amanda Naylor OBE.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Appointment of Amanda Naylor OBE|url=https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/who-s-moving-volunteering-matters-nspcc-girlguiding-and-more.html|website=Civil Society|language=en-US}}</ref>

== History == In 1958, Dr Alec Dickson founded Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) which focused on international volunteering projects. After leaving VSO, in 1962, Dickson and his wife Mora Dickson formed Community Service Volunteers, which focused on UK-based volunteer projects.

Elisabeth Hoodless was appointed assistant director of CSV in 1963, becoming the only paid staff member, since the founding director Alec Dickson (1914–1994), and his wife, Maura, were volunteers. Hoodless became CSV's deputy director in 1972 and executive director in 1975, a role she held until 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-05-26|title=The mother of 'big society'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/may/26/elisabeth-hoodless-volunteer-public-services|access-date=2021-06-10|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

In 1995, CSV launched Make A Difference Day, billed then as the UK's biggest day of volunteering aiming to "create a wave of kindness throughout the UK - to bring people together…and help build stronger, happier and safer communities". Make a Difference Day also exists in the USA.

In 1996, CSV began offering Employee Volunteering Programs.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 June 2021|title=Volunteering Matters Employee Volunteering Program|url=https://employee.volunteeringmatters.org.uk/}}</ref>

Oonagh Aitken, who had been with CEO since 2012, became CEO in October, 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kay|first=Liam|title=Oonagh Aitken to leave Volunteering Matters at the end of June|url=https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/article/1579138|access-date=2021-06-10|website=www.thirdsector.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Volunteering Matters chief executive to retire|url=https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/volunteering-matters-chief-executive-to-retire.html|access-date=2021-06-10|website=www.civilsociety.co.uk}}</ref> She had led the organisation through a significant transformation which resulted in CSV becoming Volunteering Matters in April, 2015. <ref>{{Cite web|last=webvid.co.uk|title=Volunteering Matters, Volunteering Matters|url=http://www.thirdsectorexcellenceawards.com/finalists/volunteering-matters/|access-date=2021-06-10|website=Third Sector Awards|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Behance|title=Volunteering Matters|url=https://www.behance.net/gallery/97382883/Volunteering-Matters|access-date=2021-06-10|website=Behance|language=english}}</ref>

Paul Reddish became CEO in July, 2019 until 2024 moving from ProjectScotland.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cooney|first=Rebecca|title=Volunteering Matters appoints Paul Reddish as new chief executive|url=https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/article/1590328|access-date=2021-06-10|website=www.thirdsector.co.uk}}</ref> In January, 2021, the trustees of Volunteering Matters and ProjectScotland agreed for both charities to merge.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Perishable|title=Charities Volunteering Matters and ProjectScotland to merge|url=https://ethicalmarketingnews.com/charities-volunteering-matters-and-projectscotland-to-merge|access-date=2021-06-09|language=en-GB}}</ref> The charities announced that the two brands would continue to operate under one charitable organisation. Both brands would continue their existing programmes and current volunteers and the people they support would not be directly affected by the proposed merger.

In June, 2021, Reddish rode 1000km by bicycle from Edinburgh to London via Wales with his father Paralympian Tim Reddish to say "thank you" to people across the UK who volunteered in their communities during COVID19.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tfn.scot/news/charity-chief-executive-cycles-across-the-country-to-pay-tribute-to-volunteers|title=Charity chief executive cycles across the country to pay tribute to volunteers - TFN}}</ref>

In January 2024, Amanda Naylor OBE became Chief Executive of Volunteering Matters. Naylor joined from Manchester Youth Zone where she was CEO for over two years. Before that, she held senior roles at Barnardo’s and Victim Support.<ref name="auto"/>

==Programs== Around 20,000 people volunteer with Volunteering Matters each year from various demographics and backgrounds.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What We Do|url=https://volunteeringmatters.org.uk/what-we-do/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Volunteering Matters|language=en-US}}</ref>

Volunteering Matters pioneered the idea of teaching citizenship in schools – it became part of the National Curriculum in England in 2002.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

Projects include RSVP, Active Volunteering, Choices, Sporting Chance, Sex Matters Too, Lifelines, Grandmentors<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-06|title=How 'grandmentors' are helping young care leavers find their feet {{!}} Jessica Murray|url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/06/grandmentors-help-young-care-leavers-volunteers-50-plus|access-date=2021-06-10|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> for volunteers over 50 years of age, Volunteers Supporting Families as well as befriending projects to assist older, young and disabled people.

==Employee volunteering== In 1995, what was then CSV began providing volunteering opportunities for the staff of UK companies.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Volunteering Matters Employee Volunteering|url=https://employee.volunteeringmatters.org.uk/who-we-are/}}</ref> The programme has continued and now involves fifty UK-based companies participating in activities that include one-off team building days through to long-term partnerships with local charities and schools.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Volunteering Matters Employee Volunteering|url=https://employee.volunteeringmatters.org.uk/what-we-do/}}</ref>

==Part-time volunteering== Each year Volunteering Matters involves thousands of part-time volunteers throughout the UK.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

== Institute for Advanced Volunteer Management (IAVM) == The IAVM<ref>{{Cite web|title=IAVM (CSV's Institute for Advanced Volunteer Management)|url=https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/d5b1d2bf10e7417fbcc48cd507b6fe6b-iavm-csvs-institute-for-advanced-volunteer-management-london|access-date=2021-06-09|website=www.idealist.org|language=en}}</ref> was a training event held each year from 1998 to 2012 by Volunteering Matter's predecessor CSV.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|title=February 2021|url=https://robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2021/02/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd|language=en}}</ref> A three-day residential training event, it was focused on raising the standard of volunteering management. The IAVM had an international faculty drawn from Australia, Canada, the UK and USA. Core faculty included Arlene Schindler, Susan J Ellis, Rick Lynch, Steve McCurley and later Linda Graff and Martin J Cowling.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} Guest faculty included Andy Fryar, Fraser Dyer and Jayne Cravens.

The IAVM was seen as significant by the sector for the impact it made on volunteering managers across the UK.<ref name="auto1"/>{{better|date=June 2021}} It also served as a model for other similar training intensives including IAVMs in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA in 2000 and 2001<ref name="auto1"/> and the Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management conducted in Australia and New Zealand from 2005 to 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|last=jcravens|date=2011-02-16|title=Advanced Volunteer Management Retreat in New Zealand May 25-27, 2011|url=https://coyotecommunications.com/coyoteblog/2011/02/advanced-volunteer-management-retreat-in-new/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Jayne Cravens Blog|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Awards and honours == Volunteering Matters was named charity of the year in September, 2015 at the European Diversity Awards (EDAs).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Volunteering Matters named charity of the year|url=https://volunteeringmatters.org.uk/news/volunteering-matters-named-charity-of-the-year/|access-date=2021-06-09|website=Volunteering Matters|language=en-US}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == *[http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/showcharity.asp?remchar=true&chyno=291222 Charity Commission registry entry (number 291222)]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}

Category:Charities based in the United Kingdom Category:1962 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:Organizations established in 1962