How to make the most of the European Year of Volunteering 2011

Steve Crocker

Year of Volunteering Co ordinator

Leeds City Councilsteve.crocker@leeds.gov.uk

www.leedsyearofvolunteering.org.uk

Aims of LYOV2010• Increase the level of volunteering in the city

by a quarter• celebrate and promote volunteering• to increase the level of community

engagement through volunteering• to help groups attract more volunteers and

provide more volunteering opportunities and to promote a higher quality volunteering.

The Partnership• Leeds City Council• Voluntary Action Leeds • Leeds Ahead• NHS Leeds• Universities• Yorkshire Forward • Environment Agency

• First Direct, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Yorkshire Bank • Safer Leeds• Leeds City College• Leeds Community Foundation

Narrowing the gap?Leeds households undertaking volunteering 2009

Programme • February : Volunteering for health and wellbeing• March : Volunteering in every neighbourhood • April : Volunteering across the generations • May : Volunteering for literacy and learning • June : Valuing volunteering in Leeds • July : Volunteering for leisure, sports, arts and culture • August : Volunteering for environment, parks and wildlife • September : Volunteering for a safer Leeds

• October : Volunteering for all • November : Children and young people’s volunteering

How has it gone so far?

• Launch of Year of Volunteering@Leeds City Museum • Opened Volunteer Centre Leeds@ 12 St Paul's Street LS1 2lE• Website set up: www.leedsyearofvolunteering.co.uk• 100 events during the year with over 6000 people attending• Leeds Volunteering Debates• Environmental taster scheme to reclaim an a derelict site• Three “award” schemes, 60 organisations helped. • Month long celebrations• Revised Compact for Leeds signed • Quality volunteering encouraged: with a volunteering kite mark,

toolkit and training programmes for volunteer co ordinators.

European Year of Volunteering 2011

• Key Priorities

• Removing barriers to volunteering • Promoting benefits of volunteering to local communities• Highlight best practice in Volunteer Management• Promoting Employer Supported Volunteering

• Bi monthly themes• January and February: poverty and homelessness, covering disability, poverty and ex

offenders• March and April: supporting young people and children• May and June: environment• July and August: sport (looking forward to London 2012)• September and October: culture and the arts• November and December: health and wellbeing

Leeds EYOV11 Conference

• Hosted by Leeds City Council with our Leeds partners and with our twin cities

• Share learning and best practice from the Leeds Year of Volunteering and elsewhere.

• 25 delegates from 4 European countries (Seigen and Dortmund in Germany, Lille in France, Brno in Czech Republic and Brazov in Romania) to visit Leeds

• Leeds organisations, with the European Commission and Volunteering England to speak

• Leeds organisations host and link with our twin city volunteer partners

European Year in Leeds

• Each theme to have a taster project, celebratory event and marketplace

• Voluntary sector led

• Funding from Big Lottery

• Theme leads from key local organisations

• Focus on Strategic role of Volunteering

• ESV within Leeds City Council

Learning

• Time to set up

• Partnership

• Commitment from all parties

• Involvement of key services

• Funding

• Clear aims

• Involve as many volunteers as possible!

"Your livelihood is what you are given, your life is what you give" 

John Sentamu, October 2010

Broader Discussion Questions

• Will the voluntary sector become the volunteering sector?

• Will volunteering become compulsory?

• Can volunteering step forward as the public sector steps back?