Chair’s statement
Annual R
eview1
st April 2008 - 31
st March 2009
Volunteer C
entre Tamesid
e95-97 P
enny Mead
owA
shton-under-Lyne
OL6 6E
P
Tel: 0161 339 2345
offi
ce@tam
esidevb
.org
.ukw
ww
.tamesid
evb.o
rg.uk
Volunteer Centre Tam
eside is a registered
charity, numb
er 514804
My
first
yea
r as
Cha
ir ha
s b
een
an e
njoy
able
and
inte
rest
ing
year
whi
ch in
volv
ed m
uch
lear
ning
and
new
exp
erie
nces
. A
lot
of t
he y
ear
has
bee
n sp
ent
gett
ing
to k
now
vol
unte
ers,
st
aff a
nd fe
llow
man
agem
ent
com
mitt
ee m
emb
ers
and
d
isco
verin
g w
hat
goes
on
“beh
ind
the
sce
nes”
.
This
yea
r sa
w lo
ng a
wai
ted
rec
ogni
tion
of t
he w
ork
we
do
in
rela
tion
to p
rom
otin
g vo
lunt
eerin
g as
a r
oute
to
emp
loym
ent.
Th
e re
cess
ion
has
had
a m
ajor
imp
act
on o
ur w
ork
with
a
mas
sive
incr
ease
in p
rosp
ectiv
e vo
lunt
eers
com
ing
thro
ugh
the
doo
rs.
We
wer
e d
elig
hted
to
rece
ive
fund
ing
from
the
Offi
ce o
f the
Th
ird S
ecto
r Im
pro
ving
Rea
ch fu
nd, w
hich
will
ena
ble
us
to
offe
r in
tens
ive
sup
por
t to
BM
E g
roup
s w
ho w
ish
to in
crea
se
thei
r ca
pac
ity t
o in
volv
e vo
lunt
eers
.
We
took
par
t in
a n
atio
nal p
ublic
ity c
amp
aign
org
anis
ed
by
Volu
ntee
ring
Eng
land
in w
hich
som
e of
our
vol
unte
ers
high
light
ed h
ow v
olun
teer
ing
has
help
ed t
hem
ove
rcom
e p
erso
nal d
ifficu
lties
. Bot
h lo
cal a
nd n
atio
nal p
aper
s ra
n im
pre
ssiv
e ar
ticle
s an
d t
hese
hav
e al
so b
een
used
as
case
st
udie
s fo
r p
ublic
ity a
nd fu
ndin
g b
ids.
This
yea
r ha
s se
en a
maj
or p
iece
of w
ork
“Mea
surin
g th
e Im
pac
t of
Vol
unte
er C
entr
e Ta
mes
ide”
bei
ng u
nder
take
n an
d I
wou
ld li
ke t
o th
ank
ever
yone
who
par
ticip
ated
in
focu
s gr
oup
s an
d c
omp
lete
d q
uest
ionn
aire
s, a
s w
ell a
s th
e vo
lunt
eers
who
wen
t ar
ound
Tam
esid
e “m
easu
ring
our
imp
act”
. The
res
ults
of t
his
will
form
a d
etai
led
rep
ort
to b
e p
rese
nted
at
the
AG
M.
I wou
ld li
ke t
o th
ank
ever
yone
who
has
sup
por
ted
the
or
gani
satio
n an
d m
e, e
spec
ially
my
man
agem
ent
com
mitt
ee
colle
ague
s, n
ot fo
rget
ting
all V
CT
volu
ntee
rs a
nd s
taff
who
he
lp u
s to
ach
ieve
our
ob
ject
ives
thr
ough
out
the
year
.
Bes
t W
ishe
s fo
r 20
10A
mrit
Mis
try
Vision statementFinanCe and statistiCs
Sundry
Bank Interest
GM
FRS
Capacity B
uilders
Outreach
PC
T Transport Schem
e
Measuring Im
pact
BLF
Goldstar
TMB
C G
rant
Staff &
Managem
ent Charges
Cleaning
Payroll S
ervice
CR
B C
hecks
Room
Hire
Publicity S
ervices
Photocopying
Contribution to O
verheads
Income
Exp
enditure
Cleaning
Depreciation
Bank C
harges
Specific P
roject Costs
Repairs &
Decorating
Water C
osts
Heat &
Light
Publications &
Subs.
Sundry
Insurances
Accountancy
Information &
Events
Other O
verheads
Advertising &
Publicity
Post, P
rint & S
tationery
Telephone & S
oftware
Meeting E
xpenses
Volunteers Expenses
Travel & S
ubsistence
Training & C
onferences
Staff C
osts
Our d
etailed Trustees R
eport and
Accounts for the year end
ing 31/3/2009 is available on req
uest
Incom
ing R
esources fro
m g
enerated fund
s£
Reso
urces Exp
ended
£
Voluntary income
0C
haritable A
ctivities370,265
Activities for generating fund
s101,304
Governance C
osts1,715
Investment incom
e1,238
Incom
ing reso
urces from
charitable activities
334,326
Total inco
ming
resources
436,868To
tal Reso
urces Exp
ended
371,980
Net m
ovement in fund
s64,888
Balance at 1st A
pril 2008
171,374
Balance at 31st M
arch 2009236,262
Payroll S
erviceThe service sup
ported
12 voluntary organisations to process their staff p
ayroll and is also fund
ed through a contract w
ith Bolton
Direct P
ayments S
upp
ort Agency to sup
port over 250 custom
ers during the year und
er review. This year custom
ers received a
government incentive of £100 for online sub
mission of their year-end
returns to HM
RC
which is shared
betw
een customers w
ho are eligib
le and ourselves und
er our payroll agreem
ent. It is expected
that customer num
bers w
ill greatly increase over the next 12 m
onths increasing dem
and on staff tim
e.
Office A
ccomodation &
Room
Hire
V-Involve, a volunteering brokerage agency for young volunteers, rents our ground
floor office space ensuring that young p
eople
wishing to volunteer in the local com
munity have ongoing sup
port and
advice in Tam
eside.
Com
munity and
voluntary organisations hired our m
eeting room on a sessional b
asis and the room
was used
by 18 organisations
including: tw
o wom
en’s groups, R
SP
CA
, Ashton M
encap, C
AB
, Tamesid
e Forum of D
isabled
Peop
le, Learning Disab
ility Service,
Peop
le First Tamesid
e, Carers’ C
entre, West A
frican Develop
ment and
TMB
C.
Other R
esourcesC
omm
unity and voluntary organisations have access to: d
isplay screens, O
HP, collecting b
oxes, the internet, a digital p
rojector, lap
tops, b
inding m
achines, laminators, d
igital cameras, a full colour p
hotocopier and
V-Base, the national volunteering
opp
ortunities datab
ase.
Volu
ntee
r C
entr
e Ta
mes
ide
hold
s a
visi
on o
f act
ive
com
mun
ities
in T
ames
ide,
sup
por
ted
thr
ough
the
d
evel
opm
ent
of a
vol
unte
erin
g ac
tivity
to
enha
nce
loca
lor
gani
satio
ns a
nd c
omm
uniti
es. W
orki
ng in
par
tner
ship
w
ith t
he p
ublic
and
cor
por
ate
sect
ors
to fa
cilit
ate
max
imum
op
por
tuni
ties
for
invo
lvem
ent
of in
div
idua
ls, o
rgan
isat
ions
an
d c
omm
uniti
es in
imp
rovi
ng t
he q
ualit
y of
life
for
all
Tam
esid
e re
sid
ents
.
It is
our
aim
to
bui
ld a
str
ong,
vib
rant
bas
e fo
r vo
lunt
eerin
g an
d v
olun
tary
act
ivity
thr
ough
dev
elop
ing
volu
ntee
ring
opp
ortu
nitie
s, r
ecru
iting
and
pla
cing
vol
unte
ers,
and
sup
por
ting
volu
ntee
r re
crui
ting
agen
cies
in T
ames
ide.
Volu
ntee
r C
entr
e Ta
mes
ide:
• Va
lues
the
con
trib
utio
n w
hich
vol
unte
ers
mak
e to
so
ciet
y.
• E
mb
race
s an
d c
eleb
rate
s th
e d
iver
sity
of t
he
ind
ivid
uals
, gro
ups
and
com
mun
ities
in T
ames
ide
that
it
serv
es.
• B
elie
ves
that
eq
ualit
y of
op
por
tuni
ty is
a fu
ndam
enta
l rig
ht a
nd w
ill w
ork
pro
-act
ivel
y to
put
thi
s in
to p
ract
ice.
• B
elie
ves
in t
he e
qua
lity
of a
ll th
e se
ctor
s (p
ublic
, co
rpor
ate
and
thi
rd s
ecto
r).
• B
elie
ves
that
pre
fere
nce
shou
ld b
e gi
ven
to w
orki
ng
colla
bor
ativ
ely
and
in p
artn
ersh
ip w
ith a
genc
ies
in a
ll se
ctor
s to
max
imis
e th
e b
enefi
ts
to t
he g
roup
s an
d
ind
ivid
uals
tha
t it
sup
por
ts.
• W
ill s
eek
to a
void
com
pet
ing
for
scar
ce r
esou
rces
w
ith t
he g
roup
s th
at it
sup
por
ts, b
ut r
ecog
nise
s th
at it
w
ill n
eed
to
acce
ss r
esou
rces
in o
rder
to
dev
elop
and
su
stai
n its
act
iviti
es.
Pr
oje
Cts
an
d V
olu
nte
er C
en
tre C
or
e F
un
Cti
on
s
Volunteers from the Community Action team can be seen
travelling around the nine towns of Tameside as they support
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service in their aim
to ensure that all Tameside residents have working smoke
detectors.
The service also provides information on how to live as safely
as possible in your home and importantly how to escape from
your home should a fire occur. Residents are being encouraged
to contact the us to make a booking. All volunteers are wearing
the new uniform that displays the logo prominently.
Our volunteers come from a wide cross section of the
community and complete mandatory training before they are
able to make assessments. To ensure that the assessments
are completed to a high standard volunteers are observed
completing assessments on a bimonthly basis.
Community aCtion team
Another busy year for the Miles of Smiles project, and once
again there were more passengers than we were able to work
with. We recognise that we need to recruit more volunteers as
the awareness of the service continues to gain momentum.
There have been several requests from new transport projects
who want to learn about our experience, I guess this now
means we are now no longer a “new project”.
For a while the team have considered the possibility of
having an accessible vehicle to support the transportation of
passengers in wheelchairs and we are delighted to have been
able to order a Volkswagon people carrier thanks to funding
from London Clubs international. This funding application was
supported by Help the Aged/Age Concern and the introducers
were the local POPPs team. We expect to take delivery in
June/July 09, see next years review for how it has benefited
Tameside.
miles oF smiles
The Goldstar Building Bridges Project has supported 63 disabled people to volunteer with 24 organisations in Tameside and Greater Manchester. These successful outcomes have been achieved through a combination of tailor made support to volunteers and the dissemination work in sharing best practice with volunteer recruiting organizations. We have undertaken 37 organisational visits, promoted Goldstar to 72 organisations and provided training to 69 beneficiaries. In the first 6 months of the Improving Reach project, we worked with 10 BME (Black Minority Ethnic) groups that showed an interest in receiving support to increase the capacity of the organisation and in all aspects of volunteer management. For this first phase we have worked in partnership with T3SC to identify and make contact with organisations currently listed on the BME networks.
Goldstar & imProVinG reaCh
A major element of our core work is the matching of individuals interested in volunteering with organisations requiring volunteers. Currently on our volunteer database (vBase) there are 502 different volunteering opportunities, with 269 of those opportunities currently actively recruiting volunteers. For the period of April 2008 to March 2009 we referred 1,257
volunteers to opportunities held on vBase. Volunteers can either apply through the internet via the do-it website or they can come in to the Volunteer Centre and see one of our advisors.When asked about the benefits volunteering can bring, 87%
agreed that their vocational or work related skills had improved as a result of volunteering, and 74% felt that their confidence and self esteem had increased.
BrokeraGe
We market our services in a variety of ways, our website -
www.tamesidevb.org.uk, where volunteers and organisations
can find out about the services we offer and make contact
online with us. All of our publicity is designed and produced
in-house, enabling us to ensure that we can get across the right
message to the relevant group. Giving talks to groups about
volunteering and our projects is a key part of our work and an
effective method of publicising our services, whilst having a
visual presence at local events helps to raise our profile.
When Individuals were asked about the way we publicise and
promote volunteering, 77% agreed that it gave them a good
idea of what we do and the services we provide. However,
it was felt that we need to make better use of local media,
such as Tameside Radio and the local press to reach a wider
audience.
marketinG VolunteerinG
To ensure that we are able to offer the best possible
brokerage service it is essential that we have a diverse and
expanding range of volunteer opportunities. We currently
have 198 organisations on our database with 502 volunteering
opportunities. Our work with organisations ensures that we
constantly have new opportunities to offer to our clients. Alongside our work with organisations, we also offer
volunteering roles within the organisation, and currently have 51
volunteers. The volunteers work on the reception desk and as
admin support in the offices, and on two projects facilitated by
VCT - Miles of Smiles and Community Action Team.Of our Stakeholders, 71% agreed that we have significantly
increased the number of volunteering opportunities in the area.
deVeloPinG VolunteerinGoP
Po
rtu
nities
We work closely with organisations throughout Tameside
to develop good volunteer management practices; this is
done through organisational visits, training and the Volunteer
Coordinators’ Forum. During the year we completed 38
organisation visits, issuing each with a toolkit. The toolkit
includes essential elements of how to set up and run a
volunteer project, with sample policies and procedures for
organisations to use and develop.
In September we began a new project - Improving Reach, to
work with BME (Black Minority Ethnic) groups to increase their
capacity to manage and support volunteers. This project is
provided through the use of organisation visits and intensive
one-to-one support with the organisation.
We delivered training to 49 organisations, with 57 volunteer
managers benefiting. Of those organisations surveyed 93%
agreed that we provide good-quality training to organisations
and/or volunteers
Good PraCtiCe deVeloPment
Volunteers’ Week in June saw the culmination of much work
on behalf of the Cross Sector Policy Group (formerly Compact
group) with the launch of the “Tameside Compact Code
on Volunteering”. This was adopted by Tameside Strategic
Partnership.
We lead on TMBC’s Local Area Agreement, National Indicator
which measures the rise in Volunteering in the borough.
We also participate in TMBC’s Volunteering Development
Group who will be responsible for “A Volunteering Strategy for
Tameside” in 2010.
When asked if we are effective in ensuring that volunteering is
high on political and funding agendas that affect the area 64%
of our stakeholders agreed.
strateGiC deVeloPment oFVo
lun
tee
rin
G
When Volunteer recruiting organisations were asked if we are effective in developing local consultation and representation of volunteer-involving organisations, 65% agreed, whilst 72% agree that we have been effective in helping create a volunteering friendly policy.
We successfully campaigned for volunteers to be included in the Government’s “Train to Gain” initiative designed to up-skill the nations workforce. This was initially for paid workers but following the campaign led by Volunteering England, Volunteers are now eligible for free NVQ training.
Sue represents the Voluntary Sector on Tameside Strategic Partnership and regulary comments on and supports issues relating to Volunteering.
We are partners with T3SC and St Peters Partnership in a venture called Tameside Learning Consortium which will provide training opportunities across Tameside. We contributed to the consultation regarding Greater Manchester Congestion charge and were successful in getting questions regarding volunteer drivers included in the consultation.
PoliCy resPonse &Ca
mPa
iGn
inG