DRAFT Volunteer Strategy 2011-12

Bristol Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Forum Volunteer Strategy 2011 - 2012 Author: Toni Massari Administrator This Strategy should be applied and reviewed in conjunction with the Forum’s Volunteer Policy and Agreements.

Prior to implementation of this Strategy, the Forum should seek legal advice on all contractual obligations and liabilities potentially created by the engagement of Volunteers, including, but not exclusively: Employment Law Health & Safety At Work Act Data Protection Act 1998 and Amendments Bristol City Council’s Funding Agreement Charity Commission regulations The Forum’s Constitution Al relevant Forum Policies and Procedures

DRAFT Strategy, for approval

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Bristol Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Forum Volunteer strategy 2011-12.

Table of Contents

Why does the Forum want to recruit Volunteers? ...............................4 What jobs do we want Volunteers to do? ...............................................4 How shall we prepare to recruit of Volunteers? ....................................4 How are we going to recruit Volunteers? ...............................................4 What should our Volunteer Policy and Agreement include? ..............5 What should our Volunteer Agreement avoid? .....................................5 What induction shall we give Volunteers? ..............................................5 We shall give new Volunteers a folder containing: ...............................5 Office Help. ..................................................................................................6 How are we going to supervise Volunteers? ..........................................6 What exit information should we gather from Volunteers? ...............6 What training can we realistically give Volunteers? .............................7 Appendix. .....................................................................................................8

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Bristol Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Forum Why does the Forum want to recruit Volunteers?

To expand the limited capacity of the Forum’s paid Staff To ensure inclusion of groups and communities poorly represented To harness the skills, energy and knowledge of our community To percolate information about our work, by word of mouth To increase Stakeholder involvement and explore a wider range of options for future work What jobs do we want Volunteers to do?

Help out with administration support and mailouts Source content of relevance to the Bristol LGBT community Website updates and content management Facebook, Ning, WordPress moderation Write articles and reviews for website/ blog/ Outburst Distribute flyers/membership cards @ venues & events Do fundraising research / identify funding pots available Help with organising Pride and other Events Steward at events and staff exhibition stalls Help with ad-hoc tasks, like consultations and surveys Help with IT, e.g installing and configuring hardware/software How shall we prepare to recruit of Volunteers?

By scoping all the tasks identified for: Skills, equipment, supervision required Risks, through Risk Assessments, as well as Opportunities Equality implications, through Equality Impact Assessments Potential Partners and sources of funding Training requirements, costs, venues and dates How are we going to recruit Volunteers?

Through our website, Facebook page, Ning and WordPress Through LGBT websites Stonewall, LGBT Consortium etc.

Through Equality Websites, like ESW Through Community websites, like Voscur’s Through distribution of volunteering leaflets at community Through word of mouth Through Volunteering organisations like CSV, Bristol Volunteer etc.

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December 2010

What should our Volunteer Policy and Agreement include?

A disclaimer to clearly state there is no job contract A waiver/donation of copyrights to the Forum* A clear explanation of: the legal obligations of both Parties a Code of Conduct for Staff, Trustees andVolunteers what help and support Volunteers can expect Expenses claim procedures and forms used the Forum's complaints procedure training budgets limitations Volunteer supervision and monitoring arrangements what character references the Forum will be able to give Volunteers. - NB these are not to be termed ‘employment references’ * This is so that we will not incur costly copyrights/royalties claims. We may need to take legal advice on the enforceability of blanket agreements a priori.

What should our Volunteer Agreement avoid?

Creating a contract of employment or promise of one Discriminating unreasonably against any groups or individuals Making unreasonable demands of Volunteers Setting out what could be perceived as 'Terms and Conditions of Employment' we could instead devise a Code of Conduct.

What induction shall we give Volunteers?

We shall welcome Volunteers and discuss with them hours and days they are likely to be available and specific needs they may have: accessibility language childcare We shall give new Volunteers a folder containing: Volunteering and Confidentiality Agreements to sign and a copy to keep All relevant information about the Forum, contacts, forms and procedures A list of all Forum Policies, Health & Safety Risk Assessments and Accident Reporting procedure A tour of the Create (if helping there) including toilets, kitchen area, cafe’, fire escapes and assembly point(s) A list of First Aiders at the Create Centre 5

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Office volunteers.

Volunteers helping in the office will only do so with a member of Staff or Trustee in attendance and will not be permitted access to Membership database, Trustee or Staff information. They shall receive: A VDU assessment, chair adjustment and, if necessary, a footrest, if they are expected to work at a computer for more than half an hour at a time Passwords to their own PC, email and web-based accounts A a list of files and Folders, their location and contents A copy of our Data Protection Policy and Procedures.

How are we going to supervise Volunteers?

Trustees or Staff who take on the responsibility of supervising Volunteers should be encouraged to take up one or more of the Voscur training workshops, if they have not previous experience of managing and supervising Volunteers. Check the Voscur website on www.voscur.org.uk for course availability, dates and costs and book through our Office. A tentative supervision table is included in Appendix.

What exit information should we gather from Volunteers?

The Forum should keep adequate records of the work a volunteer has done, including copies of any articles, reviews, graphic work etc., (but clearly stating that he copyright remains with the Forum) and give exiting volunteers the portfolio of work, initialled by the Exit interview supervisor for authentication, together with a record of volunteering: role dates frequency hours training received punctuality compliance Important Note: terms like ‘absence’, ‘sickness’ or ‘leave’ should be avoided in Volunteering records, as concepts strictly connected with employment and may unwittingly create a contract of employment.

In addition, we should get volunteers' feedback on their experience of volunteering for the Forum, in order to feed this back into a programme of continuous improvement. A feedback form should be added to the Volunteer Agreement, for this purpose.

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What training can we realistically give Volunteers?

It is advisable that only indispensable, task-specific training be offered and Volunteers who already possess the necessary skills recruited. However, provisions should be made within the budget for Volunteer training, under the heading of 'Staff training and supervision', in recognition of the fact that: 1.

2.

the Forum’s budget for Volunteer training is only [£100?] for the financial year 2010-11; and training that is not offered as a necessary requirement, to enable a Volunteer to carry out specific activities and tasks could be viewed as an “in-kind payment” and thus inadvertently create a contract of employment with potentially binding financial obligations and in breach of minimum wage legislation.

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December 2010

Appendix.

Proposed supervision structure.

Function Admin support and mailouts Web content research: LGBT events, news, views etc.

Website updates and content management Newsletter content and copy, interviews, articles etc.

Social Networking moderation Facebook, Ning, WordPress Write articles and reviews for website /blog /Outburst Design, produce and organise printing of publicity materials Distribute flyers/membership cards @ venues & events Do fundraising research: web, central library,Voscur Help with organising Pride and other Events Steward at events and staff exhibition stalls Help with ad-hoc tasks, like consultations and surveys

Supervisio n STAFF Anna/Toni Toni Anna/Staff Toni Anna Anna/Staff Matt Sarah Anna Emily Ad-Hoc

Note that above are purely proposals and Trustees need to be consulted and their agreement obtained, or other names put forward.

It would be beneficial to invite Volunteers to select specific areas they wish to help with, rather than just ad-hoc help and assistance; additionally,Volunteers should be invited to attend meetings of any Sub-groups or Working groups created to deal with their specific area of expertise or engagement - i.e. Website Development Group, Trans Working Group etc.

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