There are a range of different accreditation schemes and award programmes both for volunteer involving organisations and individual volunteer managers/coordinators.
It has the potential to make your organisation attractive to external stakeholders, like new or existing funders, or volunteers because it is designed to be a kite mark that says this organisations knows what is doing when it comes to involving volunteers and it upholds and maintains consistent levels of best practice.
Undertaking accreditation will usually involve a cost to your organisation and to be credible will mean undertaking a fairly rigorous programme of work to be successful. It is important to ask questions like;
- How credible is this accreditation e.g. how well is it known and what exactly will we gain by achieving accredited status?
- You also need to give a realistic assessment of it’s affordability for your organisation and your chances of passing e.g. are you ready to undertake the work required to pass?
Investing in Volunteers which is the UK quality standard for all organisations which involve volunteers in their work. Over 750 organisations have achieved this quality accreditation, ranging from small community groups that are totally volunteer– led to large national charities that have thousands of volunteers. If you want to ensue that your volunteer management programme is adhering to good practice then this could be the quality standard for you.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is an annual award made to recognise and reward excellence in voluntary activities carried out by groups in the community.
It is given for outstanding achievement by groups of volunteers who regularly devote their time to helping others in the community, improving the quality of life and opportunity for others and providing an outstanding service.