Resources: Workplace - A benchmark to lure volunteers

THE CHALLENGE

Organisations need to ensure they invest in and support their volunteers, so they can retain the ones they have and recruit more. And as local authorities turn to voluntary organisations to help them provide services for young people, organisations need to prove their quality.

THE SOLUTION

Suffolk Young People's Health Project, 4YP is a charity that co-ordinates services to improve the health of 12- to 25-year-olds. It decided to apply for an Investing in Volunteers quality standard, awarded by Volunteering England. It had already earned an Investors in People award, but the 20 or so volunteers who support its eight staff deserved investment too, says Cherry Finch, 4YP's centre co-ordinator. "We recognised that there is a group of people who provide a tremendous amount of support and we need to make sure their experience is quality-assured."