Thousands of volunteers were today getting ready to take part in hundreds of community events across the country this week, as National Volunteering Week gets underway. Launching the week Volunteer Ireland CEO Yvonne McKenna encouraged people to join in the initiative and support their communities. “People can log on to www.volunteer.ie to find out how to get involved locally. It’s not to late and you can still register a project, or fun idea to benefit your community.”

Volunteer Ireland also gave details of a survey it carried out in advance of National Volunteering Week, and called for greater emphasis on volunteering in national data collection. In a survey of more than 500 active volunteers, 43% said that ‘personal belief for a cause’ was the most important part of their decision to volunteer, followed by the ‘organisation’s values and principles’ (24%) and the ‘experience people will gain’ (21%). 76% of participants said that volunteering was either ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ for the future of their community. The survey also found that being involved in volunteering brings positive benefits to people themselves with 98% responding that ‘volunteering makes them a happier person’. For the past five years volunteers have participated in charity and community projects on National Day of Volunteering with 10,000 people taking part last year. This year the campaign has been expanded to a week, making it easier for volunteers, organisations and companies to get involved. An

Taoiseach wishes National Volunteering Week Well
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny sent his best wishes and support to everyone involved in preparing for Ireland’s first National Volunteering Week co-ordinated by Volunteer Ireland. “National Volunteering Week 2012 is a celebration of the huge potential for positive action that we have in this country. I would encourage everyone to get involved and to have fun taking part in the hundreds of community events organised throughout the country. “Through volunteering we have the potential to make a real difference, to strengthen our communities and to spread a greater sense of national togetherness, hope and optimism, particularly during these challenging times.”

Volunteer Ireland calls for better national data on volunteering
Launching the week Volunteer Ireland CEO Yvonne McKenna called for a greater emphasis on volunteering in national data collection to help measure and monitor its contribution to the economy. “Last year 11,000 people registered with Volunteer Ireland’s 22 Volunteer Centres across Ireland and carried out an incredible 425,000 hours of voluntary work during the year. Using the average industrial wage, this work equates to a value over €9.2m. However, that is the only data we have and is only the tip of the iceberg.” “In 2006 and for the first time, the Census contained a question on volunteering and estimated that 1 in 6 of the adult population volunteers regularly. However, the Central Statistics Office didn’t include a question on volunteering in the 2011 Census. “Since 2006 Volunteer Ireland has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people registering to volunteer at its centres. In the first year following the recession we saw a 100% increase in registrations. This shift in Irish people’s attitudes to volunteering is going widely undocumented and unnoticed. “If we do not measure the level of volunteering occurring, we risk undervaluing the vast impact of volunteers to Irish society. Accurate and up to date statistics would provide an insight into the scope and distribution of volunteering, allowing our Government and organisations to design more responsive volunteering policies.” National Volunteering Week is being co-ordinated nationally by Volunteer Ireland and delivered locally through the 22 local Volunteer Centres across the country.

The flagship project for 2012 is a National Inland Waterways Clean up.

National Volunteering Week is supported by Irish Rail.

As part of National Volunteering Week 2012 Fingal Volunteer Centre invites you to join our staff in a clean up project along the Royal Canal around Clonsilla, Coolmine and Blanchardstown on Friday 18 May from 1pm to 3pm. We will be collecting litter on the stretch of the canal alongside the 3 railway Stations. This project is part of the National Inland Waterways Clean Up.

Our Inland Waterways are a precious natural resource. With the help of Waterways Ireland and Fingal County Council, we will help maintain the beauty of our waterways - and the importance of keeping them clean! We will meet on Friday 18 May at 1pm in the car park of the Clonsilla Inn Pub on Clonsilla Road.

Please note you must register for this event!

Find out more about the role

People across the country were today rallied to get involved in Ireland’s first National Volunteering Week which takes place from May 14 – 20. Last year more than 10,000 volunteers participated in hundreds of charity and community projects across the country on National Day of Volunteering.

Following five successful National Day of Volunteering campaigns, this year the campaign is being expanded to seven days, making it easier for volunteers, organisations and companies to get involved. Research carried out by Volunteer Ireland in advance of National Volunteering Week (NVW) has found that being involved in volunteering makes people happier. The research was carried out on more than 500 active volunteers across the country with 98% responding that ‘volunteering makes them a happier person’.

The research also found that the most common reasons for people to volunteer were to:
- Help people (65%)
- Contribute to the community (60%)
- Add experience to CV (37%)
- Keep active (33%)
- Occupy spare time (30%)
- Develop contacts (24%) and
- Find work through volunteering (24%).

National Volunteering Week is being co-ordinated nationally by Volunteer Ireland and delivered locally through the 22 local Volunteer Centres across the country. The flagship project for NVW 2012 is a National Inland Waterways Clean up. Volunteer Ireland CEO Dr. Yvonne McKenna said that the survey was reflective of a growing particpiation in volunteering in Ireland and she highlighted evidence in the survey of differing reasons for volunteering among older and younger people. “58% of people said they beileved there is a difference between why younger people (aged 14-50) and older people (50+) volunteer. Also among those whose employment had been negativly effected by the recession 68% said it made them more likely to volunteer. “The responses do show a pattern that older people were most likely to volunter in order to stay active and socially engaged, while there was a greater emphasis among younger people on volunteering as a way of improving employment propects in the current recessionary climate.”

Dr. McKenna encouraged as many people as possible get involved in National Volunteering Week: “If it’s only for a minute, an hour, or a day – volunteering is a wonderful way to connect with your community, meet new people and make a real difference.” To get involved in NVW 2012 go to www.volunteer.ie where you can:

1. Look up projects in your area and register to get involved.
2. Develop your own project and register it.
3. Participate in the flagship project – A National Inland Waterways Clean Up.
4. Check out the list of 30 ‘Random Acts of Volunteering’ examples to get some inspiration.

Rob Jackson, an independent consultant based in the UK (robjacksonconsulting.com) and Jayne Cravens, an independent consultant in the USA (coyotecommunications.com) have put together an online survey to gather data about what software/systems are being used to track and manage volunteers, and how satisfied various organizations are with the software/systems they are using. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NDSVCNX

The goal is to gather data that might help organizations that involve volunteers to make better-informed decisions when choosing software, and to help software designers to understand the needs of those organizations. All of the data submitted as a part of this survey will be made public, with the exception of email addresses and identifying information of respondents; in other words, the identity of respondents will be kept confidential. If you are responsible for tracking information about volunteers at an organization or program, or you are involved in this task in some way, we welcome your completion of this survey. More than one person from an organization or program may complete this survey. Feel free to forward this message to others. This survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.

The deadline for responses is Friday, March 23. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NDSVCNX

To know when the survey results are available:

Follow Rob on Twitter at @robjconsulting
Follow Jayne on Twitter at @jcravens42

National Volunteering Week is a nation-wide event that is co-ordinated by Volunteer Ireland and 22 Volunteer Centres across Ireland. Last year’s national volunteering campaign saw more than 10,000 individuals take part in a host of hands on volunteering projects, flagship events and volunteer fairs across the country. Over 200 projects were registered last year. So go ahead, see how you can take part in this year’s National Volunteering Week

We are delighted to present some of the fedback we got from the range of trainings we provide.  

• 95.3% said our content was very relevant
• 96.6% said that our delivery was very effective
• 96.3% said our materials were very helpful and 9
• 3.5% said they found our events were very useful.  

Check out some of the feedback and satisfaction levels on our volunteer management trainings.  

Why not check out our training pages and book yourself on one of our many courses right now?

The Board of Directors and Staff would like to introduce to you to our newest member of our Team.  Daiga Ancikovska joins us as Placement Officer. Daiga first came to Ireland in 2004 when she was taking a year off from studies.

Having worked and travelled extensively across the island, she returned to Latvia in 2006 where she completed BA (Honours) in Political Science from University of Latvia. Inspired by Irish culture, history and people, she carried out a comparative political-economic research on Ireland and Latvia as part of her undergraduate thesis.

Since her return to Ireland in 2009 she has completed various further education courses and volunteered with Carlow Citizens Information Services and Carlow District Credit Union. Daiga thoroughly enjoys her volunteering experience as she always had a great interest in social inclusion and interculturalism issues and most importantly because she has seen peoples’ lives being changed for the better. Daiga started her internship with Carow Volunteer Centre in 2011.

Daiga works Wednesdays from 12.00 - 16.00, and Thursdays and Fridays from 09.00 to 17.00.  Glynis Dunne our other Placement Officer will now work Mondays and Tuesdays from 09.00 to 17.00 and on Wednesdays from 10.00 to 13.00

Welcome to the team Daiga!  Many thanks to Glynis for all her hard work to date and we wish her every sucess with her part time role.

We are delighted to present our full 2012 programme of supports to Volunteer Involving organisations based in Fingal.  You can download and print out our programme to ensure that you get the opportunity to avail of the wide variety of services from Fingal Volunteer Centre.  Why not put the dates in your diary now.  

We have a range of new activities for 2012, these include our new Introduction to Involving Volunteers seminar, National Volunteer Week, our new Volunteer Expo for Balbriggan in addition to our 2 other Volunteer Expos in Swords and Blanchardstown.  We also have a new Dublin Volunteer Centres Volunteer Management Seminar and the 2nd Volunteer Ireland National Volunteer Management Conference takes place this November in Dublin.  To end the year we will have a special celebratory event on December 5th International Volunteer Day.  We hope to see you at our events during the year.

Please note some dates and venues are subject to slight change.  Please check our web site and e-zines for update. 

Download a list of our supports to Volunteer Involving Organisations now (aodbe pdf file)

Check out this video from our recent International Volunteer Day Event to celebrate the contribution of volunteers.  Many thanks to DCU Raising and Giving for their production of the video.

http://vimeo.com/35331976

The European Commission has suggested designating 2013 as the "European Year of Citizens". The European Economic and Social Committee is drawing up an opinion on the Commission's proposal. The Committee would like to give every European citizen, NGO, enterprise, trade union etc. an opportunity to contribute to this opinion, which will be sent to the European Parliament, Commission and Council once it has been adopted.

Act now!
Send us your views on the Commission's proposal which outlines the priorities and the content of the year. Which are the elements in the proposal that you would like to change, add or keep as they are? How do you feel about the proposal's strong focus on mobility? Which are the issues you would give priority to?

Please use this form for your comments (maximum 1000 characters). You may write in any official EU language. The deadline for contributions is Wednesday 18 January. Public hearing on 26 January with live webstreaming Your contribution will feed into a public hearing organised by the Committee in Brussels on 26 January to discuss its work on the opinion. You can find more information and register for the hearing here. It will also be streamed live on this webpage.

If you have comments or issues you would like to discuss, feel free to contact Andris Gobiņš, the EESC member responsible for drawing up the opinion, at any time. We are looking forward to hearing from you! Let us make the EU Year 2013 a real success!

We are delighted to announce an extended Outreach Programme operated by Fingal Volunteer Centre which is being launched as part of our enhanced services to volunteers.  The new 2012 Outreach Programme Schedule will see staff and volunteers from Fingal Volunteer Centre operate an outreach service from the following libraries each month:

• Balbriggan Library
• Baldoyle Library
• Blanchardstown Library
• Garristown Library
• Howth Library
• Malahide Library
• Rush Library
• Skerries Library
• Swords Library

2012 Outreach Programme Schedule

We would like to thank the Fingal County Counci's Library Service and all the library staff in the Fingal Libraries for their support of this project.

Check out some photos from our recent International Volunteer Day 2011 event held on Monday 5th December 2011 in the Carlton Dublin Airport Hotel.  Over 120 volunteers and volunteers joined to thank volunteers for their contribution during European Year of Volunteering 2011.

Thank you to one and all.

View the photographs here (External Flickr link)

Many thanks to Natasha Efole, our excellent Volunteer Photographer for her creative work.

Fergus Finlay, Chair of Volunteer Ireland, unveiled the National Youth Council of Ireland’s report ‘Lending a Hand: Young People and Volunteering in Ireland’ at the Mansion House in Dublin.  The first comprehensive report on young people’s experience of and attitude towards volunteering in Ireland, our report marks the European Year of Volunteering and celebrates International Volunteer Day 2011.

The results provide a timely insight into the untapped potential of youth volunteering and the barriers many young people still face.

“Volunteering not only benefits young people and society in the short term, but, by allowing young people to participate in activities, organize events, engage in decision making and in the development of their own projects, helps them to become responsible, critical and committed citizens which has a beneficial impact in the longer term,” stated James Doorley, Assistant Director at the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Download the full report here (PDF)

Some of the key recommendations to emerge from the report are:

• We have not fully tapped the potential for youth volunteering, although it is clear that many young people are volunteering in their community and that this benefits Irish society
• A rebrand of volunteering and national awareness campaign is needed
• Information campaigns need to focus on periods such as transition year where young people have time and space to engage
• The launch of a national and regional series of taster opportunities was called for  

“Young people are enthusiastic to get involved and become engaged citizens, and this is more important than ever now, when we need to stick together to get through the tough times ahead. So it is vital that we work to remove the barriers young people have identified, and ensure that opportunities are not diminished in the wake of the cuts we are facing” continued Mr Doorley.

Key findings of the research include:

• Many young people involved in volunteer activities don’t recognise the term “volunteering” or see themselves as volunteers, this is something volunteer organisations need to understand and address.
• Young people felt that there had been a shift in attitudes as a result of the recession from what you have in society to what you can give to society. This made it more likely that young people would volunteer.
• The main reasons why young people decide to volunteer is that they were personally “asked to” and where they have an affinity with the organisation or cause.
• Transition Year in school is important in allowing young people time and space to consider and experience volunteering. Most of the rest of time is spent focusing on exams.
• To retain young volunteers, organisations need to be flexible and recognise their limited time. They also need to treat young volunteers with respect and not just assign menial tasks.
• Among the barriers to young people volunteering were lack of time and information, unwillingness to make the first move, feeling they were too young and the costs and logistics involved.

UN Volunteers, today (International Volunteer Day 2011) launched a new report the State of the World's Volunteerism Report (SWVR).  It gives a great insight into volunteering around the world and the impacts of society and the environment on volunteering.

You can download a copy of the report now (Adobe pdf file)

Check out our photo montage from our recent new pilot course - Introduction to Involving Volunteers.  This was first pilot of a new course being developed by Fingal Volunteer Centre along with a number of our sister volunteer centres.  The next pilot course will be run in rural Fingal shortly.  Photogrpahy by Leah Carroll www.leah-carroll.com  

Check out our this interview with Stuart Garland, Manager of Fingal Volunteer Centre who explains the work of Fingal Volunteer Centre during European Year of Volunteering 2011.   Many thanks to our colleagues in Near TV Productions who produced the video which was recorded at Fingal Voluneer Expo in Blanchardstown earlier this year.