volunteering
Brokerage Information for Organisations
Brokerage Information for Organisations
The Volunteer Centre in Harrogate provides a "brokerage" service. We aim to help organisations find volunteers from the Harrogate and Knaresborough area to suit their needs - in fact, you could think of us a little bit like a job centre or a dating agency, but for volunteers!
We provide potential volunteers with information about voluntary roles that we are aware of, and with contact details for all the organisations we support. However, we work from the point of view of the indivdual and aim to identify their skills, interests, time they have available etc to ensure that we find the best volunteering opportunity to suit them. We understand that some organisations are in desperate need of volunteers, and we will do all we can to help you find volunteers through our marketing. But there is no point in us sending you a volunteer who is not really interested in your organisation, or doesn't have the skills you need, as it will be an unpleasant experience for the volunteer, and a waste of time for you when they leave after you've invested you valuable time in them.
Although we are a Volunteer Centre, we do not directly recruit volunteers or have a bank of volunteers that can be called on for one off tasks. If you need volunteers for an event, please register your details with us in plenty of time, and we will be more than happy to promote your opportunity through our marketing.
Will the Volunteer Centre find me all the Volunteers I need?
We promote volunteering as widely as possible. Currently we expect about 550 new people to contact us per year, most of whom will end up actively volunteering. But we cannot guarantee to fill your volunteer needs - we support over 180 organisations and believe that volunteers will only be useful if they are doing something they want to do - we can't force them to volunteer for you! If you find recruiting volunteers difficult, we can offer advice on your own recruitment campaigns in person or through our resource library.
Will the Volunteer Centre screen Volunteers on our behalf?
When a volunteer contacts us, we will help them to identify the best volunteering opportunity for them. We do meet with a large number of potential volunteers, but equally a large number find the information they are looking for from our website and may contact you directly. We do not "interview" potential volunteers, but will find out as much out about them as is relevant to identify a volunteering opportunity for them. Some volunteers do inform us about issues which may make it difficult for them to volunteer in certain circumstances, but we do not pass this information on to you unless we have their express permission. Therefore, once a volunteer makes contact with you, we strongly advise that you carry out any normal induction procedures with them - perhaps you may wish to meet with them or interview them. If they wish to apply to volunteer with you, and their position would put them into contact with vulnerable adults or children, it is up to your organisation to carry out any relevant checks through the Vetting and Barring Agency / ISA / CRB. We also advise that you take up references, if it is your organisations policy to do so.
Does the Volunteer Centre keep in touch with Volunteers?
We do follow up all enquiries from potential volunteers to see whether they have found a suitable volunteering opportunity, and whether they are happy to make contact with that organisation directly or whether they would like us to make contact for them. Once we know that a volunteer has identified an opportunity and has been in touch with an organisation, we will contact them again to see how things are going. However, they then become "your" volunteer, and we will not contact them again with regard to their placement with you. We do let all volunteers know that our doors are always open should they wish to review their volunteering, or should there be an issue that they would like help in resolving.
If you feel that you would like help with any aspect of volunteer management, please visit our advice and support section. There are a number of sample policies for you to download, in addition to a variety of other useful resources. However, should you have a specific query please either call us on 01423 509004 or email volunteer@harrogate.org.
Your Contact at the Volunteer Centre:
Caroline Shead
Volunteer Centre Manager
Harrogate & Area Volunteer Centre
Community House
46-50 East Parade
Harrogate HG1 5RR
Tel: 01423 509004
Fax: 01423 502126
e-mail: volunteer@harrogate.org