Sharing Good Practice: The Management of Hospice Volunteering
A Report by Dr Anne-Marie Barron
Introduction to the Project
In early 2007 Dr Anne-Marie Barron of Leigh & Barron Consulting Ltd was invited to undertake a research project that would be of value to the voluntary sector in the UK. Anne-Marie recommended that the project should focus on hospice volunteering, which was of particular interest to her following her own personal experience of the hospice movement. Specifically, she wanted to concentrate on the role of the Voluntary Service Manager (VSM).
The research for the project began in May 2007 and was completed in May 2008.
On this website you can view either a full version of the report, or an abridged version. Both versions can be viewed online, or they can be downloaded as pdf files for viewing/printing using Adobe Acrobat or other similar software.
The links on the left and bottom of this page will take you to the relevant pages on this site.
Below is presented the Executive Summary of the report, which can also be found in both versions of the report.
Anne-Marie would like to take this opportunity again of thanking all those who took part and supported the project.
Executive Summary
The aim of this project is to look at the progress that has been made in hospice volunteering since 2003 when a number of surveys were undertaken. In particular it looks at the key role of Voluntary Services Manager (VSM) and how this role has developed in response to changes in volunteering in the UK. According to the previous research, the main challenges for VSMs in responding to change are to:
1 Recognise that the nature
of volunteering is moving away from a ‘classic’ service model to a ‘new’
development model.
2 Maintain and promote
flexibility in volunteering practice.
3 Engage with volunteers from
diverse groups.
4 Ensure that Voluntary
Services Managers/Coordinators be integrated into the management structure of
the organisation.
This new project looks at how VSMs have dealt with these challenges over the past 5 years. Twenty interviews were undertaken with VSMs who were identified as demonstrating good practice within their role.
The responsibilities of VSMs are varied and complex, and constitute a management role. The people who become VSMs come from a variety of backgrounds and require the development of a range of skills. VSMs are becoming more involved in the management team of the hospice.
Managing the work of volunteers is central to the role of VSMs, but this is far more than coordinating their activities. They have to ensure that the volunteer route leads to the volunteers being integrated with the rest of the hospice team, in other words ‘buy-in’. In particular it is important that the staff accept that volunteers are a valuable resource with much to offer the organisation as a whole.
The VSMs have to find ways of engaging volunteers when the requirements of volunteers themselves are changing. Volunteers who continue to provide their unpaid work because they want to give something back to hospices are now gradually being joined by ‘new volunteers’ (mainly younger people), who want to obtain more experience, and in some cases credit, in return for their contribution. VSMs are also keen to promote the diversity of volunteers, and in particular need to find ways to encourage more people from black and minority ethnic communities to volunteer. This is an issue that the hospice movement as a whole has to respond to, as the volunteer base has been largely a function of its user base.
The results of the research demonstrate that VSMs have responded speedily and flexibly to the changes in the volunteering landscape and are keen to engage with ‘new volunteers’ and volunteers from diverse groups. This report ends by providing a number of recommendations that could be used as principles of good practice.