Press Releases BBC leads way in Investing in Volunteers

Category: BBC
Date: 09.10.2008
Printable version

Today the BBC received the coveted Investing in Volunteers for Employers accreditation for its employee volunteer programme, Connect and Create.

This award made by the UK Volunteering Forum, and managed for England by Volunteering England, is in recognition of all the staff volunteers across the BBC who make a difference to their local community.

Caroline Prendergast, BBC Training & Development Director, says: "The BBC is delighted to receive external recognition for all the hard work and time given by its staff who volunteer with different organisations across the UK.

"We are constantly searching for new ways to connect with all of our audiences, and staff who volunteer through our corporate volunteering initiative Connect and Create not only give something significant to the community, but without exception gain a lot as individuals."

Dr Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, adds: "Congratulations to the BBC, which is the first communications company to have achieved this award.

"With so many employees involved in such a wide variety of projects over the past year, the BBC can be rightly proud of its achievement.

"By encouraging and supporting its staff to volunteer, the BBC is providing much needed support in the community and offering real opportunities for personal and professional development for its staff."

Investing in Volunteers for Employers (IiVE) is an award given to UK-based organisations, recognising commitment to best practice in employer supported volunteering.

It is designed for any size of organisation that supports its employees to volunteer and is flexible enough to recognise the full range of volunteering that may be offered by an employer.

Through the Connect and Create team, the BBC works with 15 key partners including organisations such as Action for Children, the National Trust, the Network and the Media Trust to provide opportunities for BBC staff to develop their own skills and creativity by working with a charity or voluntary organisation.

So far, Connect and Create has helped more than 1,000 BBC staff to gain new skills through volunteering, reaching more than 2,000 people in the community.

The impact on the community is clear, whether it involves a child going into Great Ormond Street Hospital, watching one of the many films that have been made by volunteers to make their stay less scary, or a long-term unemployed person who is being mentored to find their own way into business.

The partnerships offer five main volunteering roles: mentoring, media projects, team challenges, leadership opportunities and advisory roles using professional skills.

The Investing in Volunteers Standard was designed to improve the experience of volunteers and all those who work with volunteers.

Volunteering England has found that enabling people to volunteer in a positive and supportive environment with proper management systems in place can also help with people recruitment, retention and productivity.

Employer supported volunteering (ESV) is crucially important to the BBC. The business it works in and the audiences it works with are constantly evolving.

It is vital that staff develop skills to keep up with this pace of change.

It is also crucial that the BBC connects with hard-to-reach audiences, and the team have worked and continue to work with their partner organisations to achieve this goal.

Notes to Editors

Six main sites were the focus for the project in London, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Belfast and Glasgow.

Volunteering England, the national development agency for volunteering, aims to improve the quality, quantity, impact and accessibility of volunteering throughout England. For more information please visit www.volunteering.org.uk.

Investing in Volunteers is the UK quality standard for all organisations which involve volunteers in their work. The standard enables organisations to comprehensively review their volunteer management, and also publicly demonstrates their commitment to volunteering. For more information please visit www.investinginvolunteers.org.uk.

IiV is a UK-wide scheme, coordinated in England by Volunteering England; in Wales by Wales Council for Voluntary Action; in Scotland by Volunteer Development Scotland; and in Northern Ireland by Volunteer Development Agency.

BBC Training & Development