What you really really want: Recommendations and support for Volunteer Management

One of my issues with the development of volunteering management is that many organisations/VMs instinctively look to the Govt for ‘the answer’ (ie more cash). When the govt invested £3mil in VM it was great that it showed they recognised there was a value to VM but with a few exceptions, the legacy and impact was minimal - yet more money given to the volunteering sector with the best of intentions but achieving little.

The key to all of this is about organisations themselves valuing VM – they are the ones who fund VM. If an organisation is relying on vols to develop their objectives then VM should be integral to this – not an add-on, not a project-funded post. It should be core-funded. And whose responsibility is it for achieving that? Certainly not Govt’s and this was pretty much spelled out by Nick Hurd at an AVM Conference (either last year or the year before).

So, after my rant, and to finally answer to your question @Suevjones :) what should the recommendations be to OCS?
- Ensure that there is cross-Govt understanding of what volunteering actually is and the benefits it bring
- Ensure there is cross-Govt understanding of how VM supports effective, safe volunteering
- When tenders/contracts/grants are given ensure that VM is properly resourced and supported within that (and that includes any strategic grants given) (this should be a matter of course in ensuring the services that involves volunteers delivers)
- Push for similar approaches at a local level from statutory agencies

And that’s it. Govt should not get involved in developing networks, investing in training etc. That’s for us to sort it out. We should neither be looking for handouts, nor be a govt-plaything. If VM is as important to volunteering as we think it is, then we should not need our hands holding to achieve it.

I think it's partly our own fault in a way that VM is undervalued, because as a profession we are not always the best at selling ourselves, our skills and our achievements. Look what we achieve every single day - to us it's just a matter of course, something that we do and that we take for granted. But why should it be? Are there many other professions that achieve so much with so little?
Maybe that's partly my sales background coming out (sorry!), but I feel that we really, honestly do sell ourselves short, undervalue and underprice our training and in a way create an atmosphere in which people expect us to deliver our services for next to nothing if not nothing at all.
Agree with the sentiments above that we need to all be responsible for ensuring that VM is properly resourced, funded and supported as part of tenders and contracts, rather than going for the option of trying to get in the cheapest quote in order to win the business.
We are worth more than that, volunteers are worth more than that and we all need to raise our game, become professional in what we do and stop underselling ourselves.

Great comments and useful contributions - thank you! It's a pity that more people haven't taken the opportunity to respond - although there is still time. We also received some fantastic input via the Twitter feed yesterday - you can access a summary here: http://bit.ly/z2hGgD
Thank you to everyone who took part.

I'm hopefully not too late with my commment here... For successful Volunteer Management it is important that Volunteer Manager's treat their area of work in a professional manner and achieving qualifications in this field of work enables Volunteers Manager's to feel confident in the work they are carrying out thus also expecting a level of respect from other people. Two vital skills a Volunteer Manager should aim to develop are influencing and leadership (as taught on the EVM course) so that a pro-active 'movement' in this field can occur.