Electioneering, Micro-Volunteering and Cheering!

This week there seems to be various little titbits to share with you all, so rather than rambling on about one subject I'm going to quickly let you know about several that you might be interested in looking into further...

Electioneering
Firstly, with just under 4 little weeks to go until the nation goes to the polls to decide who will lead us through the next turbulent 4-5 years, what are the main parties' intentions regarding volunteering and the voluntary sector in general?  Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have each produced their a 2-page summary on the subject for NAVCA, which you can read here: http://www.navca.org.uk/news/electionarticles.htm

Micro-Volunteering

The concept of 'micro-volunteering' seems to be gaining momemtum.  This is where people give short chunks of time to volunteering, rather than making a regular commitment (which can be difficult for people with busy schedules).  The practice has also been shown to be a good way of people having a 'taste' volunteering and then coming back for more... A couple of examples are Democlub (a group of volunteers across the country who also operate locally and undertake tasks such as gathering information on general election candidates - http://www.democracyclub.org.uk/), and Twestival (a time-limited fundraising effort took place in Plymouth recently - see http://www.i-volunteer.org.uk/paddaniels/lessons-for-volunteer-engagement-plymouth-twestival/).  Also, an idea that I'm interested in potentially replicating in Sheffield is that of conducting an auction (e.g. for works of art) whereby people bid not money but the number of hours they will volunteer for... if you/your organisation might be interested in being involved in something of this nature, check out details of what happened in London (http://ow.ly/1wn8r) and get in touch with me!

Cheering
A couple of Volunteering Awards have come to my attention that some of you may be able to nominate people for...

Aquaforce Volunteer Awards to recognise the invaluable contribution that volunteers make to aquatic sport at all levels. http://www.i-volunteer.org.uk/newshound/nominate-someone-you-know-for-the-aquaforce-volunteer-awards-2010/

Marsh Trust Awards ( for museum volunteers - Any individual or small group of people (maximum of 10 people per group) who worked on a voluntary basis in direct contact with the public in an accredited museum or gallery during 2009 can apply; regional winners receive £500, national winner receives £2000) http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_the_uk/marsh_trust_volunteer_award.aspx