Strands | Volunteer Friendly Award

We involve volunteers because they are motivated, have fun helping and tell us it lets them give something back to the community. Volunteers are crucial to Brae.

Mary Sneddon, Centre Manager,
Brae RDA Partnership (Riding for the Disabled).

There are five strands to Volunteer Friendly:

Commitment to Involving Volunteers
Understanding why your group uses volunteers
Making Volunteering Happen
Allocation of adequate resources, i.e. money,
management, staff time and materials
Fair & Equal Volunteering
Volunteer diversity, equal opportunities, fair recruitment and reference checks
Volunteering Tasks and Getting Them Done
Developing task descriptions, training and the support needs of individuals
Celebrating Volunteers' Contributions

For each strand, Volunteer Friendly offers a checklist of best practice, supported by guidance, examples and templates available in an online toolkit. Access to the Checklist and accompanying resources is given to staff at licensed Volunteer Centres and interfaces as well as to groups and organisations which have signed up for the Volunteer Friendly Award with their local licensed Volunteer Centre or interface.

For further information about areas in Scotland offering the Volunteer Friendly Award or to contact the Volunteer Friendly office, please click here.

In their own words

"I have now adopted some new practice as a result of the award. For example, I have adopted an exit strategy format for interviewing volunteers prior to the conclusion of their volunteer agreements. This should help me to analyse their experience and consider any potential improvements as a result that might needed for future volunteers in similar roles."