The Link Family and Community Centre have recently achieved the Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard, recognising the excellent work they do with volunteers.

 “We are delighted to have received this award. The volunteers are at the heart of The Link and it is a real recognition of importance of their work in the local community.” said Diane Holt, The Link’s Director.

 Investing in Volunteersis the UK quality standard for all organisations involving volunteers.  

 Investing in Volunteers aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience for all volunteers and demonstrates that organisations value the enormous contribution made by their volunteers.  Investing in Volunteers is delivered by the four national volunteering infrastructure bodies, Volunteering England, Volunteer Development Scotland, Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

 The Link was assessed against a range of best practice standards and proved to excel in all aspects of working with its volunteers. Sandra Adair, Investing In Volunteers Manager for Northern Ireland said “Volunteer Now is delighted to announce The Link ‘s successful achievement of this award, they have demonstrated a real commitment to volunteering, proven that their volunteer management policies and procedures meet nationally recognised standards.”

 Investing in Volunteersis unique in that it is the only standard that focuses on volunteers.  It is based on four areas of volunteer management; planning for volunteer involvement, recruiting volunteers, selecting and matching volunteers and supporting and retaining volunteers. The Link was supported in the process of achieving the standard by a bursary from the Building Change Trust.

  Further information about the Standard can be found on www.investinginvolunteers.org.uk.  The Standard will enhance volunteer management and is rigorous but is designed to be simple to implement and not to generate large amounts of paperwork.  It is the only quality standard that has independent external validation with a UK Quality Assurance Panel that makes recommendations to the UK Volunteering Forum, the awarding body.

 The Link involves volunteers in all aspects of its work, with young people, older people, those with issues of alcohol and/or drug abuse, parents and their children and members of ethnic minority communities through our English for Speakers of other Languages Class.