Six Million Strong FINAL 1

							    Six Million Strong
    Project briefing and Expression of Interest
    form for prospective Volunteer Investor
    Partners (VIPs)
    August 2012

    About this Expression of Interest (EoI)
    This opportunity is aimed at voluntary youth organisations considering
    investing in their volunteer workforce – either existing or new volunteers – and
    are interested in doing so using the supporting structures of the Six Million
    Strong project. Such organisations will be referred to hereafter as Volunteer
    Investor Partners (VIPs).


    If you have not done so already, please familiarise yourself with the
    foundations of Six Million Strong, before reading on to discover what kind of
    support is available for VIPs.

    About Six Million Strong
    Six Million Strong is an investment in workforce development infrastructure for
    the voluntary youth sector, supporting the development, effectiveness and
    retention of its staff and volunteer workforce (where the majority of the six
    million individuals working with young people across England are active). It
    seeks to put in place structures and initiatives through which voluntary youth
    organisations can collaborate to innovate in training and grow their investment
    in skills and qualifications.

    Project status
    NCVYS has recently been awarded development funding to produce and
    submit a full Six Million Strong business plan to the Growth and Innovation
    Fund (GIF) for submission in mid-October - although development funding in
    itself is no guarantee the whole project will be funded. GIF is administered by
    the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) on behalf of the
    Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Read more here.

    The business case
    Declining funds across youth services (in all sectors) have led to fewer paid
    staff roles and a reduction in budgets for workforce development. Like many
    other areas of the voluntary sector, this drop in resources has




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    been accompanied by increases in demand for our services, within which the employability of young
    people is a key concern. Many voluntary youth organisations (to which from this point we refer to as
    simply ‘employers’) are seeking to adapt by more effectively engaging volunteers1.

    Six Million Strong will work with employers seeking to increase the size and effectiveness of their
    volunteer workforce, focusing on the better recruitment, retention, recognition and reward of volunteers.
    Where possible, employers will offer these volunteer roles to young people seeking to develop their
    employability skills, helping to meet some of their workforce and beneficiary needs in one. Not all
    elements of the project focus on volunteers – although this particular one for Employer partners -
    does.

    In the long term it is evident that new and more diverse sources of funding must be found for youth
    services, in all sectors. It is our hope that by supporting smarter decisions in workforce investment now,
    encouraging employers in the voluntary youth sector to take more ownership of these decisions, that
    they will be able to upskill and diversify - better positioning themselves for future funding opportunities
    and increasing their sustainability.

    What we will do
    We will seek to meet the business case by:

         1. Investing in (up to) 50 Training Innovation Partnerships: groupings of like-minded employers,
            training providers and other partners –collaborating and co-investing in new approaches to
            training and skills development;

         2. Further development of www.YouthSectorPathways.org: our new website for employers and
            their workforce. Brought together for the first time, YSP is a unique one-stop shop for information,
            advice and signposting to training, development opportunities and qualifications relevant to those
            working with young people, delivered in a colourful and engaging way. Due to go live in Autumn
            2012, under Six Million Strong we hope to develop the site further to help employers build and
            advertise their bespoke volunteering offers through the site. This is a key part of the support
            available to employer partners.

         3. Creating the Youth Card: learning from existing schemes such as Derbyshire’s Volunteer
            Passport and the German Juleica scheme, the Youth Card will be an essential part of the
            bespoke volunteer offer: it will include an online record of the volunteer’s learning and
            experience, formally recognise their achievements and be used to attract private sponsorship
            and rewards for volunteers.

    Outcomes: what Six Million Strong aims to achieve
        More volunteers in the voluntary youth sector workforce, attracted by better training and
         development opportunities, recognition and reward and more confident in their roles;
        Stronger employability skills for young volunteers, with support from a skilled and confident
         workforce;
        Greater confidence amongst employers to invest in their workforce in the future;

    How success will be measured
    The criteria below are taken from application guidance to the Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF).
    Employer partners in the project will need to explore their own contribution to these criteria, although
    support will be provided to do this:
        The impact it has on skills, training, enterprise, jobs and growth;

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      LVSC’s Big Squeeze survey revealed over 50% of voluntary organisations surveyed report taking
    on more volunteers in each of the last two years. http://www.lvsc.org.uk/media/117448/big-squeeze-exec_electronic.pdf

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       The innovation in approach and added value it can offer;
       The extent to which employers own the project and demonstrate commitment though their
        own investments, alongside those of Government;
       Value for money and sustainability.

Summary of key timescales
   Development phase: August > mid-October 2012
   Employer Partner expression of interest deadline – 8th October 2012
   Six Million Strong application submission – 15 October 2012
   Six Million Strong funding decision from UKCES – 29 November 2012
   Six Million Strong anticipated project duration – January 2013 – March 2015.
   Notification and formal establishment of first TIP cohort – project stage 1, January – March 2013.

If you have questions or require further information please email sixmillionstrong@ncvys.org.uk.

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER OFFER

Why invest in volunteers?
Your reasons for wishing to create new volunteer opportunities could be very diverse, potentially
including:
    1. Supporting young people seeking employability skills: you may wish to create volunteering
        opportunities specifically looking to boost the employability prospects by volunteering with a
        voluntary youth organisation;

    2. Supporting your services: not all volunteering opportunities created need to be for young
       people - you may wish to simply upskill existing or new volunteers (of any age) to support your
       core business (e.g. keeping a service open in the short term),

    3. Business transformation: alternatively you may wish to invest in a brand new cohort of
       volunteers to do something quite new - perhaps a new set of skills needed to help reposition your
       organisation in preparation for new funding opportunities;

    4. Workforce retention and diversity: a new volunteer drive could also be used to improve your
       retention rates or target new volunteers from non-traditional backgrounds.

    5. To innovate or incubate a long-held ambition: have you always wanted to invest in young
       trustees, trainers, facilitators, researchers or similar? Six Million Strong could be the opportunity
       you’ve been waiting for.

The list above is by no means exhaustive, although any volunteer offers you develop will need to be
described in terms of our assessment criteria. Please refer to the ‘How will success be measured’
category above.

Minimum criteria: your volunteer offer should include
Appropriate training:
    A commitment to fund training in essential introductory skills in working with young people and
      any legal requirements, where the volunteer has not already had such training. This can be non-
      formal/non-accredited and use NCVYS’s Introduction to Working with Young People programme,
      courses approved by your Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSBC) or similar; and/or
    An accredited programme of training where a non-formal qualification is either not appropriate, or
      where a specific skill-set is needed for the volunteer role. This programme should be unit or


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        qualification-based, for example using units selected from the Award/Certificate in Working with
        Young People delivered over time, to help build towards and accredited qualification.
       Use of the Youth Card as a contribution to the recognition and reward of your volunteers. Please
        note this element is still in development, and we are very keen to hear from prospective partners
        on how they feel this element should work. Please contact sixmillionstrong@ncvys.org.uk with
        your views or to register interest in consultations covering this.

Support and development:
    A regular schedule of support and development (supervision and/or appraisal), or a similar
     mentoring/coaching package if more appropriate;

Be creative: additional criteria your volunteer offer could include
A minimum time commitment
    This approach is common in some sub-sectors, for example a commitment to training and
      development in exchange for a commitment to volunteering within your organisation; see this
      example from the West Midlands, where sports coaches receiving accredited training donate 1
      hour of volunteering for every £10 invested in their training. This further example from London is
      less specific, but still gives you an idea of the nature of the exchange offered to the volunteer;
    Anything else that may be attractive to potential volunteers – for example signposting to future
      development or job opportunities.

The number of volunteer places you create can be large or small. We will aim to work with all employers
who are interested, although the depth of our support may depend on the strength of your commitment
and investment, within the resources that we have.

The support package: Six Million Strong’s offer to VIPs
This includes:
    Support in constructing your volunteer offer
        - including specialist advice on skills and
        qualifications and quantifying and costing the
        impact of engaging volunteers in your work;
    Access to networks and collaboration
        opportunities with other employers seeking to
        invest in similar skills or areas of the workforce;
    Free access to Youth Sector Pathways and
        the opportunity to personalise a pathway and
        advertise your volunteer offer online, free of
        charge.

We may be able to support wider needs when we know more about what kind of volunteer offers you are
considering. For this reason please give us as much information as possible in this EoI.

Additional benefits
To give your volunteer offer added value you might also want to consider:
    Applying to run (or participate in) a Training Innovation Partnership alongside your employer
       partner role. TIPs bring in some additional resources – see our website for more details;
    Your volunteer offer in relation to any future paid roles – for example if you were training up a
       volunteer workforce to bid for delivery contracts under the National Citizen Service;
    Should volunteers prove suitable then you could save on recruitment/advertising costs;




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       Using your volunteer offer to bring in a more varied skill-base to your organisation, to increase
        diversity in your workforce or expand to meet new or changing needs of the young people you
        serve.


Six Million Strong
VIP EXPRESSION of INTEREST
Please complete and return to claire@ncvys.org.uk by Monday 8th October or sooner. Organisations
able to submit earlier are likely to receive more support in developing their offer.



Your details
Your name
Your organisation’s name
Your website address and
social media contact points
Your organisation’s vision
and/or mission
Your Position in your
organisation
Your contact number
Your email address
Your organisation’s
registered address

Your registered Charity           If you are not a registered charity please tell us how your
number (if applicable)            organisation is governed or constituted.


Are you a NCVYS member?           Yes / No / Unsure / please send me details




Your workforce
Size of your organisation
small – less than 50
employees
                                  Please differentiate between numbers of staff and volunteers if
medium - 50 – 249
                                  possible. Please include actually numbers of staff and not full
employees
                                  time equivalent figures.
large - 250+ employees
‘employees’ includes both
paid staff and volunteers
Current number of
volunteers you’re engaging        Please be as accurate as you can.
(in this financial year)




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What kind of roles do your
current volunteers fulfil?

                                Please give details of any induction, training, supervision,
Describe your current           mentoring, or signposting you currently provide. If you are
investment in volunteers        able please include known (financial or in-kind) costs against
                                any of these areas.

Do you currently hold any       Please list any – especially where they have implications for
quality marks?                  your workforce




Your volunteer offer
You should either complete the ‘new volunteering opportunities’, ‘incumbent volunteers’
sections or both if applicable.

New volunteer opportunities
                                Please address all of the following:
                                    The nature of the roles – what will they do? (You can
                                      create more than one type of role)
Type of volunteer role(s)           How many opportunities are you seeking to create?
you’re seeking to create            Why are you creating these roles and what will the
                                      impact be on your organisation and the young people
                                      you serve?
                                    What added value will they bring?
Who are these new               e.g. young people (16-25), volunteers from non-traditional
opportunities aimed at?         backgrounds, all ages

Minimum time commitment
you are seeking from            If applicable. See above for guidance.
volunteers
                                The earliest opportunity to bring through new volunteers
When would you be looking
                                would likely by April 2013 – although you are welcome to pick
for these new volunteer
                                later starting points throughout the life of the project (ending
roles to start?
                                March 2015).
What training or                Please contact NCVYS if unsure. Alternatively list the skills or
qualifications you will offer   learning outcomes you are seeking for your volunteer
your volunteers?                workforce.
What commitment can you
make to continuous
                                Again please contact NCVYS if you would like guidance or
professional development
                                suggestions in this area.
(CPD) in your volunteer
package?

Your proposed
management, supervision /       Please give a brief overview of how you intend to support your
mentoring arrangements for      volunteers.
new volunteers



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What wider (non-financial)
development opportunities
or signposting could you
offer?

A new offer for incumbent volunteers


Details of the existing
volunteer roles in which you    If applicable – please describe – nature of role, numbers,
want to invest

Cost of your investment (per
volunteer) or level of
investment you are able to      Please explain any costs you currently know
make (per volunteer or total
budget)

For all volunteer roles (new and incumbent)

Cost of your investment (per
volunteer) or level of
investment you are able to      Please explain any costs you currently know
make (per volunteer or total
budget)




Your support needs
                                Please use this section to tell us about any support needs you
                                have in developing your volunteer offer – i.e. areas of the form
                                above you have not been able to fully complete. This will help
                                us provide appropriate support. For example these might
                                include:
                                     Training and qualification guidance
What do you need?                    Volunteer management skills
                                     Base lining your existing commitment to volunteers
                                     Costing your new volunteer investment
                                     Describing and measuring the impact of your volunteer
                                       investment
                                     Understanding different outcome measurement
                                       frameworks available

Thank you. Please return your expression of interest to claire@ncvys.org.uk by Monday 8th October, or
earlier if possible.




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