Volunteers in Community Archives

Policies

You should develop a volunteer policy. When creating your policy, think about diversity and widening participation. This means thinking about how you can remove barriers to make volunteering accessible to everyone.

This might include things like paying for travel and using inclusive language. You could look back at your baselining exercise to see if there are potentially excluded groups. Think about what might be stopping them from volunteering.

Here are some examples of policies for different sized organisations, and some links to guidance on best practice:

• Larger organisations: Norfolk Record Office volunteer policy 
• Smaller organisations: Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society volunteer policy
• Useful support, from Voluntary Norfolk and Sheffield Volunteer Centre

You will also need to research a suitable privacy statement, and data control arrangements, based on who you are, and what information you are recording. Good advice can be found online at resourcecentre.org.uk. All the other policies around working with volunteers (Health & Safety, Equal Opportunities etc.) are things your organisation should already have in place. Separate guidance should be sought if you are still developing these.

Recruitment Documents

There are several documents you can use to help you recruit volunteers. You can make these into a recruitment pack if required.

Role Descriptions

When you're thinking about more structured voluntary work, you should make the documentation formal.

A role description can help set clear expectations and make everyone feel more comfortable. Role descriptions work best if you recruit to the role. Each description should include the essential and desirable skills, just like the Person Specification for a paid job. This might be particularly important when the role is a highly responsible one, for instance when managing others.

Application Forms

You can use an application form, especially if you expect high numbers of applicants. You can create online application forms using services like Google Forms, Jot and Microsoft Forms.

The form should collect the information you need to make a fair selection, but not show any information which might identify the applicant. At this stage, you should avoid recording personal information like age, ethnicity, pregnancy and parenting, marital status, gender, or sexuality.

You should make it clear where the form goes when it is complete - with options for post, email and electronic submission if possible, and you should indicate the timeline for your response.

Key points of receiving and reviewing applications:

• Take your time
• Don't decide immediately
• Respond to applicants when you say you will
• Inform unsuccessful applicants in a timely manner - even if there are a lot of them
• Make sure there is a stage of offer, and of acceptance - so that both you and the volunteer have a chance to reconsider
• Make sure the volunteer can check back to see what they have agreed to - either in an email, in print or on a website

If you run an ongoing programme, keep the information you collect on file, but don't forget the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You will need to include signed permission to do that in the form and delete information you don't have that permission for.

This form can be stand alone, or you could combine it with your volunteer record process.

Volunteer Agreements/Registration Forms

Anyone you recruit needs to know what you expect of them. They will need to provide you with the information you need to keep them safe and to communicate with them.

Whichever recruitment method you use, it's important for you to collect essential contact and medical information. You must keep GDPR requirements in mind when you are doing this. You also need to keep this information secure and make it clear to volunteers who will have access to it.

You should aim for some kind of formal volunteering agreement with your volunteers. The key things it needs to achieve are:

• Make sure you know the best way to get in touch with each volunteer, so that you can get information to them if anything changes
• •Note any information your funders might need, now or in the future (For instance diversity monitoring can take place here)
• Include Health & Safety and Emergency contact information
• Allow them to tick or sign to say they understand their role, know who their point of contact is, and agree to follow your policies
• Include a fixed end or review date - depending on the nature of the placement

By doing all of this in a formal way, you should avoid misunderstandings, and both you and the volunteer will know what they need to do if the placement isn't working out.

New Sources of Volunteers

Advertising

Having developed your voluntary roles, you need to advertise them. You can start with your existing team, or even approach people directly. Sometimes, you will need to recruit from further afield. There are a whole range of local and national resources for advertising for volunteers, some of which are:

• Norfolk volunteering portal, Simply Connect
• Do It Volunteering
• UEA Volunteering through MyCareerCentral
• NUA Careers
• Use Social Media - Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others
• Look out for volunteering fairs and events

Jobseekers

This refers to people experiencing long-term unemployment, or barriers to getting into work. Volunteering can allow these people to develop skills in a supportive environment, whilst contributing to your organisation. To contact people in this position, you need to work with those who support them. You could consider:

• Contact people though unemployment support schemes
• Tailoring your advertisements towards jobseekers
• Libraries and local authorities, who often support jobseekers

Be aware that jobseekers may have to leave you at short notice if they get paid work.

Jobseekers tend to have specific needs around volunteering:

• Training (formal or informal) is very important for jobseekers - you need to offer clear workplace skills
• Defined roles are helpful for jobseekers, because of how they can use them on their CVs
• Think about how and when you can offer references and be clear about it

Students

Many colleges and universities have a professional service in place to help with recruiting and supporting student volunteers. Some may have recognition or accreditation to motivate students. UEA, NUA, City College, College of West Anglia & Easton College all have formal support for student volunteering.

Advantages of working with students include:

• There is a large number of students
• Students have a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences, and many have been in work
• Students are usually open to training and receptive to new ideas
• Students can bring a range of academic and specialist skills to your organisations, often with professional supervision built in.

There can be some things you will need to consider when recruiting students:

• Students will be able to dedicate less time to volunteering during term time, and more time during the holidays. You need to plan tasks accordingly
• Students are often new to the area, and don't have their own transport. They may get lost trying to find you
• Students may not be able to volunteer for as long as other types of volunteers
• You will usually have to go to them to recruit them. They won't usually come to you
• Sometimes your existing volunteers may not like working with students or have unrealistic expectations of them. You may need to manage expectations

Some institutions organise more formal workplace internships and placements. You should be aware of the conditions for those, and unpaid options are generally only open to registered charities.

For these reasons, working closely with a college or university could help you find volunteers over many years. Talk to the person in charge of volunteering at the college or university to see if there is a good fit between their students and your needs.

This advice focuses on volunteers from college or university who are adults. Working with people under 18 is a bit different and requires a certain skill set. If your organisation wants to work with children and young people, volunteers will need to have a DBS check. This is free for volunteers. You will also need to put safeguarding processes in place.