A Volunteering Strategy for Hertfordshire 2009 - 2021

Volunteering contributes to community life, the personal well-being of Hertfordshire people and the county’s economy.

A Volunteering Herts Strategy Working Group, with representatives from a variety of organisations, has drawn up a volunteering strategy for the county. The strategy will support the aims and objectives of the Herts Sustainable Community Strategy: Hertfordshire 2021. A Brighter Future.

The aim of the strategy is to develop a collaborative and co-ordinated approach to building and maintaining a strong volunteering culture in Hertfordshire. The strategy is drawn up at a time when volunteering is high on national, regional, subregional and local agendas.

Endorsement, adoption and implementation of this strategy by stakeholders across all sectors will ensure a healthy future for volunteering. By 2021, the aim is for Hertfordshire communities to be stronger and for organisations to be working together on innovative volunteering initiatives using good practice in volunteer management. Individuals will be easily accessing information enabling them to get involved and volunteering will be developed, supported and promoted from a cross county network of quality volunteering development agencies.

The aim of the strategy document is to provide a framework from which agencies across all sectors can develop volunteering strategies and action plans to suit their own areas of work.

Vision: A strong and sustainable volunteering culture by 2021 with 70% of Hertfordshire people involved in volunteering at least once a year.

Mission: To create a countywide approach to the support, development and resourcing of volunteering so that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to building stronger, cohesive communities, to gain useful experience for themselves and to make Hertfordshire a better place to live and work. 

The strategy is built on 4 main objectives:-

• To make volunteering more visible and valued in the community
• To enable every individual, whatever their background or ability, to have the opportunity to contribute to community life through volunteering and to benefit from the experience
• To ensure that organisations across all sectors have the information, skills and attitudes to benefit from volunteering activity
• To build and maintain quality volunteering support services that champion volunteering

Please click here download a copy of the Volunteering Strategy for Hertfordshire

Impact Assessment

Following the release of the Volunteering Strategy in 2009, Volunteer Centres in Hertfordshire completed a comprehensive impact assessment exercise.
A survey included feedback from 733 volunteers and 127 organisations on Volunteer Centre services. It also highlighted current issues being faced by the Volunteer Centres. The results of this exercise informed the development of Volunteering Herts Action Plan 2010 - 2014.

Please click here to download a summary of the Impact Assessment document.