Every year we ask our members for their thoughts on their membership, and how we can improve it. If you’re an AVM member, your input is important in helping us to make your membership the best it can be for all our members.
The survey will take around 15 minutes to complete, and is completely anonymous. We share the topline results with you, our members.
By taking part, you’re helping us to shape the future of AVM membership.
The survey is now open, and closes XXX date.
Thank you for your time – every response makes a big difference!
AVM is excited to announce that news of our first official corporate partner, with volunteer management software organisation TeamKinetic.
Since first working together five years ago, TeamKinetic has been a passionate advocate for the importance of the AVM.
AVM welcomes this formal partnership.
Both organisations share the same passion and desire to progress the professionalism of those who involve volunteers. AVM’s goal as an independent membership body is one that supports, represents and champions people in volunteer management in the UK regardless of field, discipline or sector. As an organisation primarily run by volunteers TeamKinetic is proud to be able to directly support their work as a partner as they offer training, campaign on key issues and provide peer to peer support to volunteer managers.
The partnership is hoping to offer the membership added value and over the next few months will be looking to announce a number of special offers only available to AVM members and supporters. TeamKinetic have spent the last 13 years on the edge of customer-led innovation surrounding digital volunteering and will be continuing to support the campaigns undertaken by AVM. They are looking forward to sharing their experience and knowledge with the AVM members.
Chair of AVM, Ruth Leonard says: “this is a really exciting next step for the organisation and will enable us to think about how we can offer more to volunteer managers. AVM is proud of our heritage of being run by and for our members and want to be able to remain relevant into the future. TeamKinetic’s enthusiasm and support for AVM has been clear throughout our shared working and I’m looking forward to develop this further.”
Sales Director, Chris Martin has expressed his gratitude towards Jo Gibney and Ruth Leonard “for all their hard work in helping to make this a reality and I sincerely hope we can continue to support the wonderful work and development of AVM for a long time to come.”
Watch the official announcement by AVM’s Chair, Ruth Leonard.
Watch the interview between Ruth and Chris.
For any organisations or individuals who work with Volunteers, that are not already aware of TeamKinetic and their work, you can visit their website.
AVM’s annual conference for volunteer managers is back and online on Zoom Wed 20 & Thu 21 October 2021.
The AVM conference is always a highlight in our year. Even though we say so ourselves we believe it is the premier event in the UK for volunteer managers, leaders and heads of volunteering.
We aim to bring together some of the best speakers from our sector. People who are at the forefront of volunteer management and thought-leadership, and those from outside of volunteer management, who will challenge and provoke us to think differently.
The 2021 conference will be held across two days – Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 October, 10 am to 1pm. Each day will feature a keynote speaker with Q&A, along with workshops to choose from on a variety of themes (seven on Wednesday 20th and six on Thursday 21st), plus Working with Emotions in Volunteering Toolkit (Day 1) and a Live Panel Session (Day 2).
09:30 Our virtual doors open for registration and (optional) pre-conference networking Join AVM and other delegates for informal networking in Zoom, ahead of our Conference.
10:00 Conference opens with a welcome from Ruth Leonard, Chair of AVM
10:10 Keynote: ‘Shaping the Future of Volunteering post Covid19: How we can embed volunteering in our communities’, Matt Hyde OBE – Chief Executive, The Scout Association Matt will give a 20 minute keynote speech, followed by a 20 Q&A, with questions facilitated by Ruth Leonard.
11:00 Break and move to your workshops An opportunity for a cuppa and a comfort break, before you move to your chosen workshop. All workshops will be running in different Zooms and you will need to leave the main Zoom and join your workshop’s Zoom link.
11:20 Workshops start (details below) Each workshop will be in a separate Zoom meeting, hosted by a member of the AVM Board and an AVM conference volunteer. Please book one workshop choice per day.
12:05 Break and come back to main Zoom for 12:25pm An opportunity for a cuppa and a comfort break after your workshop, before you re-join the main Zoom.
12:25 Plenary session: Launch of the ‘Working with Emotions in Volunteering Toolkit’ This live session will include time for questions.
12:55 Closing remarks
13:00 Conference closes
14:30 – 15:30: Networking Join us on Zoom to network and share with your peers. The Wednesday session has been moved from earlier advertised.
Day 2: Thursday 21 October
09:30 Our virtual doors open for registration and (optional) pre-conference networking Join AVM and other delegates for informal networking in Zoom, ahead of the event.
10:00 Conference opens with a welcome from Ruth Leonard, Chair of AVM
10:10 Keynote: ‘Renaissance or regression? The five themes that are going to dominate volunteering management after the pandemic’, Joe Saxton – Driver of Ideas at nfpSynergy and its founder Joe will give a 20 minute keynote speech, followed by a 20 Q&A, with questions facilitated by Ruth Leonard.
11:00 Break and move to your workshops An opportunity for a cuppa and a comfort break, before you move to your chosen workshop. All workshops will be running in different Zooms and you will need to leave the main Zoom and join your workshop’s Zoom link.
11:20 Workshops start (details below) Each workshop will be in a separate Zoom meeting, hosted by a member of the AVM Board and an AVM conference volunteer. Please book one workshop choice per day.
12:05 Break and come back to main Zoom for 12:25pm An opportunity for a cuppa and a comfort break after your workshop, before you re-join the main Zoom.
12:25 Live panel session The live panel session will be your opportunity to ask your questions of our expert panel members (tbc).
12:55 Closing remarks
13:00 Conference closes
14:30 – 15:30: Networking Join us on Zoom to network and share with your peers.
Workshops
Workshop A: Volunteering Management in the Digital Space, Carly Bell, Volunteering Manager, Media Trust & Rob Janke, Marketing & CRM Manager, Media Trust
Wednesday 20th only. Workshop B: Making the Volunteer Experience Inclusive, Jarina Choudhury (She/They), Strategic Volunteering Lead, NCVO & Amy McGarvey (She/They), Research Manager, NCVO
Workshop C: How to genuinely engage your audiences: an introduction to co-production, Jo Keller, Head of Volunteering, RNIB
Workshop E: Investing in Volunteers – UK standards for volunteer involving organisations, Korina Tsioni (She/Her), Volunteering Quality and Resources Officer, WCVA – on behalf of the UK IiV Operations group
Workshop F: “What have student volunteers ever done for us?!” – bursting myths and stereotypes, Mariana Vieira da Rocha, National Chair, UK Student Volunteering Network and Volunteering and Civic Engagement Manager, University of West London, and David Coles, Volunteer Centre Manager, London School of Economics
Workshop G: Befriending: maintaining quality and impact when you move online, Anne-Marie Zaritsky, Head of Volunteering, Mencap
Networking
When it comes to networking, we know that nothing quite beats being face to face in person. However, as many of us have become accustomed to, online face to face isn’t a bad second choice. We will be using a Zoom meeting to enable you to chat with other leaders of volunteering from across a variety of sectors and organisations during this conference.
This year we will be offering networking a variety of networking opportunities:
Join us and other delegates for a Zoom networking call each afternoon, to discuss what you’ve learnt from the conference with your peers. We’ll be running these sessions at 4pm on Wednesday 20th October, and 2:30pm on Thursday 21st October.
Join us in a private group on Voluntary Voice for all conference attendees to join. The group will open the week before the conference, and will give you the opportunity to network with other delegates ahead of time.
Sign up to AVM Conference Connect when you register, and grow your professional network. If you sign up we will randomly match you with another delegate, and connect you over email once the conference is over, so you can connect over a virtual (or real life, if you’re near enough) cuppa.
AVM members are eligible for a member discount on our Conference. Please select this at the checkout.
Pricing
Standard price
AVM members’ discounted price
Both days (early bird)
£130
£70
One day (early bird)
£70
£40
Both days
£160
£80
One day
£90
£50
We are ticketing through TicketTailor as our website is in the process of being upgraded.
If you’re not an AVM member, you can join AVM today to access your discount for this, and future events – including our annual conference in October – as well as other benefits of AVM membership, including:
Exclusive member-only events, including AVM’s business book club
A back catalogue of selected past event recordings
AVM Connect, our random facilitated networking, where we connect you to expand your networks
If you require an invoice, please ensure you book your place a minimum of two weeks before the start date of the event. After that we will only accept payment by credit card or PayPal.
Want to pay by credit card but can’t pay now? No problem! You can pay against an invoice by credit card (or PayPal): we will send you a link to do so.
As you follow the online booking process – select the payment option at checkout “Request invoice”. If you need us to add a payment reference or purchase order number to the invoice – just add it in the “Additional information” section when confirming your billing details at checkout.
You’ll receive your invoice by email once we have accepted your booking. You can pay for your ticket by BACS or online with a credit or debit card. Please note we no longer accept payment by cheque.
We will check your membership status at time of booking. If you are not a current member – or have not applied for membership – you will be re-invoiced at the non-member rate.
We know things happen and that sometimes you can’t come to an event. If you are unable to come, you can pass your ticket on to a colleague, but if they are not an AVM member they will need to join AVM. If they don’t, they will be charged at the non-member rate.
If you have to cancel, please let us know by email.
Cancellations received more than 20 days before the start of the event – before or on 30th September – regardless of date booked, will incur a 25% cancellation charge, whether the place has been paid for or not,
Cancellations received 19–0 days before the start of the event – on or after 1st October – regardless of date booked, will incur a 100% cancellation charge, whether the place has been paid for or not.
AVM will not accept liability for people unable to attend due to circumstances outside our control, such as travel disruption, work commitments, illness, or other personal commitments.
Where circumstances force AVM to cancel an event, the liability of AVM shall be limited to a refund of any fees paid for tickets to that particular event. AVM is not liable for any consequential loss, such as travel costs you may incur.
L&D organisational package holders are limited to 10 tickets per organisation for AVM’s annual conference. If you would like to make a bulk order, please get in touch [email protected]
Buying for colleagues?
If you are buying tickets for colleagues you can only buy tickets at the member rate for them if they are currently members. We reserve the right to re-issue an invoice at the non-member rate if they are not a member.
Join AVM now
You can join AVM online now to qualify for your event discount. As long as your application is submitted, you can purchase tickets for our events at the member rate. You will need to complete your membership payment, otherwise you will be liable for the non-member price for the event.
Disclaimers
Whilst the programme is correct at time of going to press, AVM reserves the right to change details of an event without notice. Alterations may occasionally be necessary due to circumstances beyond our control.
Views expressed by speakers are their own. AVM disclaims any liability for advice given, or views expressed, by any speaker at the event or in any documentation provided to delegates.
By attending AVM’s conference on Zoom, your profile information, including your name and profile picture, may be visible to other attendees. Your name and email address will also be visible to AVM, the account owner and host when you buy your ticket and register on Zoom.
Your name, job title and organisation will be shared as a delegate list on a conference private web page, to facilitate networking. This will only be made available to those who have access to the event page: AVM staff and volunteers, event delegates, speakers and conference sponsors.
If you do not want your details in the list, please let us know at least three weeks in advance of the event. This delegate list should not be used for sales to our delegates, either during or after the event.
Are you trying to involve volunteers in strategic planning and decision-making so they feel more invested in the organisation and its future direction?
Volunteers have a wealth of ideas, skills and experience to bring to the table and they have already shown their commitment to your organisation. Would you like to understand how to ensure their voices and opinions are heard while setting clear boundaries and managing expectations? Do you want to know how to create a safe and brave space suitable for volunteers, operational staff and senior managers to tackle strategic planning cohesively?
Well, look no further, this is the event for you!
We’ve invited a co-production professional, and the experts by experience (volunteers) she works alongside, to share their experience of engaging volunteers in strategic planning and decision making. Our speakers will deliver a powerful masterclass, sharing tips on how to involve volunteers in big picture thinking within your organisation.
They will share the MS Society co-production toolkit filled with ideas and resources that you can utilise in your own organisation. There will be the chance to take part in action learning sets in order to put some of the learning into action and consider how you might take forward the ideas and suggestions put forward during the masterclass.
You’ll have the opportunity to network with other volunteer managers as well as reflect and plan what you’ll do next to embed co-production into your volunteering strategy.
At this event you will:
hear from a co-production expert about how you can implement co-production into your organisation
hear from experts by experience (volunteers) involved in co-production
learn about the MS Society’s co-production toolkit and how to implement it
participate in an interactive learning session to discover how you could embed co-production within your organisation
As this is a masterclass, we will be limiting to 30 participants, so don’t delay, sign up today.
Agenda
This is a half day event, starting at 1:30 pm, and will be on Zoom (read our Zoom tips for getting the best out of online events). There will be opportunities to ask our speakers questions, and discuss the topic in small groups.
1:30 pm Networking, introductions and welcome
1:40 pm Masterclass
2:40 pm Q&A
3 pm Break
3:15 pm Interactive learning session (facilitated in small groups)
3:55 pm Wrap up and closing remarks
4 pm Event ends, optional networking for those who wish to stay on
Don’t delay: this event has limited places, so sign up today! Ticket prices: £60 non-members, £40 AVM members
Jess Mansel, Senior Engagement Officer, MS Society
Jess Mansel is the Senior Engagement, Involvement and Empowerment Officer at the MS Society UK. She works with the MS Society Experts by Experience network, an online group who share their first-hand experiences of MS. The Experts by Experience network works alongside Jess and her colleagues across the UK to shape and design the services their community needs. Jess works with the MS community to make sure their work reflects all of the community’s experiences and ideas, and she is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion.
Making this event accessible
Captions will be enabled on Zoom, for those who require them.
If you need support to access this event, please let us know when you book. If you have any questions ahead of booking, please do get in touch.
Discount for AVM members
AVM members are eligible for a discount on the event ticket price. Please check your latest members’ email for your discount code. To access your discount, please add the code into the Coupon code section before you check out.
If you’re not an AVM member, you can join AVM today to access your discount to this, and future public events – including our annual conference in October, as well as other benefits of AVM membership, including:
Exclusive member-only events, including AVM’s business book club
A back catalogue of selected past events
AVM Connect, our random matching, connecting you to expand your networks
You can pay by credit card or request an invoice at the checkout.
Please familiarise yourselves with our cancellation policy, and payment terms below. We do require payment to be made before the event.
We know things happen and that sometimes you can’t come to an event. If you are unable to come, please let us know in advance, as you may be able to pass your ticket on to a colleague. If your colleague is not an AVM member they will need to join AVM, or we will invoice the non-member rate difference.
The agenda is correct at time of publication. AVM will contact you about any significant changes in advance of the event.
AVM will not accept liability for any ability to attend this event due to technical issues with a delegate’s equipment. If technical difficulties prevent AVM from hosting this event, we will endeavour to reschedule the conference to another date, and a full or partial refund will be offered if the new date is unsuitable.
We know from our member’s feedback that volunteer managers often feel like they are the only one who gets what they are going through, and that coming together with other volunteer managers is always an opportunity to share ideas, concerns and mutual support.
A request for peer support is often one of the first things we hear when volunteer managers are asked what they want to get from membership of groups like AVM, the Voluntary Voice platform, and talking to members at the AVM Conference.
To set the ball rolling we shall launch our first peer support session on will be on Zoom Monday 12th of July at 4.30pm. This session will be hosted by AVM Director Neil Monk.
This meeting is open to all AVM members. Future events will be planned by location (to hopefully enable future meet-ups in person), and also by sector (so watch this space).
The last year has underlined the important role of volunteers and volunteering in all our lives and we have all seen and felt the benefits. It is clear that volunteering has a fundamental role to connect people and communities. Volunteering is broad, from spanning hyper-local acts of neighbourliness to national programmes enabling people to help out where they are needed. It is a way for people to share skills, resources and time, and it offers volunteers a sense of purpose and fulfilment as well as delivering services and support to people and communities.
There is a clear need to harness the important role volunteering has played during the pandemic, and nurture it for the coming years as we recover from Covid. Voluntary sector infrastructure organisations The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA), the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), together with Volunteering Matters and the Association of Volunteer Managers (AVM), have been working together through the pandemic as the focus and role of volunteering has changed.
Now AVM, NAVCA, NCVO and Volunteering Matters are working to create a space for people from all parts of the voluntary and community sector to come together and develop a long-term Vision for Volunteering. The intention is to fully integrate volunteering into post-Covid recovery, harnessing the skills, experience and enthusiasm of volunteers.
Last year a coalition of infrastructure bodies, including AVM, wrote an open letter to senior leaders which we launched at our event on the future of volunteer management during volunteers week. To reflect some of the activity which has happened over the pandemic we have refreshed this letter and are issuing it today as Volunteers Week 2021 comes to an end.
The contribution of people giving their time and sharing their assets within their communities has been a source of positivity and optimism through the pandemic; and we want to ensure that this can be enabled and highlighted as we move forward. Taking the learning from some of the great initiatives – including how to recognise when infrastructure needs to be kept at a minimum – is something which Volunteer Managers are well placed to do, and AVM supports the call to ensure that Leaders of Volunteering have a place at the decision making table within their organisations, to help them become sustainable for the future, through thinking in new ways
Please lets keep this conversation going and use this as an opportunity to genuinely and meaningfully recognise and celebrate what can be achieved through volunteering.
Is 2021 the year you could make a difference to another volunteer manager?
AVM’s mentoring programme is seeking more members to join us as mentors. If you have experience of leading volunteers, then to be a mentor you may not need as much experience as you think.
What you do need is to have had that experience of taking on a volunteer leadership role, and having the confidence to support another to tackle their learning curve. You are probably still learning yourself (who isn’t?) every day, but know how demanding the role of volunteer management can be and have worked out how to meet many of those demands.
Helping another person can be a hugely rewarding experience for mentors, as well as mentees. We often find that our mentors learn as much as their mentees through the mentoring experiences, and helps them gain confidence.
If you’re already a mentor, why not encourage someone to sign up as a mentor, and give them that confidence boost?
Find out more
One of our current mentors has shared their experience how being a mentor has helped them as much as it has helped their mentee. Read why they signed up to be a mentor.
AVM Director Neil Monk shares his thoughts on why you don’t need as much experience as you might think you do to be a mentor. Read his blog now.
We are the membership association we are thanks to those that join us as member and get involved. Without this collective contribution we wouldn’t have been able to do as much as we have achieved in the last 12 months.
Thank you to everyone who joined an event, our conference, or one of our network calls.
Thanks to our members who become mentors, mentees, or took part in our AVM Connect events (formally randomised coffee trials).
A particular thanks to the following people who have helped shape our offer, shared their knowledge and expertise and generally enhanced the AVM offer.
Our People
Conference Volunteers
Carly Benton Emma Capon Jen Happe Nuria De Miguel Jess Lloyd Sally Seddon
Events Volunteers
Antonia White Cass Kamara Tony Gibney
Membership Volunteers
Tony Gibney
Website Development Volunteers
Andy Broomhead Tony Gibney
Volunteers’ Week Volunteers
Andy Broomhead Catherine Rose Caroline Kendall Sarah Merrington Tiger de Souza
Directors
Alan Murray Andy Broomhead Annabel Smith Angela Riches-Heed Alex Beaumont Jennie Mann Jo Keller Jolene Moran Karen Ramnauth Neil Monk Rachel Ball Ruth Leonard Sarah Merrington Shaun Delaney Thomas Ball
Staff
Jo Gibney, Head of Business Development
Helen Birchall, Membership and Events Administrator
Our Contributors
Conference Workshop Hosts, Keynote Speakers and Panellists
Amira Tharani Amy McGirr Bryan Precious Chris Freed Claire Booth Ingrid Abreu Scherer Jarina Choudhury Laura Hamilton Martha Awojobi Matt Murray Martin Houghton-Brown Morven MacLean Rachael Bayley Rebecca Kennelly Sherie Olmstead Stephen Hill Victoria Dickinson
L&D Event workshop speakers and BiteSize contributors
Alan Murray Ami Davis Andy Broomhead Claire Ross David Robinson Donna Bennett Emily Hughes Hadji Singh Helen Timbrell Kirsty White Lucy Gower Morven MacLean Neil Monk Nichole McGill-Higgins Rachel Clark Rob Jackson Shaun Delaney Sue Jones Tiger de Souza Wendy Halley
Our Friends
Partners
HVG IVR NCVO NNVIA VSSN Voluntary Voice (Do IT Foundation)
Sponsors
Team Kinetic vHelp
We are looking forward to offering more opportunities for our members to get involved in 2021 and support us to meet our community’s needs.
As agreed at the AGM, all our fully elected board directors have had their terms extended by one year; Ruth Leonard’s term was extended by two years and both Rachel Ball and Tom Ball were co-opted for a further two years
At our November board meeting, the directors approved the Co-option of Jo Keller and Andy Broomhead until the 2021 AGM. Both Jo and Andy have been involved with AVM in the previous 24 months and we look forward to working with them further.
Also at the same board meeting, the Directors voted in Shaun Delaney as Company Secretary. Rachel Ball has now stepped down from this role but will remain on the board, focusing on business development.
All of these changes have been reflected on our website.
We are looking forward to seeing what this newly structured board can achieve and wish those in new roles all the best for this new adventure together.
