Case Study from VAST Volunteering
Alice Charity gets the Gold!
Millions of people volunteer in some way every single year, and for many organisations, volunteers are the backbone of their operations. Without them, the number of people organisations support would fall significantly.
That’s why it’s important to support volunteers effectively from the very beginning, and to get volunteering policies, procedures, and processes right. The VAST Volunteering Quality Standards has been split into three levels: gold, silver, and bronze. It doesn’t just award good practices either. It’s a proactive, achievable, target-driven action plan based on where organisations are now and working together towards where they want to be – an effective action plan based on achievable targets and clear priorities.
One recent organisation that have achieved Gold is the Alice Charity. Alice Charity was created in 2011 to support vulnerable and disadvantaged families across Stoke- on-Trent and Newcastle-Under-Lyme by providing various services underpinned by unconditional love and kindness.
The Alice Charity believes in providing strong foundations and diverse services to help individuals thrive. Their unwavering commitment to wellness, kindness, and community advancement drives them to develop sustainable solutions, support families, and make a difference.
The Alice Charity helps vulnerable families in a variety of ways, giving them multiple opportunities to reach out and receive the kindness they so desperately need and deserve. They are able to offer family support services, People’s Pantry and Big Cup Playgroups. In 2023 they:
- Supported 7688 children.
- Completed 4470 home visits to support families.
- Made 4385 wellbeing calls.
- Held 320 parent and toddler groups.
"Volunteers play a crucial role in the work we do at Alice Charity, and I am proud to be part of an organisation that recognises the immense value they bring. Earning the Gold Quality Standard Award is a remarkable achievement and a testament to Alice Charity's dedication to supporting and nurturing its volunteers.”
Volunteering makes a huge difference to the work they do at Alice Charity, without volunteers they simply couldn’t continue to provide such a high level of community support. VAST were delighted when the Alice Charity reached out wishing to work through the Quality Standards scheme.
Sian, Senior Project Officer (Volunteering), was able to discuss with Sarah, Support Services Manager, what was involved in the self-assessment and what kind of evidence could be submitted. This left Sarah with lots of exciting ideas on how to evidence their volunteering efforts and make improvements where relevant.
Sarah kindly invited Sian along to a staff meeting to discuss their new approach to volunteering and student placements. This gave Alice Charity the chance to gain impartial feedback and check that they had considered the different factors when developing a volunteer strategy.
Sarah meticulously documented the application and induction process, training programmes, feedback mechanisms, and support structures in place to ensure that volunteers felt valued and supported in their roles. It was clear that Alice Charity had clearly considered all elements of their Volunteering strategy and Sian was delighted to confirm that they had met the criteria for the Gold Standard!
“Achieving the Gold level of VAST’s Volunteering Quality Standard Award is an amazing achievement for Alice (relief of poverty and advancement of community). Alice are proud, astounded and continually surprised by the dedication and support given by our volunteers. The team continuously work extremely hard to make a positive impact for local families in the local community, so this recognition is thank you to them. Together, we create change”
