Volunteering Impact Measurement Training in Europe

ended

Evidence shows that volunteering is beneficial in many fields, unfortunately the methods used to measure the impact of volunteering are lacking. The V-Calc project will enable 800 volunteer managers and coordinators of all ages & diversity to measure and understand the impact of their volunteers. The objectives are to: develop a suitable methodology for gathering data about the numbers and profiles of volunteers, their motivation and impact on society and individual volunteer learning; Create and put in place the user-friendly online platform to gather the information from primary and secondary sources; Train and develop the capacity of volunteer managers and coordinators to gather and provide information about the impact of the volunteers that they engage with and in their countries more widely; Ensure the sustainability of project results by developing the community of practitioners from across Europe in order to promote the use of the V-Calculator and the importance of measuring volunteering for the development of better evidence based policies. The training programme in the use of the volunteer impact measurement methodology will lead to increased quality in the work, activities and practices of the volunteering organisations and institutions involved. It will introduce new actors to the importance of volunteer impact measurement across all sectors and fields that engage volunteers. Through the V-CALC project we will build the capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors and at the same time address common needs and priorities for the volunteer-involving stakeholders in the fields of education, training, youth and sport, amongst others. The online platform, impact measurement methodology and training activities, together with the policy development work, will enable transformation and change at individual, organisational and sectoral level, leading to improvements and new approaches, in a wide variety of different volunteering contexts.