Celebrations for the SVO Team

The Staff Volunteering and Outreach team have been celebrating over the last week as we gained the Investing in Volunteers for Employers (IiVE) quality standard from the United Kingdom Volunteering Forum. This is a huge achievement for the SVO team and Durham University, but more importantly this would have not been possible without our hundreds of volunteers who have supported activities in local communities and who assisted us during the accreditation process. So a big thank you to all our supporters and volunteers!

Over the past three years, the Staff Volunteering and Outreach programme has grown from its infancy, when it was known as the Phoenix Project to where we are today.  We now have over 430 registered volunteers, which represents over 10% of the University work force and one of most significant achievements over the past 12-months has been the increasing demand for Team Challenges.

One autumnal day back  in October 2010, senior members of the University, along with staff volunteers and Team Durham colleagues set to work, clearing the grounds and gardening at one of our local community partners. This was the first team challenge and since then our aim has been to offer two challenges a month. With demand soaring from all of our committed volunteers and word spreading across departments, we are currently exceeding this target and Team Challenges are growing in popularity. Since October, numerous volunteers have taken part in a Team Challenge.

Being optimistic, I’d like to say that Spring is just around the corner (it is after all the first day of February) and so our community partners with outdoor spaces are already beginning to think in a ‘green-fingered’ manner. We already have two team challenges lined-up, both open to staff from any departments, so this is an ideal opportunity to get-involved, give volunteering a try and meet staff from across the University. For more information about our gardening and hedge planting team challenges taking place on Wednesday 8^th February and Wednesday 21^st March get in touch with us at community.engagement@durham.ac.uk