"Mentoring has given me the
possibility to evaluate my work
and look for better alternatives to
achieve good practice"

Mentoring for volunteer managers and people running volunteer programmes

Our mentors have experience with mentoring people and organisations.  Their aim is to find ways of maintaining good practice principles in volunteer programmes. The tasks taken by our mentors range from helping dedicated volunteer coordinators take a step back and look at the bigger picture, to helping directors or other members of staff who have extra responsibility for volunteers. You may be setting up a new project, looking at improving the support that already exists for volunteers in your organisation, or simply seeking external support for yourself with the work you do.

Mentoring is best done as a one-to-one experience, in which your mentor will offer you a listening ear, guidance and a different point of view on issues you bring to the session. The sessions ultimately seek to enable you to take a step back and reflect on your own expectations, goals and experience; at times giving you sources of information or models to use that may be helpful for you and your volunteers.

Our mentoring programme is run specifically for volunteer management, which means we are able to offer you our own insights into volunteering, knowledge of best practice and networks of alternative advice and support.

Interested in Mentoring?

Here are some questions to think about and discuss when contacting the mentoring scheme coordinator:

• Why are you interested in mentoring?
• What do you hope to get out of the relationship?
• If you are looking to improve your organisation’s processes or projects, do you have the time to dedicate to drawing up new systems or policies?

Timing

 Each individual situation is different, however a typical mentoring session lasts 1 - 2 hours, and these sessions will normally take place over a period of several months. You will probably be looking at more or less 4 – 6 sessions.

Cost

This is a free and confidential service run through Tertulia and LAWRS’ volunteering programme, funded by Goldstar (the Cabinet Office) for Latin American organisations.

Next steps

Contact us to organise a first session or talk more about what you can get out of the scheme.