About Us
The Forum is an unconstituted group and does not exist to promote the interests of, or to seek funding or resources for, any one organisation. Its fundamental purpose is to facilitate collaboration for the overall benefit of volunteering in Scotland. The Forum has no paid staff. It is facilitated by individuals who volunteer their time above and beyond their organisational day jobs to influence change.
Purpose
The Scottish Volunteering Forum is a collaborative group of cross-sector organisations that are committed to developing and improving volunteer participation in Scotland. We exist to influence the strategic landscape and champion innovative approaches using our collective intelligence and expertise.
Structure
A group of active forum members will form a steering group who will meet quarterly. This group will be responsible for:
- Agreeing content for an annual survey to better understand the experience, expertise and influence of forum members
- Agreeing content for thematic surveys to be sent to forum members quarterly
- Reviewing survey content and identifying relevant forum members to feed into thematic meetings
- Identifying any wider consultations or engagement activity we’d like to respond to
- supporting the chair to engage with the Scottish Government and other key decision-makers
The wider forum membership, twitter followers and key stakeholders will be invited to provide evidence and help shape responses.
This will be achieved through engagement with surveys, followed by targeted attendance at thematic meetings.
The wider forum, twitter followers and key stakeholders will also be invited to respond in a reactive manner to other consultation or engagement opportunities that arise.
Interim Arrangements
Sarah Latto stepped down as elected chair of the Forum in late 2021. Sarah’s contribution to the SVF has been immense and the Steering Group would like to thank her for all that she did during her time as Chair. Although Sarah has stepped down as chair she will continue as a member. As an interim measure, and until at least the end of the financial year, a sub group of volunteers from the Steering Group take forward the work of the Forum until a new chair is sought and appointed.
The Steering Group volunteers who have agreed to help with the temporary arrangements are Jen Reston (Aberlour), Margaret Starkie (Volunteer Scotland), Louise McGinty (Quarriers), Sarah Murray (RVS) , Damian Sherwood-Johnson (Sistema Scotland), David Maxwell (Volunteer Glasgow) and Paul Wilson (Volunteer Edinburgh).
The Scottish Volunteering Forum is a collective of cross-sector organisations with a national strategic focus. All members have an equal voice and role in the forum, including intermediary bodies such as Volunteer Scotland or SCVO, and key representatives from the TSI network.
Some key stakeholders who might have an interest in our work without becoming members include:
- Association of Volunteer Managers
- Wider TSI network
Our Members
For more information about our members and to find out more about what they do, simply click on one of the organisation logos below to be navigate to their website.
