Volunteer Ireland
7th July 2011
So, the long-awaited announcement has finally been made today: Volunteering Ireland and Volunteer Centres Ireland have merged to create Volunteer Ireland. Having been given the wonderful opportunity fourteen years ago by Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups to set up Ireland's first volunteer centre, which became Volunteering Ireland, this clearly resonates with me. I managed the organisation for seven years and met incredible people along the way. During that time there were moments of immense joy and pride, for example when our lobbying for a National Committee of Volunteering bore fruit, or when we sourced funding to run innovative programmes like 'socialclimbing?' for 18-35 year old volunteers and 'Opportunity Knocks' for volunteers with additional support needs. But the road was rocky at times also, and it is one of my biggest regrets that the support network for local volunteer centre representatives that we had facilitated decided to establish a separate organisation.
I am delighted, therefore, that the two organisations have now come together again to form what I hope will be a strong and unified body that will serve the cause of voluntary activity in Ireland well over the coming decades. I wish the team every success and very much hope to work with them again in the future.
Read the announcement below:
Volunteer Ireland has arrived!
Volunteer Centres Ireland and Volunteering Ireland have now merged to create Volunteer Ireland, a single national volunteering organisation for Ireland. The services and supports for volunteering previously offered by two organisations will now be delivered by one: from the Ireland InVOLved Awards to the National Day of Volunteering.
The creation of Volunteer Ireland is great news for volunteering in Ireland. Combining the skills, strengths and talents of VCI and VI into a single national volunteering organisation will mean we can build on the considerable achievements of our two organisations to date and increase the services and supports for volunteering in Ireland. As a bigger, better and unified organisation for volunteering, Volunteer Ireland will be far better placed to respond to the needs of volunteering in Ireland. 2011 is European Year of Volunteering and Volunteer Ireland will be a fantastic legacy of it for Ireland.
The focus of Volunteer Ireland will be to create an enabling environment for volunteering, to develop an ethos of volunteerism across all sectors of society and to be an independent and legitimate voice for volunteering. Working with our local Volunteer Centres, volunteer-involving organisations and volunteers, Volunteer Ireland will be a powerful advocate for volunteering in Ireland.
As of from last week, all staff and volunteers in Volunteer Centres Ireland and Volunteering Ireland transferred to Volunteer Ireland and we are all looking forward to working together to create a single, great volunteering organisation for Ireland. For the moment, of course, it’s ‘business as usual’. However, we look forward to developing our new organisation over the coming months and to sharing our progress with you.
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