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Effectively communicating volunteering – the role of PR, media and raising public awareness

28-30 aprillil 2010 toimus Hispaanias Valencias Euroopa Vabatahtlike Keskuse sümpoosion "Vabatahtliku tegevuse tõhus kommunikatsioon - avalikud suhted, meedia ning teadlikkuse tõstmine". Sümpoosion aitas valmistuda 2011 Euroopa vabatahtliku tegevuse aastaks.

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Effective internal and external communication is key in today’s information society. New technologies have brought about exciting opportunities and we are able to communicate quickly and to wide audiences at the same time. At first sight, recruiting volunteers or telling the public successful volunteering stories has become easier. However, these new opportunities have also led to increased “competition” for attention and even new forms of exclusion of those not having access to the Internet. And - communicating can be costly. Volunteer organisations have to be strategic as to which communication channels to use, what messages to convey and how to tailor communication activities to their different interlocutors.

What does it take today to effectively communicate “volunteering”? How do we motivate people to get involved? How can we contribute to creating a positive image of volunteering in our societies? What are the best tools to communicate our work?

The CEV symposium will bring together 300 professionals from the volunteering sector, PR and communication specialists, as well as decision makers in the public and business sectors to debate these questions. They will present and discuss good practices, challenges as well as recommendations feeding into a practical communication toolkit. As the countdown towards the European Year of Volunteering 2011 has started, this symposium will also be a major milestone towards the Year’s communication activities.

The symposium will entail a multi-stakeholder forum to prepare activities and exchange good ideas towards 2011: How can volunteer organizasions, businesses and governmental actors make most out of the Year? What are current plans? And where are fields of synergies?

CEV, the European Volunteer Centre is the European network of 74 national, regional and local volunteer centres and volunteer development agencies in 28 countries reaching out to over 17,000 associations at the local level. As a voice for volunteering in Europe, CEV receives an operating grant of the European Commission under its Europe for Citizens programme. This conference is co-organised and hosted by Fundar, the Foundation for Solidarity and Volunteering of the Valencian Community and supported by the Spanish members organisations of CEV.

Multi-Stakeholder Forum:
Countdown towards the European Year of Volunteering 2011

The European Year of Volunteering has been announced in November 2009 - and different actors have started gearing up for the Year. The objectives set by the EU are high: Work towards an enabling environment for volunteering, notably by addressing existing obstacles to voluntary activities; empower organisers of voluntary activities to improve the quality of voluntary activities; recognise voluntary activities; and raise awareness of the value and importance of volunteering in society.

Collaboration by all stakeholders, notably from the civil society, the business and governmental sector is acknowledged to be crucial in order for the Year 2011 to be a true success. This Multi-Stakeholder Forum is a first step into this direction and shall give interested leaders from all three sectors the opportunity to present their ideas and plans towards 2011 and detect synergies between them. The representatives will firstly meet in their respective groups before joining each other towards the end of the session for common conclusions and discuss the next steps towards the Year.

On Friday, April 30, there will be an additional networking session for those delegates of businesses and governments who want to discuss forms of closer collaboration with CEV in Brussels. Finally, on Friday 30, there will also be a meeting organised by the Global Corporate Volunteer Council GCVC, in initiative of the International Association of Volunteer Effort IAVE, to present and further develop a global research on Employee Volunteering.