Funding to support UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands hospices in recruiting and providing 12-months’ training for local volunteers who are considering following a career in healthcare.
The Rank Foundation, Helpforce (a national charity that helps health and care organisations to accelerate the growth and impact of volunteering) and Hospice UK (the national charity for hospice and end of life care) have teamed up to offer the Volunteer to Career Programme, whereby local volunteers considering a career in healthcare are recruited by hospices to undertake 60 hours of certificated training over the course of one year. Volunteers will be supported throughout the year by a dedicated Clinical Lead at each participating hospice.
At the end of the programme, hospices can recruit the volunteers, knowing they represent a talented, compassionate pool of potential employees, who can add real value to their clinical workforce.
The total funding available in this round is £100,000 and the funders will be seeking to award 10 grants, each of £10,000, across the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel islands. The funding is designed to contribute towards the cost of supporting Clinical Leads to undertake this piece of work. Please note that other expenses arising from the programme, such as volunteer expenses will need to be covered by the hospice. The programme will:
- Engage 10 hospices, help them identify and build internal capacity to deliver the work and find and match interested volunteers from their local communities, and
- Provide a blended learning programme for participating hospice Clinical Leads, who will work within their hospices to mentor the new volunteers. This includes help with project planning and data collection to build evidence of the value of the project.
The funders encourage potential applicants to read about how other hospices have benefitted from running the Volunteer to Career programme:
- St Oswald's Hospice in Newcastle-upon-Tyne have a webpage dedicated to their experience of running the Volunteer to Career programme
- St Elizabeth's Hospice in Suffolk wrote an article for Helpforce, offering 5 top tips for running the Volunteer to Career programme - reflecting on their experience.
Helpforce and Hospice UK are hosting an Information Webinar on Wednesday 15 May 2024 between 11:00 and 12:00 to discuss the Volunteer to Career programme and the grant application process. If you're interested in taking part, please register at this link to Microsoft Teams.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 7 June 2024. Applicants will be informed whether or not they have been successful in early July 2024.
For further information about the programme and application criteria, please go to the ‘Apply Now’ section on the Hospice UK website.