Company Volunteers

Why should we volunteer as a company?

Providing reading helpers as a company really is a win-win situation.  By volunteering as a reading helper your employees can help transform a child's life.  Last year 96% of the children we supported improved their reading confidence.  The key to this success is to give them regular support over a year and to adapt the reading sessions to their needs, which is something we will train your employees to do.
 

What does my company need to be able to commit to?

We ask companies who take on our volunteering scheme to:

1.  Cover our support costs by contributing £750 per reading helper.
2.  Allow each volunteer to give 90 minutes per week on an agreed day.
3.  Allow the volunteers to attend school between 9am and 3pm.
4.  Ask the volunteers to commit for at least a full year (term time only).
5.  Allow the volunteers to attend a one-day or two-day initial training course (further details below). 
 

How will our company benefit?

• Our scheme provides enjoyable and rewarding volunteering opportunities for your staff so it's a great way to boost morale
• You will be helping to support your local community, offering you excellent PR opportunities
• Volunteering as a reading helper is a fantastic way to boost an employee’s skill set, for example helping them to improve their communication skills

"We have worked with VRH for the past 7 years and in that time they have trained and placed in schools 500 PwC volunteers. The partnership has been mutually beneficial in helping VRH to achieve its aspiration of "confident children, literate for life" with the children supported in schools across the country. Our staff have also been able to develop as individuals, using their personal and professional skills when working with children. We are proud of the work that we have undertaken with VRH and schools and celebrate the work that we have accomplished together."

David Adair, Head of Community Affairs, PwC
 

Our support

VRH provides the following when you sign up to a volunteering scheme:

• Recruitment and assessment of each reading helper
• An in-depth training course for the volunteers
• A wide selection of books and games for use in the reading sessions 
• High quality on-going support throughout their volunteering
• An initial placement visit at the school
• Catch up visits during their time volunteering 
• Invitations to events such as book swaps and end of term meetings
• Further training for reading helpers on topics such as dyslexia
   

How to apply

If your company is interested in setting up a company scheme then please contact Liz Bennett, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser, for an application form: 020 7749 7972 or liz [dot] bennett [at] vrh [dot] org [dot] uk.

Once we have received your application form we will then check that there is a primary school within 15 minutes of your office that can take on volunteers (travel time will not be included in the 90 minute sessions and so we limit the travel time to 15 minutes by your choice of either walking, car or public transport).

It can take us a while to speak with schools so we ask for your patience in this. We expect to update you on your application within one month of receiving your application form (in school term-time). Please note, all volunteers must follow our standard recruitment process (30 minute interview, CRB check and training).

For 7 or more volunteers, we will run interview days and a one-day initial training course at your workplace. If there are 6 or less employees from your company wishing to volunteer then they must attend their local branch for their interview and attend a community training session that will be run over two consecutive days.

For more information, and to request an application form, please contact Liz Bennett, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser, on 020 7749 7972 or liz [dot] bennett [at] vrh [dot] org [dot] uk.