GoldStar volunteering and mentoring exemplar programme
The GoldStar programme is a three-year, £7.5 million programme launched in November 2005.
Background
Reflecting the devolved nature of volunteering, the programme is England-wide and focuses on spreading good practice throughout the voluntary sector on how to recruit, manage and retain volunteers, mentors and befrienders from groups at risk of social exclusion, including:
- People with no qualifications
- People from black and minority ethnic communities
- People with disabilities or limiting long-term illnesses
For more information visit the GoldStar website [External website].
Purpose of the programme
There are two elements to the programme:
- It funds 46 exemplar projects and enables them to actively spread good practice in the recruitment and retention of volunteers, while also enabling them to maintain and develop their operations. The distribution of these projects is from all over the country but concentrated largely in four priority regions of the country, the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and London.
- Funding around £1.5m for three years for the dissemination of good practice at national level through conferences, seminars and publications as well as a dedicated website, all aimed at spreading the benefits of good practice as widely as possible.
Programme structure
- Phase 1: 24 successful projects received funding in April 2006. These projects consist of existing mentoring projects and four Government Office nominated projects (working in partnership with Volunteering England and the National Mentoring and Befriending Foundation) in regions where resources are most needed to raise the level of volunteering activity amongst groups at risk of social exclusion. These regions are: North East, North West, London, Yorkshire and Humber.
- Phase 2: 22 projects have been selected from the 59 projects currently funded under the Volunteer Recruitment Fund. Grants for these projects commenced in January 2007.
The programme is administered by the Tribal Group, a company with broad experience of grants administration for the voluntary and community sector.
