YouthNet blog
An insight into youth issues, volunteering trends, charity life and more from the UK charity YouthNet
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Thursday May 11, 2006
Just "v"
From a mouthful - "The-post-Russell-Commission-youth-volunteering-charity" - to a single letter. Yes, the branding process is over and the name is...v. (Although inevitably it will be referred to as The-post-Russell-Commission-youth-volunteering-charity-v.)
The appeal of the name is the ability to combine it with other things. "We are v.excited, v.inspired, v.enthusiastic...etc" It's not so good used on its own ("I'm doing some volunteering with v" just sounds odd) but perhaps that doesn't matter too much.
The emphasis from the organisation's official launch on Monday, and on the website, is the fact that it is "youth-led". Not just an advisory board of young people but four under-25s on the trustee board.
They're not the first charity to have young trustees, but the board as a whole (which includes YouthNet's chief exec Fiona Dawe), along with the v staff have a v.challenging job to do. OK, they have lots of money, but they also face very high expectations (the mission is to "inspire a million more young volunteers" )combined with hostility from some in the sector who resent government money going to setting up a new national organisation.
Then, of course, there's the government influence. Gordon Brown has been so closely involved that he even announced the new private sponsors in the Budget. And the Chair, Rod Aldridge, is a big Labour donor. How independent can v really be?
Perhaps, again, that doesn't matter too much. v will be judged on how well it uses the money it has been given. And work, as announced in the launch press release, is already underway.
The launch of the charity also sees the launch of the first round of grants for which v is inviting organisations to apply. There are two strands to the grants round. The first focuses on funding the development and delivery of new, creative, youth led, aspirational opportunities that engage young people in volunteering, either on a full time, part time or short term basis.
The second strand offers funding to successful organisations to host the first phase of Youth Volunteer Development Managers and Youth Volunteer Advisers. Organisations looking to host a team of workers will need to have the capacity and the networks to enthuse other organisations and young people to get involved with the vbest opportunities that will be created by the teams.
