A group of four agencies based in the City of Manningham formed a Consortium in 2005 to develop a shared, coordinated system of managing volunteers. The four agencies were: Doncare, Manningham Centre Association, Manningham Community Health Services and the Migrant Information Service. Manningham City Council and other agencies where volunteers work were invited into the development of the system. Volunteering in Manningham (ViM) was the product of this work. ViM is a way of:

• coordinating all recruitment, training, placement of and support for volunteers working in community agencies in the municipality
• maximising the benefits and quality of volunteering for both volunteers and the agencies into which volunteers are placed.

Responsibility for managing ViM is vested in the Steering Committee, which represents members of agencies who wish to participate in its management. The coordination functions are centralised in the lead agency, Doncare, with the potential for other agencies to coordinate various elements in the system, at any stage.

VIM is committed to promoting the value of volunteering, which is enshrined in the following principles of the system/service.

1. We identify what volunteers
• want to do
• with whom they want to work
• where, geographically, they wish to work

2. We identify agency needs for volunteers according to
• geographic locality
• the type of work and/or agency they wish to be in
• the group of people they wish to work be with

3. We promote the value of volunteering as:

• providing support to the individual
• an enjoyable experience
• a learning experience
• a way of using existing skills and developing new ones
• looking after people by providing services
• looking after cultural and environmental interests and needs
• meaningful work
• integral to being an active citizen


4. We support the principle of volunteers working as locally as possible to where they live or work.

5. We are committed to equal opportunity and work to diversify the profile of volunteers to better reflect the diversity of Manningham residents.

6. We are committed to the principles of transparency and cooperation amongst participating agencies.