Ayr United Football Academy unveils prestigious Investing in Volunteers Award

Ayr United Football Academy are delighted to announce that we have received the prestigious award of the Investing in Volunteers accreditation. This accolade recognises the management support and professionalism of the systems and structure that support our fantastic volunteers who are the backbone of our organisation and, without them, we would not be able to do the work that we do within our community and our Talented Young Footballers programme.

Investing in Volunteers is the UK Quality Standard for all organisations involving volunteers. It aims to improve the quality of the volunteering experience and for organisations to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by the volunteers. Investing in Volunteers Award demonstrates best practice in volunteer management. The nine indicators include, planning for volunteer involvement, recruitment, selection and matching techniques, supporting and developing volunteers and recognition. Investing in Volunteers is managed by Volunteer Scotland for Scotland; however this is a UK Award.

A spokesperson for AUFA said “Throughout the Investing in Volunteers journey, Ayr United Football Academy have learned that this accreditation isn’t just about meeting standards – it’s about achieving volunteer excellence. 

Working through the process for the Investing in Volunteers Award gave us a fantastic opportunity to review our volunteer processes, to communicate with our volunteers from a different perspective, whilst actively listening to their different experiences and noting their feedback and, also, to get everyone within the Academy working together towards the same goal.

Despite the challenges of staff changes and the pressures of everyday work, having achieved this Award confirms that volunteering with us is an extremely rewarding experience for everyone involved and that together we can provide a welcoming and safe environment for volunteers and activity participants alike.  It also reiterates the value we place on our volunteers as without them, we simply could not function to provide the services and activities that we do.

We were able to celebrate this achievement following being invited to attend the South Ayrshire Volunteer Awards recently to receive a Certificate of Recognition for achieving the Investing in Volunteers Award on stage at Ayr Town Hall. The Academy hope to further celebrate with our volunteers in the near future to recognise and applaud their dedication, passion, enthusiasm and commitment in making this possible.

Our Board Members, Management Team as well as Ayr United Football Club staff have expressed pride in the Academy achieving this award and we will be including our achievement in areas such as future funding bids, our annual report and every other avenue we can to spread the word.

Thanks go to all our volunteers involved in the process, making themselves available to attend interviews and answer the questions by the assessors.  Thanks also to VASA, who nominated us for this Award and supported us on this journey.

All in all, we at Ayr United Football Academy hope that this achievement will be a sign that we are committed to professionalism and excellence, and in particular, to the management and engagement of our volunteers.”