Laois Volunteer Information Service is a FREE matching service between organisations and Volunteers. Our role is to provide information and advice to people interested in volunteering and to organisations looking for volunteers. We work with community and voluntary organisations to gather information about their volunteering needs and in the process offer support and advice on good practice in volunteer management.

Who Do We Work With?

Laois Volunteer Information Service will work with any not-for-profit organisation – this may include charities, community groups, co-operatives and statutory organisations such as nursing homes, schools, hospitals, etc. We may ask to see your constitution or set of rules to clarify this. We will not seek volunteers for individuals or for for-profit organisations.

What Services Do We Provide?

Information & Support on recruiting and managing volunteers:

Laois Volunteer Information Service can provide advice and guidance, or access to information, on a range of issues related to managing volunteers. This might relate to Information & Support on recruitment of volunteers, how to motivate volunteers, dealing with difficult situations etc. This support is available on request so please feel free to contact us by phone or by email.

Volunteer Leadership Training

Each module takes about 4 hours and is generally run for a full day over 2 full days. It is usually run once per year. Please contact us for further details.

Garda Vetting

Laois Volunteer Information Service provides a Garda Vetting service to voluntary organisations that do not have access to their own Liaison Person. A Liaison Person is someone who has been trained by An Garda Siochana in the correct administration of Garda Vetting. Because not all small organisations are able to access this Garda training, we may act as Liaison Person on their behalf. We require all new affiliate organisations to attend Garda Vetting training with us before using this service. The training is free of charge.

Child Protection

We do not provide child protection training. It is available from Tusla for organisations that work with children and young people. Their website has lots of useful information about child protection and what your organisation needs to do to protect itself, its volunteers and the children and young people it works with. They now have a basic course available online at TUSLA CHILDREN FIRST E-LEARNING