Membership of VOLG is free. VOLG's key role - why we are funded - is to pass on information to voluntary and community sector
organisations and to involve them on matters that might affect them and the people/communities they work with.
We know that everyone gets a lot of post already (and we don't want your membership of VOLG to increase this) so
we've developed a way of targeting organisations that have particular interests in a service or client group area.
We have a database called VOLGnet which notes details of your organisation based on what you say you are interested in -
not what we think you are interested in.
We use VOLGnet to help you stay informed and we also use it to identify potential voluntary and
community sector representatives as required. We provide labels to Health, Social and Caring Services and
other statutory agencies when they want to send information out to you, but we work with them to help ensure
that this information is relevant. VOLG is registered under the Data Protection Act for this purpose;
we do not give information out to private companies or individuals.
VOLG, ICIS & CVSs - How We Work Together
Independent Combined Information Service and VOLG
are two different organisations funded for two different reasons. VOLG is about communication and
consultation with the voluntary and community sector based on what you tell us you are interested in.
ICIS is a public information service about services provided by the voluntary and community, statutory &
private sectors. VOLG takes on national, regional & countywide strategic issues across geographic and
client group boundaries while Councils for Voluntary Services focus on plans and developments which affect their local area and members.
ICIS, CVSs and over 200 other organisations are members of VOLG - they tell VOLG what to do and we work
closely together to keep the voluntary and community sector informed and involved.