Fellowship

Welcome to the SVP! We warmly invite you to join our work. This page will help you get started and make your first steps towards membership.

Our 10,000 volunteers, motivated by their faith, seek and find people in need across England and Wales. Our aim is to tackle poverty in all its forms through the provision of practical assistance to those in need. Read about our mission and vision.

During the Covid-19 crisis, the demand for our support has never been higher. During lockdown, we launched a 'Knock and Drop' service to deliver food parcels and essentials and continued to offer one-to-one support over the phone to people who may be feeling more isolated than ever.

What does an SVP group do?

Every group, or 'Conference', meets regularly to discuss how to help people in their area. Meetings are strengthened by spiritual reflection and are quite social. Each group has its own particular specialisms reflecting local need, this may include:

Visit and befriend older or lonely people
Run a soup run or food bank
Support homeless people
Aid refugees and asylum seekers
Support vulnerable families and children
Visit prisoners and their families

By forming an SVP group, you can make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable people in your community. As a member, you'll join a strong network of like-minded volunteers and staff across the country and gain access to a wealth of resources and training. If you already do some community outreach in your area, you can co-opt that under the SVP and continue your great work with additional support from our National Office team.

Training and support

We run many great initiatives which you can participate in online:

Weekly webinars

A popular ongoing series of Zoom discussions covering a range of thematic topics held Thursdays at 6-7pm. To join a webinar, please click here at 6pm on a Thursday or email membership@svp.org.uk to be sent a calendar invitation. If you would like to listen to recordings from previous weeks, email Jon Cornwall, Director of Membership, at jonc@svp.org.uk.

12th November – What are the Needs in Prison? Jay Marshall & Tony Blackburne, HMP Hindley

19th November – What happens on release? How do you rebuild your life in the community? Stephen Bamber, Lancaster SVP

26th November – Families of prisoners, the forgotten ones. Mark Turnbull, Out There

And to follow:

December – SVP past, present and future

January – 'Perspectives on the SVP'

February – 'Re-capping and refreshing previous themes'

March – 'Intergenerational working'

Toolkit Days

Toolkit days run on Tuesdays at 1-2:30pm / 3.30-5pm and will help you generate ideas and strengthen your membership activity. To register interest and attend, please email membership@svp.org.uk.

24th November – 'Drawing to us with the Christmas message'

29th December – Social gathering, mince pies and carols

26th January – 'Invitation and Inspiration' (to join the SVP)

23rd February – 'Onboarding' (How we successfully enable recruitment following interest expression)

30th March – 'Spring Innovation' (New ways of working; tools, progressing out of Covid)

Faith in Action

A highly successful training series to boost your local social action. We are currently working to make this available to you online as well as in-person, as it has been traditionally delivered.

Training

We run thorough training sessions with staff covering finance, administration, compliance and safeguarding. Please see training dates in Autumn 2020 below. To register interest and attend, please email membership@svp.org.uk.

Safeguarding

Tuesday, 3rd November, 3.30 - 4.30pm

Wednesday, 2nd December, 3.30 - 4.30pm

Compliance

Tuesday, 17th November, 3.30 - 4.30pm

Tuesday, 15th December, 3.30 - 4.30pm

Administration

Tuesday, 10th November, 10.00 - 11.00am
Tuesday, 8th December, 10.00 - 11.00am

Finance

Wednesday, 25th November, 3.30 - 4.30pm

Wednesday, 16th November, 3.30 - 4.30pm

Recruiters toolkit

Tuesday, 24th November 1.00 - 2.30pm and 3.30 - 5.00pm

Well of Hope

Visit the Well of Hope for a collection of uplifting stories and reflections from lockdown.

Where to next?

We have a large network of SVP groups across England and Wales. You may already have an SVP group nearby, but if not we can help you start one!

You may be thinking:

I would like to join my local group or 'Conference' and know who they are
I would like learn more about my local SVP
I would like to start a group
I would like for my group or organisation to work more closely with the SVP

Please email membership@svp.org.uk to find out more about getting involved with the SVP or who your diocesan contact is. If you would like to discuss how to help someone in your area, please email Brian Roxburgh, Beneficiary Support Officer, at brianr@svp.org.uk or call 07587035121.