Volunteers throughout the UK are being recognised for their work by the announcement that Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, Executive Director of CSV (1), the UK’s largest volunteering and training charity, has been honoured for her Lifetime Achievement at Third Sector’s annual Excellence Awards. (Monday 18th September 2006)

John Pulford, Chairman of CSV Said: “For more than 40 years, Elisabeth has been passionate about engaging citizens of all ages and channelling their energy to enrich our communities. CSV has demonstrated that everyone has something to offer and that no one should be rejected. Throughout Elisabeth’s tireless work, CSV and its volunteers have played an important role in communities throughout the UK.”

After receiving the award at Grosvenor House earlier this week, Elisabeth, who was CSV’s first ever employee more than 40 years ago, said: “It is a joy and a delight to be honoured by your peers. But CSV’s success has always, since its beginning, been rooted in partnership with both the private and third sector, with media organisations and government departments with whom we work and with 200,000 volunteers from 5 to 103 who engage every year in making the world a better place.”

Prior to the award, Dame Elisabeth reflected on the development of volunteering in the UK:

“Back in 1963, when I first started at CSV, to be a volunteer was seen as slightly suspicious. Today, you don’t need to explain yourself – it’s as normal as going to the pictures.”

“One of the strengths of volunteering is the luxury of focus. A volunteer spending an hour a week with a child in a school can raise their reading age a year in a term.”

Richard Harries, Head of Volunteering and Charitable Giving at the Office of the Third Sector, said: “ Her unstinting effort in relation to innovation has created some of the most memorable models of volunteering, from the Community Service Order in the 1960s to the Open Doors Campaign launched in 2002.”

Elisabeth leads CSV’s wide-ranging work with volunteers who help divert young offenders from crime, work with homeless people and refugees and enable people with disabilities to go to university.

Elisabeth started with CSV in 1963, but her dedication over the last forty years has seen the organisation grow to 900 employees and an annual turnover of £43.6 million. She has been a leading figure in the voluntary sector throughout this time.

Dame Elisabeth Hoodless has kept volunteering and citizenship involvement at the top of the local, national and international agenda. She has served on many public and voluntary sector committees to promote citizen engagement at all levels from the NHS through to local community groups.

• Elisabeth’s leadership saw CSV take a leading role in the Year of the Volunteer 2005. This is the first time CSV saw the collaboration of over 75 volunteer involving agencies working closely together to make the 12 themed months of this campaign such a success.

• Elisabeth has been a key figure in getting Citizenship introduced into the National Curriculum (September 2002). As far back as 1969, Elisabeth launched school and community kits and in 1990 she originated the Speaker’s Commission ‘Encouraging Citizenship’. Meanwhile, she continued her involvement in the Crick Committee on Citizenship in the National Curriculum.

• In 1993, CSV, under Elisabeth’s direction, responded to the growing numbers of reports of young people at risk in public care by importing a new venture from the USA – Foster Grandparents – where mature local volunteers give time, love and commitment to young people in care. Elisabeth has now taken this concept one step further in 2003 by developing CSV’s Volunteers in Child Protection– a project working alongside social services to identify and train people from local communities to visit the families of children at risk

• 1992 saw CSV establish a nationwide network of university students tutoring young people in schools (CSV Learning Together).

• The UK’s single biggest day of volunteering action (CSV Make a Difference Day, supported by Barclays) was pioneered in this country by Elisabeth Hoodless. This massive programme of events involved more than 100,000 people in 2005 – the greatest number yet.

• 1993 saw CSV expand its employee volunteering programme as a response to the increasing number of requests from employers to help involve their employees in the community. Over 3,700 employee volunteers are mobilised by CSV every year, generating at least 40,700 hours of community support.

• In 1995 Elisabeth realised an ambition for CSV with the establishment of the Citizens’ Service pilot projects in London, the North East and Wales. This initiative has since been transformed into Millennium Volunteers, which involves 100,000 young people (16-25yrs) in volunteering projects throughout the UK.

• CSV established RSVP in 1988/9 (CSV’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme). As part of its Primary Care Project,  RSVP now works with more than 270 GPs at surgeries and health centres nationwide. More than 10,000 volunteers assist 15,000 people nationwide. 

• In 1972, with Granada TV and Gus Macdonald (Lord Macdonald), Elisabeth initiated mass volunteering, through Reports Action, a weekly 30 minute television programme, fronted by Anna Ford. 2001 saw the groundbreaking expansion of the CSV Action Desk Network at 36 BBC local radio stations across England, making the charity Europe’s leading specialist in Social Action Broadcasting in Europe.

Other biographical highlights:

During her university career at King's College, Durham and the London School of Economics, Elisabeth volunteered in Israel, worked with children in Kent and in a general hospital.

After qualifying as a medical social worker, she was appointed Assistant Director of CSV in 1963, Deputy Director in 1972 and Executive Director in 1975. 

In 1964, she became Islington’s youngest ever councillor. She has been a volunteer Juvenile Court Magistrate since 1969 and chairs Islington Youth Court.

Her husband Donald, an economist, is Chairman of Skills for Care, and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.  They have two sons and two granddaughters.

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Further press information / images: Jason Tanner, Head of Press on 020 7812 0038 / 07941 433598 or Paul Donohoe, 020 7812 0037.

Notes for editors

1) CSV (Community Service Volunteers) was founded by Dr Alec Dickson in 1962 following his earlier work in setting up VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas).
2) CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Each year 195,000 people give 4.9 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV. www.csv.org.uk