Why connection matters: Reflections from the Co-Chairs from Vita Terry and Amy Sanders
Every year, our trustees generously carve out a day from their already full schedules to step away from inboxes, meetings, and the steady hum of day-to-day responsibilities. Our annual away day is more than a calendar fixture; it’s a space to reconnect, reflect, and re-energise our shared purpose as VSSN.
One of the most valuable aspects of the away day is the simple act of being in the same room together. Trustees who usually collaborate digitally, and have a broad geographical reach across the UK and even to Denmark, have the chance to meet face-to-face, welcome new members, and build relationships that deepen trust, form strong communication, and support positive collaboration.
Hearing where people come from, what motivates them, and what they bring to their role is something Zoom can never quite replicate. Every year, we leave with a greater sense of who we are as a team and a stronger commitment to the VSSN ambition and vision.
A moment to pause and celebrate our successes
We took time to welcome our wonderful new trustees to the board who include: Peter Horner, Clare Harewood and Kate Burns who have already brought energy and valuable insights to the board. They are joining the rest of our incredible board which includes Ellen Bennet, Petra Buresova, Stephen Craker, Jurgen Grotz, Daniel Haslam, Caitlin McMullin, James Rees, Bethany Sikes and Jo Vincett. Please see our People page to find out more about our trustees.
The board together with our marvellous Executive Officers, Meg Wright and Dez Innocent, were able to plan ahead for the coming year. We spent time celebrating the recent achievements of VSSN, which includes the day events, VSVR conference, VSSN communications, the small grants scheme and the new researchers activities. Each of these is led by a sub-committee. We also reflected on what’s working and where there is room for improvements. We welcome thoughts and suggestions from our members on any of these too.
Facing challenges together—with creativity and optimism
Like many membership-based organisations, we’re navigating strong headwinds: increasing costs for events, shifting engagement patterns, and changing member needs. We are mindful of the challenges that are facing our colleagues in academia and the voluntary sector, and how VSSN needs to adapt to stay useful and relevant for you all. These strategic discussions shape the direction of the network and ensure we’re building on strong foundations.
The away day gives us an opportunity to name these challenges openly—and more importantly, to generate collective solutions. With everyone in the room, ideas spark differently. Thus we have spent time discussing how to ensure VSSN’s membership and the Voluntary Sector & Volunteering Research (VSVR) Conference are accessible to all our relevant partners across the voluntary sector itself and the voluntary sector infrastructure bodies, across academia, and for policymakers and funders. We are looking at creative ways to learn from our members and build on our membership offer and how we communicate all of the opportunities available through VSSN. We’e also spent time reflecting on our internal structures, to make sure that our sub-committees are working well and think about the governance systems that need to be in place.
This collective problem-solving is one of the biggest strengths of VSSN.
Ways to connect and become involved with VSSN.
So what lies ahead for the coming year? We will of course be continuing with the great work that is already happening in VSSN, which includes supporting the new researchers, distributing our small grants scheme, organising the day events and the two day annual VSVR conference. If you are keen to get involved and volunteer with any of these sub-committees please do reach out to us. In addition to these activities, look out for new initiatives to establish new collaborations and bold new ways to engage with practitioners in ways that are meaningful and useful for your work. We are also really excited about innovative ways to advance equality, equity, diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our work, with a particular focus on wellbeing this year.
We have an exciting year ahead of events which we will keep everyone updated on. For now pencil the following in your diaries:
- 16th April – New researchers online career session
- 23rd April – Power of Us conference hosted by BVSC
- VSVR annual conference 2026 including new researchers day (further info to be shared imminently)
