The Ian McInnes Award is awarded to a Volunteer Involving Organisation in memory of Ian McInnes (1969 to 2017) in recognition of their contribution to improving equality and accessibility in volunteering.
This may be as a result of their creative approaches to reaching and recruiting volunteers; their flexible and inclusive ways of engaging with and supporting volunteers or how they share these techniques with other organisations to improve volunteering for all.
A Quote from Ian
In June 2020, for obvious reasons and to our great disappointment, we were not able to host our annual Inspiring Volunteer Awards. Instead the Inspiring Volunteer of the Year 2020 was awarded to The Citizens in recognition of the enormous contribution volunteers across the city made throughout the pandemic. You can find out more about this on our site here. For this reason there was no Ian McInnes Award awarded for 2020.
Lothian Bi-Polar Self-Help Group received the Ian McInnes award at the City Chambers this year in recognition of their very real and important commitment to their volunteers.
Previous Winners of the Ian McInnes Award
| Award | Organisation | Date | Photo | Website |
 | Citizens Advice Edinburgh (CAE) | 06 June 2018 | view photo | Citizens Advice Edinburgh (CAE) |
 | CAPS Independent Advocacy | 05 June 2019 | view photo | CAPS Independent Advocacy |
 | Held in Our Hearts | 01 September 2021 | view photo | Held in Our Hearts |
 | Citadel Youth Centre | 01 June 2022 | view photo | Citadel Youth Centre |
 | Lothian Bi-Polar Self-Help Group | 07 June 2023 | view photo | Lothian Bi-Polar Self-Help Group |
Ian’s family and Volunteer Edinburgh very much hope that the Ian McInnes Award will encourage other organisations to think the same way and create roles for volunteers no matter what issues those volunteers have. As Ian would have said, “just go for it” as you never know what positive experiences it might lead to for both the organisation and the volunteer!
