Involving Volunteers in Your Organisation

There has never been a better time to think about involving volunteers. Every year in Doncaster, over a thousand people volunteer for the first time, some of them could be volunteering with your organisation.

People volunteer for a number of reasons, whether it's to meet people, get some work experience, improve their confidence or learn something new. Could your organisation provide opportunities that meet the needs of local volunteers?

Volunteers come from all walks of life. Many already have skills and experience that could benefit your organisation. You will attract the volunteers you need if you create interesting, meaningful and enjoyable opportunities. Since 1991, hundreds of local organisations and groups have registered with the volunteer centre for help in recruiting and working with volunteers.

Ten good reasons to register with the volunteer centre

  1. We can help to effectively set goals, plan timescales, acquire and allocate resources and identify the people you aim to recruit.
  2. We have a variety of templates and information sheets covering ranges of volunteering related subjects such as volunteer expenses, health and safety, volunteer policies and agreements and managing risk.
  3. In addition to regular courses covering Volunteers and the Law, Marketing and Volunteer recruitment and management. We offer bespoke training on request.
  4. If your organisation needs advice or information about anything to do with volunteering, get in touch, we aim to deal with all enquiries within five working days.
  5. In addition to newsletter articles, email bulletins and web pages, we organise conferences, workshops and events where you can find out how changes in legislation and policy are likely to affect your work with volunteers.
  6. We can provide up to date research findings, information sheets and best practice guidelines as well as information about the local and national Compact volunteering codes of practice.
  7. We help local groups to celebrate the work of volunteers by providing certificates, assisting at events and co-ordinating activities.
  8. We have a number of practical and easy to use tools which can help you measure your success including impact assessments, volunteer cost centre toolkit and “In Kind” calculations, all essential for putting funding bids together.
  9. Help you recruit volunteers through our brokerage service*
  10. Registering with the volunteer centre won't cost you a penny.

*Before you can register with our brokerage service, we will need to ensure that volunteers will be:

  • Safe
  • Properly insured
  • Supported and well managed
  • Not used to replace paid staff
  • Reimbursed for out of pocket expenses

We will ask you to provide details of all the volunteering opportunities you want to register with us on a simple form, and once we are satisfied about all of the above, we can go ahead and register your opportunities. You will then receive a welcome pack letting you know that your opportunities have been included in our local volunteering catalogues and posted on www.do-it.org.uk which is the UK volunteering database.

Our customer service staff will promote your opportunities to potential volunteers whose skills and motivations match what you are looking for.