Information for organisations
With nearly three decades of experience in the voluntary sector, we can help you through the process of recruiting volunteers for your organisation.
What to do before you recruit volunteers
Before you start, you’ll need to plan ahead to ensure success in both placing and retaining volunteers. Think about your recruitment process, about confidentiality and data protection, and insurance and health and safety issues. You will also need a clear mission statement for your organisation, and an equality and diversity policy. We can help you with all this.
Create a description
A role description should include as much information about the volunteering role as possible. This can include a list of duties, tasks and responsibilities as well as the commitment required from the volunteer. A list of necessary and desirable skills and contact details are also useful.
Budget for volunteer expenses
You should budget for volunteer expenses when planning to recruit volunteers. Expenses incurred while the volunteer is carrying out their role within your organisation should be reimbursed. If you are able to pay travel expenses, childcare costs, meal allowances or similar these need to be agreed with the volunteer at the start of the placement.
Supporting your volunteers
A common reason for volunteers leaving projects is that they don’t feel the organisation cares about them. You need to give volunteers regular support. This can be structured, such as regular one-to-one appraisals, or less structured, such as a telephone call. You should tell volunteers from the start how much and what kind of support they will be receiving.
It’s also advisable to allocate a member of staff or another volunteer as a point of contact for new volunteers and make this person known to them at the start of their placement. They will then know who to turn to if they have any questions or concerns.
Setting up a new group
If you are thinking about setting up a new group and involving volunteers for the first time, we can help. It is important to think how volunteers could be an asset to your organisation and to put the volunteer infrastructure in place before you start recruiting volunteers.
You will find it useful to read our Good Practice Guide for comprehensive guidelines on managing and supporting volunteers.
Register with us today
Advertise your volunteering roles to find the people you need
The link below will take you to our Simply Connect registration site