Volunteer recruitment, management and retention is challenging at the best of times. The cost-of-living crisis has made it harder, with people questioning if they can even afford to volunteer. Being unable to afford travel costs or having to opt for paid work instead, are just some of the barriers our members have reported to us.
So, The Big Help Out has come at a key time.
As part of the celebratory and community events that will take place over the coronation weekend, on Monday 8th May there will be a national campaign to showcase how volunteering benefits both communities and the people who take part. The long-term aim is to get more people volunteering who traditionally don’t consider it.
The Big Help Out will encourage people to try volunteering for themselves and join the work being undertaken to support their local areas. The aim of The Big Help Out is to use volunteering to bring communities together and create a lasting volunteering legacy from the Coronation Weekend. So if you fancy volunteering for setting up and running a street party, as your first volunteering experience, you may want to then volunteer for one of the many volunteer opportunities on Wiltshire Together. The platform is great for looking for volunteering opportunities as it enables you to scroll through specific roles that fit your interests and preferences.
People can sign up nationally to volunteer but Wessex Community Action is also encouraging people to volunteer locally across Wiltshire.
If you’re a community group looking to offer volunteer tasters days on the 8th May, you can create taster volunteer opportunities that can be linked to this campaign page.
How can you take part locally?
As a local voluntary and community sector organisation or charity you can support the Big Help Out by:
- Holding volunteer taster sessions or volunteer-involving events across the weekend, and on 8th May.
- Using publicity to highlight other longer-term volunteering opportunities for your organisation after the coronation.
- Post all your volunteering opportunities on Wiltshire Together and link it to our Wiltshire Coronation campaign page, where all activities, events and volunteering opportunities for the coronation will be centralised.
But it doesn’t end there. You will be able to access resources, share volunteer success stories from the weekend, make new connections, join our volunteer managers forum and have the opportunity to promote your longer-term volunteering opportunities as part of the lasting volunteering legacy from the Coronation weekend.
Volunteering opportunities are as diverse as the communities we live in: from grassroots social action and helping out in a local voluntary organisation, to regular volunteering roles for a large charity or in the public sector.
The Big Help Out will help us tell this story, especially for people who may not see volunteering as something for them.