Shaping the Future with Volunteering

We have come together as national charities to build on the momentum created during the pandemic.

Leading volunteer charities working together

We believe volunteering can play a transformative role in creating the kind of society we all want to live in

Volunteering can help address the biggest challenges that we face from COVID recovery to mental health to climate change.

We must and will continue to change and develop how we work and engage with all communities. We are building on our heritage of decades of delivering through volunteering, but modernising our approach to fit today’s expectations and opportunities.

Our members

Many of the country’s leading volunteer involving charities, have launched their shared commitment to support all communities across the UK to be dynamic and welcoming places for volunteering.

Find out more

About Shaping the Future with Volunteering

We will work together across four main action areas:

1 / Understanding

We’ll tell our story together, promote better understanding and celebrate the power of volunteering. We’ll highlight the contribution volunteering makes to the economy and society. We’ll share our insight from volunteers’ experiences and how that shapes our activities and impact assessment.

A younger woman keeping an older woman company

2 / Inclusion

We have a shared commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and will learn from the best examples of volunteer engagement across diverse demographics, geographies and cultures. With this knowledge we’ll extend our reach together, listening to more diverse voices and challenging our own perspectives. We’ll particularly seek to connect with those communities who face the most challenges in pandemic recovery, including areas of deprivation and Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

A young woman making a delivery in the pandemic

3 / Support

Our work will be shaped by volunteers and we’ll learn more about valuing volunteers and how they can be better supported. We’ll review the accessibility of our systems to make it easier for more people from different backgrounds and circumstances to become volunteers, have their skills and experience recognised, and their safety protected. We will enable people to volunteer in a way that better suits their needs and personal priorities.

We’ll increase recognition of and support for the value of volunteering in promoting health and well-being of volunteers themselves. Working with partners, we’ll share approaches to evaluation of volunteering activity and the results of that evaluation.

Two women keeping each other company in a kitchen

4 / Partnerships

We’ll work with other volunteer-involving organisations of all shapes and sizes, learning from each other. It is only by working together that we can realise the potential of volunteering in post-pandemic UK. We’ll work closely with government, business and other agencies. In delivering on our commitment, we will highlight areas where government action can enable the voluntary sector to realise the potential of volunteering to society and the economy. We will support our national sector bodies (e.g. NCVO) in taking these messages to Government. This includes the impact that government regulatory requirements can have on volunteer-involving organisations.