Time Well Spent

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Coordinating volunteers

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It’s important that volunteers have someone to support them. This helps them do their role well and be safe.

It takes time to recruit, train and support volunteers. This should be a clear part of someone's role, not added to an already busy workload.

Volunteer coordinator roles

A volunteer coordinator is generally responsible for organising volunteers.

Some organisations call this role a volunteer manager or volunteer organiser.

A volunteer coordinator's role often includes:

  • finding tasks for volunteers to do
  • recruiting volunteers for the organisation
  • supporting and supervising volunteers
  • highlighting the role volunteers play in the organisation
  • making changes to roles to make them more inclusive and accessible, for example to disabled volunteers
  • developing volunteers and helping them move into new roles.

Volunteer management in other roles

Sometimes people responsible for volunteers have other job titles or roles. Working with volunteers will still be an important part of their job.

For example, a fundraising manager might have to support events volunteers.

Volunteer management is a unique and valuable skill. It's important to make sure anyone working with volunteers has the time and resources to do this well.

Support for volunteer coordinators

Last reviewed: 12 April 2021

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This page was last reviewed for accuracy on 12 April 2021

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