Volunteering
We are committed to supporting, enabling and celebrating volunteering in all its diversity. Volunteering is someone spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone who they're not closely related to. Volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual.
NCVO doesn’t broker or place volunteers in charities directly but we have a selection of resources to help you find a suitable opportunity.
Volunteer management
Knowhow Nonprofit is NCVO's main information and guidance site and offers a range of resources on volunteer management including a Studyzone video training course Good Practice in Volunteer Management.
We run training courses on volunteer management throughout the year. Take a look at our event listing to find out more and browse our training.
Our publications include the best-selling Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit. We also have some free volunteering downloads for NCVO members, on topics including DBS, health and safety, and expenses.
We also run bespoke consultancy on a variety of volunteering themes. Find out more about our consultancy and how to get in touch.
Volunteer Centres
Volunteer Centres are our local delivery partners, providing assistance to individual volunteers and volunteer involving organisations.
Volunteers' Week
Volunteers' Week is an annual event, coordinated by NCVO, which takes place on 1-7 June, recognising and celebrating the contribution made by volunteers nationwide.
National Volunteering Forum
Our National Volunteering Forum brings together volunteer-involving organisations and volunteer infrastructure bodies from around England to discuss issues of shared concern, feed into NCVO’s policy positions and to network. We run three events every year, including at least one outside of London.
Previous forums have discussed a variety of topics:
- Volunteering and wellbeing, February 2018
- Volunteering and digital – transforming how we give time, September 2017
- Full Time Social Action Review and Election 2017, May 2017
- Volunteering in the public sector - what can charities learn? February 2017
- Volunteering and social cohesion in a post Brexit world, September 2016
- Demonstrating the impact of volunteering, May 2016
- Employer supported volunteering, November 2015
- The post-2015 general election landscape, July 2015
Accreditation
Investing in Volunteers (IiV)Benchmark the quality of your volunteer management and involvement. |
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Investing in Volunteers for Employers (IiVE)The UK award recognising commitment to best practice in employer supported volunteering. |
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Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation (VCQA)Strengthen your organisation, provide a better service for your users and increase funding. |
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Approved Provider StandardThe national quality standard designed specifically for all types of mentoring and befriending projects. |
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NCVO offers a 10% discount on quality standards for members. Take a look at all our quality standards.
Step on Board
Step on Board trains and helps your senior employees and emerging leaders to take up positions on the boards of charities and other organisations. It's an innovative volunteering programme which is a cost-effective and sustainable way of providing professional development. Employees will be given training, their skills then matched with an organisation, coaching while in post and finally an impact assessment will take place after the placement.
Research
NCVO works to positively influence the external environment on behalf of the voluntary sector. One of the ways in which we do this is through our policy and research work. We have developed a strong evidence base on voluntary sector issues and work with our members to influence government and other decision makers.
- NCVO UK Civil Society Almanac provides statistics on volunteering and the voluntary sector.
- The Institute of Volunteering Research evidence
- Read more about NCVO's policy work around volunteering.
Latest press releases
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29 November 2017
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24 April 2017
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20 April 2017
Latest volunteering blogs
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Posted on 13 April 2018by Will Downs in Blogs
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Posted on 12 April 2018
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Posted on 28 March 2018by Shaun Delaney in BlogsLoading...
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Posted on 27 March 2018by Harriet Pearce Willis in BlogsLoading...