Volunteering
For many VCSE organisations volunteers are mission critical, with some being entirely volunteer-run and others being supported by volunteers to deliver crucial services.
Effective volunteering, and volunteer-led organisations and projects, require support behind the scenes. We at Voscur extend our advice and support to volunteer involving organisations and volunteer managers, coordinators and organisers.
Read on to find out more about how we can help your organisation support and empower volunteers – both potential and current.
Looking to volunteer yourself? Check out advertised opportunities shared by our members and local organisations on the Voscur website here and on the Can Do Bristol website here.
Valuing Volunteering & Volunteer Managers
Between November 2024 and October 2025 Voscur supported 106 unique volunteer managers to deliver effective volunteering programmes and volunteer led services, whilst also maintaining their own wellbeing and motivation.
‘The opportunities have been something of a rock in some stormy seas!’
Our Vision for Volunteering Project: Phase 1, kindly supported by The Nisbet Trust, saw these key people grow their confidence, knowledge, skills and wider support network. We offered a programme of 1 to 1 support, round table discussions, networking opportunities, training workshops and facilitated peer learning and reflective practice spaces.
We wanted volunteer managers, by the end of the programme, to:
• have a wider range of people they can go to for support, feel more connected to others and feel less isolated in their roles
• obtained increased skills and knowledge needed to recruit and retain the volunteers their organisation needs
• feel better able to support volunteers with lived experience, specific barriers to taking part, and/or more complex needs
Of those feeding back to us all volunteer managers involved to date have told us they have developed their knowledge in at least one area of practice, with the majority feeling they have developed in at least four. A significant majority told us they felt either ‘a lot’ or a ‘quite a bit’ more connected to others, appreciated for their work and confident in their ability. We have lots of lovely stories of putting volunteer managers in touch with each other to work on specific challenges.
‘The support offered and the connections created have been hugely valuable.’
This was all complemented and underpinned by the popular Bristol Volunteer Organisers’ Forum, which we co-convene, and a new online group and mailing system – for sharing questions, ideas and resources as needed.
Volunteering Resources
Over the last year we’ve been working hard to produce a series of resources introducing key topics in volunteer management. We asked volunteer managers what topics felt tricky, and went away to draft some guidance! Many of these resources have been co-produced in partnership with volunteer managers and we extend our thanks to all involved.
Choosing a Volunteer Management System
In a time of both ever advancing technologies and ever stretched budgets making an informed decision about which Volunteer Management System (VMS) to procure, if any, is an important one. We’ve developed an introduction to this topic, in partnership with colleagues in Bristol City Council’s volunteering team which is available here. We have also created a comparison table of some of the popular options currently – this is available on request to local VCSE organisations.
‘We are working on updating and improving our practice and policies. Every bit of training helps us to do the very best for our volunteers and our community’
‘Having a community that I can tap into really helps me to feel supported. Knowing that it is there is enough to lower my stress levels’
1-1 Support
If you’re a volunteer manager, organiser, or coordinator in Bristol and you’d like to reach out to us for a 1 to 1 chat about your work and where we might be able to support you we’d love to hear from you.
Examples of specific situations we have supported volunteer managers with recently have included: formalising volunteer management processes; how to work out what level of DBS check a voluntary role is eligible for; establishing specific volunteering programme partnerships to reach new cohorts of potential volunteers; ways to embed both volunteers and good practice in supporting volunteers within wider organisation; how to support a volunteer going through a difficult time whilst holding appropriate boundaries.
We have a track record of being able to sensitively discuss complex topics, give appropriate advice, and support people to come up with their own solutions and actions. Where needed we can signpost to further reading and support.
