Top tips for Choosing a Volunteering Role

You may choose to volunteer for a variety of reasons. It may give you the chance to give something back to the community or make a difference to the people around you, or it may provide you with an opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing experience and knowledge. The main thing is that you find your volunteering role both challenging and rewarding. Here are some things you might like to consider:

• Why – have a think about why you want to volunteer. This will help you to choose a role or opportunity that matches what you hope to get out of volunteering
• What – draw up a list of the things you would like to do in a volunteering role. If you would like to use the skills and experience you already have, make sure you can describe what they are. If you want to learn new things, what do you want to learn?
• Which – you may already have an organisation or cause that is close to your heart, but if not, do some research into the organisations that are looking for volunteers to see if you like what they are doing. Have a look at their policies and procedures for volunteers if you want to check what training or support you might get.
• When – decide how much time you have to give to a volunteering role and whether a regular time would suit you or if you would prefer to volunteer as and when needed. If you haven’t volunteered before, you might like to try some short-term or one-off volunteering to start with to see if volunteering is for you.
• Who – if you hope to meet new people through volunteering, check out whether the role you are interested involves meeting other people. Some organisations have made sure volunteers are still able to keep in touch online, even when their volunteering has moved to being done from home. If you would prefer to volunteer with other people, look out for roles suitable for groups or families.
• Where – volunteering happens all over the county and in many different locations, indoors and outside. Many volunteer roles have changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and there are many more home-based roles at the moment, which expands the areas you might like to consider, including volunteering for national charities. Some volunteering is still happening in person with precautions, and you need to decide whether you would be happy with this.

If you feel unsure about what kind of volunteer role would suit you, the Voluntary Norfolk Volunteering Team is happy to talk though your ideas and offer support with making the best use of the Get InVOLved Norfolk platform. Please get in touch: volunteercentre@voluntarynorfolk.org.uk