Need Volunteers?

Volunteer Cornwall is the volunteering charity for Cornwall. Part of our role is to support voluntary, community and public sector organisations to find volunteers.

The benefits of engaging with volunteers are well known but you may not be aware of the range of help we are able to offer. When looking for new volunteers your local volunteer centre will generally be able to offer advice and guidance with:

• Putting together a recruitment campaign.
• Targeting your marketing at the right audience.
• Composing your volunteer role description.
• Getting the message out through newspaper and other media.
• Placing your opportunity on the national volunteering database: do-it.org

We already support over 1500 Voluntary and community groups across the county offering continued support to fill their volunteer placements. Additionally we have a range of projects and schemes that can offer extra support for particular client groups (such as those looking to return to work or with learning disabilities).

Your local Volunteer Centre will act as a point of liaison; even if you want to advertise and recruit from the whole of Cornwall you will still have a single point of contact.

Our offices cover East, Mid and West Cornwall but please note that we also provide an outreach service in Newquay, Falmouth, Truro, Penzance, Bude, Launceston, Torpoint and Looe.

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Working with Atlantic FM, we are now able to feature your opportunities and volunteers on air through the week to give a boost to your volunteer recruitment. Please contact your local Volunteer Centre Manager for more information.

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Top Five Tips for Recruiting & Keeping Volunteers

 Most of the host organisations we recruit volunteers for are always on the look out for more volunteers. So how can you boost your chances of being the cause someone chooses to donate their time to? Here are our Top 5 Tips:

 1) Make your ad stand out. Remember you are competing with hundreds of good causes and thousands of volunteering placements. Ask someone not associated with your cause to read your volunteer ad and give honest feedback – does it entice them?

 2) Keep it flexible. The more flexibility you can offer with things like times and roles, the more people will be interested in applying. Have you considered allowing volunteers to set their own times or volunteer from home, for example?

 3) Be clear about the benefits of volunteering with your organisation. What do you offer? Do you pay travel expenses, provide lunch or refreshments, allow volunteers to have a say in the running of the task?

 4) Give your volunteers feedback. Offer individual appraisals to talk about how they are getting on but try and focus too on what difference they are making. That’s why people volunteer, after all.

5) Recognise and reward your volunteers. Certificates to recognise a volunteers efforts or just the occasional “thank you” can make the difference between a volunteer staying put or moving on. Why not nominate your volunteers for the ‘Cornwall Celebrates Volunteering’ Awards?