Building a culture of volunteering – Toolkit

This toolkit was developed through a project led by Newport Mind (now Mind in Gwent) that explored how volunteers can be placed at the heart of service design, delivery and decision-making.

Funded by Welsh Government and administered by WCVA through the Volunteering Wales Strategic Grant (VWSG), the project worked with young volunteers across Gwent to strengthen volunteer governance, develop peer support approaches, create progression opportunities for volunteers, and share learning with the wider voluntary sector.

Developed through communities of practice involving volunteer-involving organisations, volunteers and young people, this toolkit provides a practical framework for building an embedded culture of volunteering.

It includes a self-assessment tool, guidance and examples of good practice covering areas such as volunteer voice, communication, flexibility, purpose, connection and appreciation.

During the creation of this self-assessment toolkit, the concept of culture was a recurring theme in discussions with professionals and young people. The concept of volunteering being embedded in the organisation in which it takes place seemed to be central to ideas on how best to work with volunteers.

Initially, this was included this as a key consideration of the self-assessment tool, however it was soon realised that rather than being a key consideration, building this culture of volunteering was the ideal that we were all working towards.

You may find that some suggestions in this document cover many principles of volunteering. The wonderful thing about working to find ways to ensure your volunteers have a positive experience of volunteering in your organisation is that there will often be unexpected benefits.

This means that by implementing just a few ideas from this toolkit, you could see many more improvements in the experience of your volunteers than just the ones you set out to achieve.