Advertise your opportunities for volunteers

Many charities have needed to furlough staff at a time when demand for services is increasing.  At the same time, many people who volunteer may not be able to – especially if they’re being advised to stay at home.  Furloughing however does offer an opportunity for our community to work with new volunteers to meet increased demand and adapt to new ways of working.

The basis of the furlough scheme is that staff must not be carrying out work for their employer during the furlough leave period. However, furloughed staff can undertake volunteer work, as long as this does not provide services to or generate funds for their own employer. Many charities and businesses have furloughed staff who have skills and experience could be extremely valuable to charities. Through our networks we have an opportunity to advertise volunteering opportunities to a field of talented and motivated volunteers.

How to post your vacancy

Complete our contact form, using the subject line “volunteering vacancy” and provide the following information:

– Name of your organisation

– Descriptive title for your volunteering opportunity

– Brief description of the nature of the role (not exceeding 30 words)

– Link to downloaded the role description and details of how to apply OR an email address that potential volunteers can use to request further details

Things to think about before posting your vacancy

This service is promotional only. Genetic Alliance UK bears no responsibility any resultant for the volunteer placements. You should satisfy yourself that:

– Your organisation has an up-to-date volunteering policy. You can find guidance from NCVO on what to include in your policy here:   https://knowhow.ncvo.org.uk/your-team/volunteers/keeping/policy

• Volunteers working with children or vulnerable adults have been DBS checked by getting a Disclosure and Barring Service check on them. DBS checks are free for volunteers and a basic check takes up to 14 days. You can order a DBS check for a prospective volunteer through one of these listed ‘responsible organisations’ .  If the applicant has signed up for the DBS update service you can check whether their certificate is up to date online.

– Your insurance covers your new volunteers. Even if your charity does not employ staff your insurance should cover employers’ liability cover for volunteers. Check whether your insurance policy:

• includes volunteers
• covers the activities volunteers will be doing
• states any age limits for volunteers

Promoting your volunteering vacancies

We will post your volunteering vacancies online and promote them through social media channels and via our networks. Vacancies will remain on our listing for a maximum of two weeks but we ask that you notify us should the vacancy be filled so that we can take down the post.