Benefits of volunteering

Where can I volunteer and what does it involve?

There are many organisations you can volunteer for and offer your time to support. 

Before deciding where you might like to volunteer, ask yourself what you’re passionate about. Is there a particular cause which is close to your heart? Do you have a hobby or interest which you’d like to spend more time on outside of school or work? 

Do your research before deciding. You’ll be surprised how many places need volunteers right now.

Examples of places that you could volunteer at include:

• Animal shelters
• Care homes
• Local and national museums
• Local libraries
• Local community centres
• Food banks
• Homeless shelters
• Social impact charities

Each volunteering experience will most likely be different depending on the organisation you’re volunteering for. Tasks may include leafleting, fundraising, office admin, cooking and serving meals, and much more.

You may even be able to create your own role and have a say in how you can best offer support. For more tips on how to use your voice effectively, click here.

But why is volunteering important? 

Volunteering is important as it offers vital support to worthwhile causes, people in need, and the wider community. Without volunteers, many small organisations and charities would not be able to continue with the vital work they do.

Volunteer support also allows these places to thrive on a diverse range of people coming together to offer their time, skills, experience, and insight. Find out more about respecting and understanding diversity here.

What are the benefits of volunteering?

Finding connections with new and interesting people in your community

One of the biggest benefits of volunteering is making new connections. Chances are that your fellow volunteers will have similar passions, interests and values. You can form new relationships which can broaden your horizons and widen your friendship circle with people who can teach you something new. If you’re naturally shy or find it hard to meet new people at first it can also help to bring you out of your shell.

Volunteering is good for your mental health

It may sound surprising, but volunteering is fantastic for your mental wellbeing. It can be a great distraction and counteract the effects of stress, anger, and anxiety.

By focusing your time on a new project, cause or group of people, you can gain a new perspective.

It can also give you a greater sense of purpose which can improve your overall happiness and attitude towards life. Further advice on how to stay positive in challenging times can be found here.

Volunteering helps prepare you for the workplace

Volunteering can be a really effective way of preparing for the world of work and improving your employability.

It gives you the chance to experience being part of a team and working with a range of people to achieve a set of tasks or a longer-term goal.

Communication, teamwork, problem-solving and organisation are just a few skills that volunteering can help you develop.

These skills are vital things that employers look for in a potential candidate. Unlike people who have not volunteered, you will already have practised some of these important skills in real-life situations – helping you stand out from the crowd when entering the job market.

Volunteering brings enjoyment and fulfilment to your life

Volunteering is a fun and easy way to explore your interests and passions. It can help you take a break from your usual day to day tasks, and do something new and exciting which you’ve never done before.

Forcing you to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new develops you as a person. It can provide you with renewed creativity, self-confidence, motivation, and vision that can carry over into other areas of your life.

So, what now?

The activities below have all been designed to help you get fully ready to take your next steps - whatever pathway you choose to take. Each set of activities ranges from a short activity which should take no more than 30 minutes, through to portfolio activities, which are longer, project-based tasks. The more time you spend on each activity, the more you'll get out of it, but you should be able to find something each week to fit into your schedule.

Why not start with the short activity first and then work your way through the remaining activities until you’ve completed them all?

Short activity

Think about your hobbies and interests.

• Are there any that you would like to dedicate more time to?
• Is there a way of doing this in a volunteering role?

Next, search for local organisations that are looking for, or who could benefit from, volunteers like you.

For example, a local library may want someone to read stories to learners, or a food bank may be looking for someone with strong computer skills to help process orders.

Being able to combine your interests with local volunteering opportunities is a fantastic way to help others and put your skills into practice in a real-life setting.

Main activity

Think about how you can combine what you're good at with an issue that you care about.

• If you are great at public speaking and care about the environment, can you do a speech to your class or school in assembly about why the issue is important?

• If you are great at basketball, can you organise a fundraising game, using the sport to highlight an important social issue that you care about?

Consider the how, what, when, where and who in terms of who will support you to do this action plan.

• Write up your plan in an easy-to-follow format (e.g., a calendar, a 200-word brief.)

This is the start of a social action plan that you can take forward and start to make real, positive change in your local community while also developing your employability.

Portfolio

Pick a cause you’re passionate about and create an advert to attract volunteers to support your cause.

• Make sure to include the different ways they can volunteer (both fundraising and awareness raising), and the benefits of volunteering to their personal lives, as well as for future university or job applications.
• Be clear about the type of skills that you'd be looking for volunteers to support with. For example, do you think your cause needs people with particular skill sets or job experience?

Once completed, share the advert with other people and see how many people answer the call. This activity demonstrates a series of skills such as communication, creativity, negotiating and persuading, to name but a few, which you can then talk about at a future interview.

PSHE lesson

Select a local cause that students would respond to (e.g., a new homeless shelter, a food drive, devices for schools)

• Split students in groups and ask them to create a pitch to bring the issue to the attention of the local council.

Make sure students think about how it would aid their local community, how they would recruit volunteers, and refer to our online network guidance to consider how they might promote it online.

• Ask students to present their pitches to the class, and provide constructive and positive feedback.

This activity will get students to think about how they can address social change at a community level.