Category: Our Blog

Search for Volunteering Opportunities

New opportunities added daily. Powered by Be Collective.

World Volunteering Conference

20 November 2024

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now The World Volunteering Conference was held in Busan, South Korea in October. Volunteer Now had submitted proposals for a range of sessions and were delighted that two of our papers were chosen. Lindsay Armstrong and I travelled to Busan where we delivered sessions profiling our older people’s volunteering […]

Building Skills to Involve Volunteers

18 September 2024

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now 4 in 10 organisations do not have enough volunteer to meet their primary objectives, while 3 in 10 have seen their volunteer recruitment increase in the past year. This is a finding from the Nottingham Trent VCSE Barometer in May 2024. This report has been followed in August […]

Volunteers are more satisfied with their lives!

18 April 2024

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now New research from NISRA shows evidence for the link between volunteering and life satisfaction, self-efficacy and locus of control. The evidence shows that overall volunteering is a really positive activity for everyone. The report does not look at the reasons leading to these findings, it may be because […]

Shaping the Future Relationship with Government

15 November 2023

by Denise Hayward, Co-Chair Joint Forum – on behalf of the VCS Panel The Joint Forum was set up in 1988 to promote regular dialogue between the Voluntary and Community Sector and Departments of the NI Government. The forum is made up of public sector representatives and a Voluntary and Community Sector Panel (VCS Panel) […]

Sustainable Volunteering – Taking a Step for Net Zero

19 September 2023

by Martin J Cowling & Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now For the average volunteer programme, greenhouse emissions, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and climate change feel very distant. Our focus is usually on mobilising volunteers for our cause or issue and managing them effectively on a tight budget and limited time. As 2030 approaches, however, […]

Volunteers at Events

19 July 2023

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now Volunteers are a huge part of the many community, arts and sports events which are taking place over the next few months. Many organisations involve volunteers in their events and could not run them without the help of their volunteers. Volunteer Now worked with Tourism NI to create […]

Blog post final cost of living survey website

Investigating the Cost-of-Living Crisis: A 9-Month Panel Survey

23 June 2023

by Andrew Hanna, Research & Information Officer, Volunteer Now The Voluntary & Community Sector: A Qualitative Study Investigating the Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis Volunteer Now has been undertaking a piece of qualitative research over the past 9 months, aiming to discover how organisations adapted and found their experience of the cost-of-living crisis. Organisations selected […]

The Big Help Out: The Statistics Behind The Campaign

22 May 2023

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now Volunteering was to the fore as a theme during the celebrations for the Coronation of King Charles earlier this month. The publicity surround the Big Help Out helped to shine a light on the vital role that volunteers are playing every day in our communities. Over the past […]

A Research Snapshot: Volunteering and the Voluntary Sector

21 March 2023

by Andrew Hanna, Research & Information Officer, Volunteer Now Volunteer Now is currently undertaking a 9-month study designed to understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on volunteering. This blog summarises the findings from the second set of interviews, completed in February 2023. For a summary of interview 1 findings, click here: https://www.volunteernow.co.uk/volunteering-the-impact-of-the-cost-of-living-crisis/. WHAT DID […]

Get Ready for Recruitment!

13 February 2023

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now Over the next few months Volunteer Now is planning to focus on recruiting and recognising volunteers in the run up to Volunteers’ Week through our Give It A Go campaign. We know there is a need to focus on recruitment to support rebuilding volunteering in many organisations. Volunteer […]

Guide Dogs NI are currently offering life-changing opportunities for dog lovers in Northern Ireland!

27 January 2023

Guide Dog NI’s Puppy Raisers provide a puppy with a home and the vital foundations for its future role as a guide dog. The volunteers look after a puppy for 12-16 months and guide him or her through training, socialisation, and the introduction of new environments and experiences whilst providing a loving home. There might […]

Volunteering to Rise in 2023?

18 January 2023

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now The impact of the pandemic on formal volunteering in organisations is now well understood. A large number of research reports from across the UK, Ireland and the wider world have outlined the reduction in volunteers and in particular the withdrawal of older people from volunteering roles. This impact […]

Good Relations Awards 2023 – nominate before 16 January!

9 January 2023

The Good Relations Awards 2023 are open for nominations. Building on the previous successes of the Community Relations Council Good Relations Awards, the 2023 Awards categories have been extended to fully recognise the increasing level of outstanding community relations, intercultural and peacebuilding work that is taking place across all our communities. This crucial work is […]

Volunteering: The Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis

13 December 2022

by Andrew Hanna, Research & Information Officer, Volunteer Now INTRODUCTION Volunteer Now is currently undertaking a 9-month study designed to understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on volunteering This is a particularly timely study, given the challenging environment facing not only volunteering, but the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) as a whole. We have […]

Will Volunteers Always be There?

1 October 2022

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now I have been working in volunteering for over 20 years and I can not remember a time when volunteering was so challenging. Every day organisations are telling me of the challenges they are facing to recruit and retain volunteers. On the upside, I am also hearing stories of […]

Tweets by VolunteerNow1