COVID-19 Community Response, Wales

In six areas across South and West Wales our volunteers are helping thsoe at risk of loneliness and poor mental and physical health during COVID-19.

COVID-19 Response Programme

Our COVID-19 Response programme includes projects operating on a local and national level, with new roles to support the community during the pandemic.

Employee Volunteering with Volunteering Matters

Our Employee Volunteering team has over 24 years’ experience of providing tailor-made service support to employers developing their own corporate volunteering and business volunteering programmes.

Equip Clacks

Volunteer mentoring opportunities across the 'Wee County', supporting young people aged 15-18.

Equip Mentoring (Ipswich)

Equip Mentoring provide support for young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Equip Suffolk

Equip Mentoring provide support for young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Equip+

Being out of work for a long time can leave people feeling isolated. Equip+ connects people with volunteer mentors from their community, who support them with goal planning and guidance.

Futures Matter

Futures Matter trains and supports volunteer leaders to devise and run volunteering initiatives for the benefit of their local community in Ipswich.
filmon grandmentors intergenerational mentoring

Grandmentors

Grandmentors: building better futures for young people leaving care in 11 areas of the UK. Volunteer Grandmentors share their skills and experience with young people leaving care to help them get on in life.

Health Champions Warwickshire

Running for one year in Warwickshire. Harnessing the power of volunteers to engage their local community in healthy living.

Journey Makers

We're working with local partners to help them recruit Journey Makers, keeping people safe on the transport networks as lockdown restrictions ease.

Match and Mentor

Through our fantastic volunteers, Match and Mentor provides support for individuals with learning difficulties and additional support needs to volunteer.
Newport 360 logo

Newport 360

Through tailored support and advice, Newport 360 is a new partnership that supports people in Newport to overcome the challenges they may face.  
A smiling man

Peer Perspectives Clackmannanshire

Led by volunteers aged 16-25, who have been supported and trained by our team, these young people want to play an active role in their community by championing mental health, whilst developing their own skills at the same time.
RCT 360 logo

RCT 360

Through tailored support and advice, RCT 360 supports people in Rhondda Cynon Taff to overcome the challenges they may face.   RCT 360 is a collaboration between Artis Community Cymuned, Mental Health Wales, Sgiliau and Volunteering Matters, designed to remove barriers to opportunities and employment by offering tailored support, advice and mentoring.  By offering the support … Continued
Our Response to COVID-19

RESPECT Project

Family support packs free Children Packs User-friendly, informative and engaging packs for primary-school aged children! Two new packs a month for families Each pack consists of 48 pages packed with fun and resilience-building activities free Adult Packs Information around COVID-19 and family activities. Adult packs come in five languages: English, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish Order your online-pack today by … Continued
People aged over 50 volunteering

RSVP

For over 30 years RSVP – Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme – has been enabling people aged 50 and over to contribute their energy, enthusiasm and experience as volunteers for the benefit of their communities.

The Loop

The Loop gives beneficiaries the opportunity to become volunteers. It enables participants to access the social group as and when they need support, progress onto the Goals Group when ready and take their learning further within the Projects Group.

We Are Patrick

Inspired by Ipswich-based project WASSUP, We Are Patrick is a youth social action programme delivered by young men in Ipswich.

Telephone Befriending Volunteer Co-ordinator – Older People

The Telephone Befriending coordinator role will essentially be offering regular chats to vulnerable older people which reduce isolation and connect older people to others. The Telephone Befriending coordinator role might include helping to create new ideas to support people via phone or encouraging people to join other group activities.

Grandmentors – Volunteer (Suffolk)

Volunteers will be matched to a young person who is out of employment, education or training to provide mentoring, guidance and skills development.

Grandmentors – Volunteer (Surrey)

Volunteers will be matched to a young person who is out of employment, education or training to provide mentoring, guidance and skills development.

Team London Young Ambassadors – Youth Social Action Volunteer

Team London Young Ambassadors delivers a Youth Social Action programme to Alternative Provision, Pupil Referral Units and Special Educational Need and Disability schools. The programme will deliver in school sessions that encourage and support young people aged 10 – 18 to explore issues that are meaningful and relevant to them, inform system change and address … Continued

Pen Pal Volunteer

Matching volunteers with people who want to receive friendly letters, combatting loneliness and isolation across the UK as part of Getting Together Matters.

RSVP West – Fundraising volunteer

We are looking for an over-50’s volunteer, resident in the RSVP West area, who would like to help the Regional Coordinator with fundraising.

#PinYourThanks for Volunteers

We're delighted to support the #PinYourThanks initiative. People volunteering their time to help each other has saved countless lives in the most difficult of circumstances. Buy your badge and say thanks to volunteers today.

Volunteering during a lockdown

With social distancing and lockdown measures, it’s easy for people become isolated and lonely, especially those who may be older and more at risk from corona virus.

Grandmentors and Hounslow Allies

All local authorities have a statutory duty to provide independent visitors to all children in care (aged 8 – 16+) who would benefit. In Hounslow, London, we’ve been providing an Independent Visitor Service – Hounslow Allies – for over 12 years. We also run Grandmentors in Hounslow. Grandmentors is an intergenerational mentoring programme that matches … Continued

WASSUP: Amber’s Story

'It feels to me that I have gone full circle in the volunteering world, by starting as a volunteer and being empowered by the staff there, to becoming a staff member myself and empowering the next generation of volunteers.'

Full-Time Volunteering: Carers’ Support Bexley

The role of a Full-Time Volunteer (FTV) can be very varied, and supporting full-time carers is just one of the ways that FTVs provide incredible support to those they volunteer with. Volunteering Matters has been working with Carers’ Support Bexley for over 20 years (back when we were known as Community Service Volunteers!) and we … Continued

Get Out Get Active: Asmita’s Story

Following a difficult start in life, Asmita has found real purpose, positivity and friendship through volunteering with the Get Out Get Active programme.

Family Supporters Edinburgh – Impact report 2021

Family Supporters in Edinburgh offers practical and emotional support to families across the City of Edinburgh, empowering them to face a range of life challenges. We recruit, train and match dedicated, local volunteers to help families every step of the way, spending 1-1 time together on a personalised set of goals chosen by the family, … Continued

Covid Impact Report, 19 Oct 2020

This report highlights the impact we had in the first six months of the pandemic, and the amazing response of our volunteers.

Priorities for the Plan

Now the NHS has turned 70, and with the Government preparing a long-term plan for the service in England, a broad range of leaders in charities and voice organisations have come together to offer our views on what should happen next to improve health and care – within the NHS and beyond.

#WeAre60

This year marks our 60th birthday! Find out more about our plans and how to get involved!

Job Bridge – Erasmus+ project

The Job Bridge project has come to an end. We are glad to announce that we have been able to achieve the aspired result. Here is what we did, in a nutshell: As part of the Job Bridge project, facilitators of learning initiatives for young people participated in an extensive training course in Göttingen in February … Continued
A smiling man

New consortium to support #iwill announced

We’re delighted to share that today Step Up To Serve have announced that Volunteering Matters and UK Youth have formed a new consortium to deliver key functions of the #iwill movement. We can’t wait to work together to keep growing the #iwill movement and ensure young people can lead change through social action. Read the … Continued

The Massive Get Together

On Thursday 17th September, we are uniting with 9 other amazing charities to respond to the impact that COVID-19 is having on the charity sector by staging The Massive Get Together in a bid to raise £500,000 together! 

Call for UK-based Full-Time Volunteers!

Are you…. Aged between 18 and 30? Wondering what to do next after COVID-19? Wanting to help others and make a real, tangible difference to their lives? Currently based in the UK? Willing to volunteer for up to 35 hours per week? We need you! You could be supporting someone with a disability to live … Continued

National scheme announced to help keep transport users safe

Today, 23 May 2020, the Secretary of State for Transport, Rt Hon Grant Schapps announced that national charity Volunteering Matters will coordinate a volunteer response programme – Journey Makers – to help keep people safe using transport networks as lockdown restrictions are eased. Volunteers, called Journey Makers, will be offering guidance, providing friendly advice, reminding … Continued

Welcome to our new trustees

As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, Volunteering Matters wanted a range of different backgrounds and experiences to be part of the Council of Trustees, and these new appointments reflect the diverse range of communities the charity works with and supports through volunteering.

Volunteers honoured at the Royal Garden Party 2019

Our volunteers and guests from projects running across Scotland were nominated to attend as a gesture of thanks for their commitment to their roles supporting vulnerable people in the community.

Sunshine Cafe celebrates anniversary

Sunshine Café, which acts as a social hub for the village of Leeswood celebrated its first anniversary. The morning’s filling included the usual fare of hot chocolate, teacakes and laughter.

Volunteering Matters announces new President

Lord Freud has been appointed the new President of Volunteering Matters. He succeeds Lord Levy, who has made an outstanding contribution in his twenty years as President.

Grandmentors programme wins National Mentoring Award

Volunteering Matter’s Grandmentors programme won a prestigious national award recognising its transformational work in mentoring young care leavers. The Grandmentors programme received the honour in the Third Sector category at the recent National Mentoring Awards, in recognition of the 1:1 support that Grandmentors provide young people leaving care. One of the key areas that impressed … Continued

#iwill Ambassadors reflect on launching the Vision for Volunteering

 By Aoife Murphy, Communications Manager, with Emma-Jane Hampsheir-Gill, Gracie Chick & George Fielding As part of Volunteers Week and in time for Power Of Youth Day, we want to champion the voices of the young people who launched the Vision For Volunteering and were instrumental to the inclusion of a wide range of voices and perspectives … Continued

Getting Together Matters

Once you get past the initial strangeness of online video calls, the genuine interaction with others can be a game changer.
A group of people meeting the queen - scan of older photo

A royal trip down memory lane

For Volunteers' Week and to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, we asked our Grandmentors Warwickshire Engagement Manager, Farzana Topia, to share one of her most treasured memories as a volunteer.

Volunteer Expo Live 2022

The UK’s national Volunteering Show has landed! Volunteering Matters is delighted to be involved in Volunteer Expo Live, a national event that seeks to connect volunteers, organisations and the charity sector together under one roof in order to help introduce more people to the world of volunteering. Volunteer Expo Live, which is being hosted by … Continued

RSVP, Emma Thomas-Hancock, Director of Delivery

At Volunteering Matters our strategy is all about being ‘place based’ and how that impacts communities. The volunteer leaders and organisers of RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Programme) have been leading the way and championing this approach for over 30 years! They do this by leading and organising local place-based social action in communities across the … Continued

Work With Us: James Donnelly

James Donnelly is Project Manager of Family Supporters in Edinburgh. We asked James what it feels like to work at Volunteering Matters. Here’s what he said: My journey with Volunteering Matters started in 2015 as a volunteer with North Lanarkshire Befriending Project.  It was my first volunteering role – I was matched with someone to … Continued

Health Champion, Paramveer Sanghera & friend, Will Mann, create a free wellbeing app

Health Champion Paramveer (Paz) and friend Will Mann, founder of Spudg Studios, have developed a free well-being tracking app called Sentient. Paz is a volunteer Health Champion with our project Health Champions Warwickshire, empowering volunteers in the local community to connect  with individuals and community groups to make healthy lifestyle choices. What is Sentient?  Sentient … Continued

International Women’s Day 2022: Making Work Work for Women Returners

Today is International Women’s Day 2022 – #IWD2022 –  an opportunity to celebrate women everywhere by amplifying this year’s powerful theme;  #BreakTheBias.  As #IWD2022 highlights, whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough, action is needed to level the playing field. That’s why today … Continued

Abigail’s story: Volunteering with Mind Matters #iwillweek

My name is Abigail and I am a student volunteer with the Mind Matters project. I identified that some of the participants struggled to understand the information and material used. As a student-volunteer, I made it my mission to ensure that accessible resources were created so that everyone, regardless of learning ability, is empowered to … Continued

Ben’s Story: Why Volunteering Matters #iwillweek

My name is Ben Robinson and I am a 17 year old  volunteer at Volunteering Matters. Before I started volunteering, I was a pupil in Abersychan Comprehensive School but I did not do very much in my spare time and I procrastinated the things that I needed to do.  I found out about Volunteering Matters … Continued