During the next seven days thousands of volunteers will be celebrated at events across the UK to mark Volunteers’ Week. The annual campaign recognises the contribution volunteers make to our communities every day and we want to say a huge thank you to our fabulous Volunteering Matters volunteers.

We know, through years of successful work, that investing in people through the power of volunteering makes a tangible difference to the volunteer, the beneficiary and society as a whole. Our volunteer programmes help to improve health and wellbeing; build stronger, more inclusive communities; and achieve lasting results.

We believe that everyone can play a role in their community and throughout the coming week we’ll be exploring some of the most prominent issues around volunteering, and how we can enable as many people as possible to ‘make a difference’.

Stay tuned to hear from Volunteering Matters experts and guest authors on everything from barriers to volunteering to top tips for recognising volunteers.

We’d also love to hear about how you’re celebrating this week – follow us on @volunteering_uk and share your Volunteers’ Week stories.