How Reach's unique service supports purposeful connections

By Holly Meacham / Head of Service & Operations at Reach Volunteering

June 03, 2026

In 2025, more people than ever volunteered their skills through Reach and charities and groups posted a record number of opportunities on the platform. This resulted in the highest ever number of successful placements in a year.

The detailed figures released in our Impact Report paint a picture of increasing need but also of increasing success in meeting it. The numbers are reinforced by inspiring stories from charities, groups and volunteers who share their experiences of using Reach to volunteer or recruit volunteers.

But what is it that makes the Reach platform such a rich source of successful experiences? In this blog, we’ll explore one of the key unique features that makes Reach more than just a volunteer jobs board.

A unique service built around connection

Reach doesn’t just provide a list of volunteering opportunities; it’s a space built around connection, agency and shared purpose so people who want to share their skills can find the charities and community groups who need them. A crucial part of this is our unique search: the option for organisations to search our volunteer community, and suggest their role to people who are a good fit.

Volunteers are asked to create a profile when they join Reach. Profiles share a little bit about each volunteer’s background, the type of role they’re ideally interested in, and the causes that especially appeal to them. We encourage them to include a photo too. Volunteers can then decide if they want to share their profile and invite contact from organisations.

Those that choose to share their profiles appear in our ‘search’ – currently around 10,000 incredible people with an enormous array of skills, expertise and experiences that they are ready to share with good causes.

Organisations can then reach out directly to people whose skills and interests are a good fit for their role, starting conversations with volunteers who may never otherwise have seen the opportunity.

But what makes search and suggest valuable goes far beyond the mechanics.

Two-way proactivity

Traditional advertising relies on sharing an ad, promoting it and then waiting for people to apply. This absolutely has its place and is an important part of recruiting well and inclusively. But our search and suggest means that organisations can actively seek out the people and skills they need, giving them greater ownership and agency over their search.

This is especially important when recruiting for specialist skills that may be harder to come by, or in-demand expertise like fundraising, where competition for volunteers can be high.

It also means that volunteers aren’t passively waiting for the perfect opportunity. They can be clear about what they want to contribute, the causes they care about, and how they want to help.

“You’ve got that two-way connection. It’s not just an advertising site where you put the advert up. You can also search and reach out to people who have the skills you need.”

The Friendly Food Club, Liz Guilmant-Cush

Building confidence

Being able to see some of the amazing people who make up our volunteer community, and understand the breadth of skills and perspectives on offer can make a real difference in how people recruiting for volunteers feel. It can help them feel more confident about the process - that people are willing to help and share their expertise.

It can also broaden organisations’ thinking about the kinds of skills, capacity, insight and connections volunteers could bring - often beyond what they initially imagined possible.

This is especially important for those new to working with skills-based volunteers, or recruiting for trustees externally for the first time, who might be understandably hesitant.

“One of the things that really helps bring that to life is being able to see the people on the platform. When food banks look through Reach and see individuals sharing their profiles - with their photos, their professional backgrounds and the skills they’re offering - it suddenly makes the idea of recruiting very real. It helps boards understand what’s possible and gives them the confidence to ask for skills they might never have thought to look for before.

Trussell Trust, Miranda Beebe

Fostering human connection

Volunteering is ultimately about relationships. Skills and experience matter enormously, but so does trust, shared motivation and the feeling that someone understands your organisation and wants to help it succeed.

Our search option creates opportunities for those personal connections to happen earlier and grow during the process. Seeing someone’s profile, understanding their interests and starting a conversation can help make the process of recruiting volunteers more person-centred, as well as helping volunteers feel more informed and comfortable about what’s involved.

“The Reach platform makes it very straightforward to advertise roles, but what I also find really useful is being able to look through people’s profiles and reach out to them directly. You can see their background, their skills and often a photo, and that helps you build a picture of the person and think about how they might fit with the organisation.

“For a small charity like ours, that makes recruitment feel much more human. You’re not just posting an advert and hoping for the best, you can see the people who are interested in volunteering their skills and start conversations with them.”

YourStory, Duncan McIntosh

For volunteers, this early connection is an important part of making a judgement about whether the people, culture and environment in a charity or group is a good fit.

Finding essential specialist expertise

Sometimes, organisations need niche skills or advice to help them move forward in particular areas. At those times, speed is often important, and our search and suggest function can help them connect quickly with the expertise they need.

Being able to search by skill area and keywords can be especially helpful here, allowing charities and groups to find a specific skill or someone who can support with a particular system, tool or challenge.

Reaching out directly allows organisations to explain why someone’s experience stood out, what support is needed and why it matters - often leading to faster, more focused connections.

"When I started Climate Ed, I was completely dependent on Reach... On a daily basis I was thinking, “I don’t know how to do that” – and I would post a role on Reach and connect with someone who did.

“What makes Reach so useful is how easy and efficient the platform is. Instead of relying on your personal network or trying to figure everything out yourself, you can quickly connect with people who already have the expertise you need.”

Climate Ed, Ben Cuddon

Why it matters

We’re incredibly proud of the community that makes Reach possible: the volunteers willing to share their time, skills, networks and experience, and the charities and groups working every day to create positive change. Helping them to connect matters.

When organisations can access the expertise and networks they need, they become stronger, more resilient and better able to support their communities and causes. In turn volunteers find agency, purpose and community.

Reach is designed to foster human connection between the two, enabling and empowering people to find each other. Our unique search and suggest feature is a powerful part of making that initial connection happen and in turning it into lasting impact.

“Reach made those connections possible. It’s not just about listing roles - it’s about finding people who are genuinely aligned with what you’re trying to do. The calibre of people and the integrity of the process meant we could trust that we were bringing in the right individuals, and that makes all the difference when you’re building something from scratch.”

Solas for Nature, Vicky Junik