Reach reviews all organisations, opportunities and volunteers that are posted to our site before publishing them. We do this to ensure that they meet our criteria and acceptable use policy.
Reach reviews all organisations, opportunities and volunteers that are posted to our site before publishing them. We do this to ensure that they meet our criteria and acceptable use policy.
Once you’ve completed your volunteer profile, our Service team will check the information you have provided to ensure that it meets our criteria for volunteers, namely that you:
We allow organisations to recruit trustees with lived experience of their cause, that may not also have three years’ experience. You are welcome to apply as a guest if you are interested in a lived experience trustee role and you don’t meet our experience criteria.
Completed profiles are an important part of ensuring our service is as effective as possible so we will also check that your profile is completed fully, including a biography, and a list of your interests and skills. Before your profile goes live, we will contact you and ask you to fill in any sections where information is missing.
We have established criteria to help us ensure that we achieve our aims in promoting trusteeship and skills-based volunteering. All volunteers, organisations and roles advertised on our site are reviewed against this criteria before they are published on the platform.
Additionally, we screen the information provided by volunteers to ensure that it is comprehensive. Providing the right information supports better searches by both the volunteer and organisation and ultimately, more successful volunteer placements.
Selecting the most relevant skills will result in better matches for you and organisations looking for volunteers. Need help picking the right skills?
Reach supports people to volunteer to share their professional skills with good causes. Our website is used by charities and not-for-profits to find volunteers and trustees with the expertise to help them thrive.
To ensure that organisations find volunteers with the skills they need, we ask that all Reach volunteers have at least three years’ professional experience.
Unfortunately, we are unable to accept volunteers that don’t yet meet this criteria. For example, we won’t be able to register your profile if you are looking for an internship, or to develop skills in a new area. We ask for three years as this amount of time allows for experience to develop. This also means that our volunteers can offer organisations ideas, advice and expertise that is firmly rooted in practical application, so organisations can get the help they need to achieve their aims.
We do allow organisations to recruit trustees with lived experience of their cause, that may not also have three years’ experience. You are welcome to apply as a guest if you are interested in a lived experience trustee role and you don’t meet our experience criteria.
If you do not have at least three years’ professional experience or lived experience (for trustee roles only), please don’t let this stop you from exploring volunteering. You might find it useful to take a look at www.gov.uk/volunteering, which includes a list of volunteering websites. We wish you the best of luck with your volunteering journey, and would love to hear from you in the future.
We believe strongly in the importance of diverse and inclusive boards, and the value of having a broad range of perspectives at the table, so yes, please do apply for the role!
Volunteers who do not meet our criteria for professional skills but would like to apply for a lived experience role are welcome to apply using a ‘guest’ account. If you don’t have a CV, you will need to add a covering letter instead, but you don’t need to disclose any details that you are not comfortable sharing. If you require any support, please contact the service team, who are happy to advise.
We do not carry out reference or DBS checks.
However, volunteers should be aware that organisations are encouraged to do their own due diligence, particularly for board placements or if a volunteer role involves working with sensitive data or individuals.
Unfortunately, as a small charity with limited resources, we are unable to accept volunteers that don’t live in the UK. This includes volunteers originally from the UK that are currently living abroad. However, please get in touch if you do find yourself back in the UK.
If you are based outside of the UK and would like to become a skills-based volunteer, we would encourage you to look into opportunities in your region. You may find the following websites useful:
No. As a small charity with limited resources, we are unable to sponsor visa applications, or support volunteers to arrange visas. We cannot advise volunteers on whether the charities that recruit using our platform can support you with visa requests. Please kindly note that if we receive any personal information such as passport copies, ID photos or other visa documentation, we will delete it immediately.
If you are based outside of the UK and need advice, you may find the following website useful:
We do not post internship roles or work experience placements on our website. Our focus is skills-based volunteering and organisations use our service to recruit for volunteers that have an existing level of professional experience.
If you are a volunteer seeking these types of opportunities, you might, however, find the following services useful:
Best of luck with your volunteering journey, we would love to hear from you in the future.
