Illustration of a person navigating at a wayfinding sign

What is skills-based volunteering and how will it help my organisation?

Is your organisation new to recruiting skills-based volunteers? Have you always wanted to recruit skills-based volunteers but you're not sure how it all works? Here we will outline how skills-based volunteers can help you, and why you should consider recruiting volunteers with skills.

What is a skills-based volunteer?

A skills-based volunteer is an experienced person who volunteers to share their professional skills with a good cause for a specific project or an ongoing role. The volunteer’s expertise could include a wide range of specialisms such as HR, digital, finance or marketing - areas which are generally under-resourced in the charity sector. 

How can a skills-based volunteer help my organisation and why should I think about recruiting a volunteer with skills?

Skills-based volunteers can make a huge difference to good causes, adding capacity, growing capability and helping them to innovate. Many charities are quite small and staff are often generalists, so the input of volunteers with several years of experience in a specialism can make a real impact. Skills-based volunteers can bring in expertise to back office functions that are crucial to the charity's work but are seldom well resourced.

For example, if you need support with getting your accounts in order, but do not have the skills or resources on your team, you could recruit a volunteer bookkeeper. 

Want to update your charity's logo? You could recruit a graphic designer with experience in branding, who can help you to define your needs, and work with you to design a fresh new logo.

Have a big data management project coming up but need support on where to start? Connect with a GDPR specialist to come in and advise you.

These are just a few examples of how skills based volunteers can make an immediate impact and add immense value to charities.

Hear from organisations like yours

We are lucky enough to get wonderful feedback from organisations that have recruited skills based volunteers through our service, here is what they have to say: 

We placed an amazing videographer through Reach earlier this year who has done some really valuable pieces of video work for us

– Dan Smith, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice.

Thanks to Reach, we have amassed a wonderful group of incredible volunteers over the years who have high calibre skills and have helped us grow in ways we have only ever dreamed of.

– Lucy Thompson, The Nipple Innovation Project.

Ready to recruit skills-based volunteers? Get started by joining our community.

See what volunteers can achieve

Want to know what volunteers could do for your organisation? From building websites to transforming brands, here are some recent stories from Reach volunteers. 

photo of a classroom of students sitting at blue desks, writing. There is a teacher at the front of the class, next to projected presentation on a white board. There are bookshelves around the room and colourful signs and art on the walls.

Making a big impact in climate education

Ben Cuddon, Co-founder of Climate Ed explains why his charity would be nothing without its community volunteers.
Read more...
image shows a water colour drawing of 3 buildings, one in blue, one purple and one green.

From an unfinished website to a thriving community site

When the pandemic put a halt on plans for their new website, Pannal Village Hall turned to a volunteer for some much needed support.
Read more...
picture of a young person with long dark hair and glasses, sitting in front of a blue sofa and lily plant. The wall in the background is grey.

Using words to Shade the UK

Shreya Kapur of Shade the UK tells us how content writers recruited through Reach are helping to raise awareness about overheating and its harmful impact on humans.
Read more...