Shaping the future of volunteering in Buckinghamshire: Latest Update

Volunteering has the power to strengthen communities, improve wellbeing and bring people together. Through the Volunteer Bucks Inclusive Partnership (VBIP), we’re working to make volunteering across Buckinghamshire more accessible, inclusive and rewarding for everyone.

Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and delivered in partnership with the Buckinghamshire Health and Social Care Academy (BHSCA), this five-year project is helping to remove barriers to volunteering, strengthen Volunteer Bucks and support organisations to create more inclusive opportunities.

Here’s a look at what we’ve achieved so far and what’s next.

Making volunteering easier to find and do

Making volunteering simpler for people to find the right role and easier for organisations to benefit from stronger volunteer matches.

• We have continued to strengthen and promote the Volunteer Bucks platform, helping 1,200 people since the project’s launch find volunteering opportunities that match their interests, skills and availability.
• We’ve introduced personalised webinars and training sessions for organisations, helping them to use the platform more confidently and maximise its reach, as well as volunteer drop-in sessions.
• We’ve improved our Volunteer Bucks website including new information and support sections, enhanced volunteer resources and the launch of a Community Noticeboard.
• We have continued to highlight volunteering stories through case studies, helping organisations attract volunteers who are the right fit for their roles.
• Following her year as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, Pippa Kirkbride has now become our Community Impact Bucks’ Volunteering Ambassador, championing volunteering and promoting Volunteer Bucks across the county.
• We have also worked with the council and partners to reinforce the importance of volunteering being intrinsic to Buckinghamshire’s social infrastructure and economy.
• We have delivered awareness campaigns and engagement activities including Student Volunteering Week, Volunteers’ Week, International Micro Volunteering Day and Volunteer Voices, helping to celebrate volunteering across Buckinghamshire and inspire more volunteers.
• As part of Volunteers’ Week celebrations, we have visited charities and community organisations across Buckinghamshire spotlighting the people, community organisations and volunteers helping our communities to thrive.

Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on promotion and engagement, enhancing support to those using the platform, and ongoing development of the Volunteer Bucks platform to respond to emerging needs from volunteers and organisations.

Reimagining volunteering and volunteer roles with organisations

Working with local organisations to create more flexible and inclusive volunteer roles shaped around the lives of today’s volunteers.

• We have launched a Volunteer Bucks pulse survey to understand how volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) currently design volunteer roles and incorporate volunteers’ needs. We will share this feedback soon.
• This will help establish a stronger evidence base to inform future activity and ensure volunteering continues to evolve in response to changing needs.

Building stronger cross-sector connections to support volunteer movement

Strengthening links and collaboration between the VCSE, health and social care sectors to support volunteers to move more easily between organisations and roles.

• In partnership with Buckinghamshire Health and Social Care Academy, we have focused on listening to volunteers, volunteer managers, community groups and health and social care partners to better understand how we can make it easier for people to volunteer and how we can retain our volunteers.  
• We have identified opportunities to improve collaboration between organisations to create these opportunities, helping volunteer managers learn from one another and to make training more accessible.  
• Learning has highlighted that cross-sector volunteering journeys are unlikely to follow a single, linear pathway. People engage with volunteering with different motivations, intentions and desired outcomes, and this insight is shaping our approach to multiple pathways, progression and support. 
• We have begun exploring how organisations can work more closely together to better understand where volunteers are needed and where there are opportunities for people to volunteer.  
• This work has been intentionally exploratory in year one. Going forward, activity will focus on understanding more about volunteers’ motivations and experiences of moving between organisations, and what kind of movement or progression matters most. We will also be introducing cross-training and promotion, phasing integrated volunteer roles, piloting volunteer incentivisation and upskilling approaches, and strengthening VCSE and health and social care infrastructure. Together, this pathway focused work aims to improve volunteer experience, support recruitment needs, long‑term engagement and contribute to shared priorities around supporting people to remain well in their communities. 

Making volunteering more inclusive and accessible

Identifying barriers to volunteering and creating more inclusive opportunities. 

• We have been working with organisations, community leaders, underrepresented communities and those with lived experience to better understand barriers to volunteering and how to make volunteering more accessible and inclusive. So far, this has included working with BucksVision, BuDS, WheelPower, Wycombe Youth Action, Switch Lanes CIC and Youth Concern, as well as attending community events such as the Bucks Youth Summit to listen to local experiences and views of volunteering. 
• Planning for further codesign workshops is already underway, and we will use what we have learned to share recommendations with organisations and develop new initiatives to create more inclusive and accessible volunteering opportunities. 

Creating new volunteering opportunities for students and employer-supported pathways

Expanding volunteering opportunities for students and employer-supported volunteers. 

• We have had early conversations with local employers to explore opportunities for employee-supported volunteering and wider business involvement in volunteering across Buckinghamshire. 
• This work complements ongoing efforts to increase opportunities for students and other groups who may benefit from more flexible and accessible ways to volunteer, helping to ensure that volunteering can fit around people’s lives and commitments.

Looking ahead

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Volunteer Bucks Inclusive Partnership project so far. The insights, ideas and experiences shared by volunteers, organisations and partners have been invaluable in shaping our work and informing the next stage of the project.

We’re excited to build on this progress and continue working together to make volunteering across Buckinghamshire more inclusive, accessible and rewarding for everyone.

Finally, we’d like to thank The National Lottery Community Fund for supporting this project, and National Lottery players, whose contributions make initiatives like this possible, helping to strengthen communities and improve lives across the UK.