The Volunteer Centre Network

What are Volunteer Centres?

The Volunteer Centre Network is made up of hundreds of local Volunteer Centres throughout England. Their primary purpose is to get more people volunteering in their local area.

Volunteer Action, Tower Hamlets

Catherine Bavage explains how her organisation works with YouthNet

"We advertise almost 450 volunteering opportunities through YouthNet on behalf of many local organisations within Tower Hamlets. Potential volunteers email us to express an interest and we then respond to these enquirers via email, forwarding them the contact details for their selected opportunities and offering them the chance to meet with one of our advisors if they need more support or information.

Working with YouthNet has helped many organisations within Tower Hamlets recruit volunteers. We've particularly noticed a significant increase in the number of volunteers from African and South East Asian communities. 

I would recommend any small organisation looking for volunteers to work with their local Volunteer Centre. to get their opportunities in to the do-it system"

They do this by:

Brokerage of volunteer opportunities;

Marketing volunteering;

Good practice development;

Developing volunteer opportunities;

Policy response and campaigning;

Strategic development of volunteering.

To find out more about what Volunteer Centres do here.

How do Volunteer Centres work with YouthNet?

One way Volunteer Centres promote volunteering to the public is by posting opportunities into the National Volunteering Database (and subsequently on to the do-it.org.uk website). By working with your local Volunteer Centre, you can simply and cheaply get your opportunities in front of a large audience. 

Over 370 Volunteer Centres partner YouthNet and together we are responsible for providing over 700,000 opportunities to volunteer. Nearly 200,000 volunteers have registered to find volunteering roles across the country. 

"I would recommend any small organisation looking for volunteers to work with their local Volunteer Centre to get their opportunities in to the do-it system."*

Get involved

At YouthNet, we're totally committed to further expanding the National Volunteering Database and diversifying the opportunities within it. So if you're a local organisation and you wish to publicise your opportunities go to this page on do-it.org.uk to find your nearest Volunteer Centre.