New national volunteering platform seeks to reach a new generation of supporters
An exciting new national platform is coming to volunteering this October. Developed by Royal Voluntary Service and powered by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, its launch is backed by a significant media campaign with ITV, designed to inspire a new generation to support the causes they care about.
Though primarily focused on developing pipelines of new volunteers for registered charities*, the platform innovates by offering a range of non-traditional roles, including employee and corporate volunteering opportunities, designed to create a breadth of touchpoints with potential new supporters.
Experience suggests many donors start their giving journey as volunteers, so this ‘always on’ national platform may well have a useful role to play in any broad supporter recruitment strategy.
Building a pipeline of new supporters
Built around a simple ‘click and connect’ ethos, volunteers can filter their search by cause, location and availability, helping them find the quickest, smoothest pathway into a new supporter journey. The innovative ‘on board once’ feature also includes a handy built-in identity check, saving volunteer-involving organisations time in their onboarding process.
Builds around existing recruitment plans
The platform primarily as an opportunity finder – doing for volunteering what Rightmove did for house hunters, empowering their search and growing reach and awareness for all. It also adds value by integrating into an existing workflow; an open API (with developer documentation and bulk uploads) will be available from launch, and RVS intend to follow this up with integrations with several popular volunteer management systems, making it easy to re-publish opportunities from one platform to another.
Integrating into your supporter strategy
For charities seeking to integrate their volunteering offer into a wider giving or supporter strategy, the platform’s launch offers a timely opportunity to connect these strands. To get ready, charities are advised to register for the new platform now and begin to upload their volunteering opportunities. This short video explains more about the platform, and this more detailed briefing walks organisations and Volunteer Leaders through the platform and how it works.
*Please note at launch the platform will only support charities registered in England, Wales and Scotland.
