Community volunteer roles in todmorden, west yorkshire

About NEUROMANCERS

NEUROMANCERS is a peer-led organisation providing autonomous, abolitionist, and accessible mental health care for and by the neurodivergent+ community. 

NEUROMANCERS was founded in 2021 by then-fifteen-year-old Aiyana Goodfellow in response to the lack of politicised community spaces for neurodivergent individuals. After years of incredible work, we are re-launching in 2025 in our new and improved form. 

We are...

• Youth Founded

• Black Led & Centred

• LGBTQ+ Led & Centred

• UK Based & Globally Grounded

What does ‘NEUROMANCE’ mean?

To NEUROMANCE means to 'fall in love with divergence'.

The mainstream healthcare system fails our community by labelling neurodivergent+ people 'defective' and 'disordered'. 

NEUROMANCERS seek to provide an alternative. Instead, we fall in love with divergence. Our traits are neither 'curses' nor 'superpowers'. We are simply people surviving a society that oppresses and excludes us in the best ways we know how. 

NEUROMANCERS is here to support you, at whatever stage of the journey you are on - by providing autonomous, abolitionist, and accessible mental health care, by us and for us. 

What is ‘neurodivergent’?

Neurodivergent means 'to diverge from the expectations of neuronormativity'. We use the term neurodivergent+ to include those under and adjacent to the neurodivergent umbrella.

NEUROMANCERS work centres neurodivergent individuals, with particular emphasis on those who are also Black and/or LGBTQ+. 

We know that many people who are severely impacted by neuronormativity and ableism may not specifically identify as neurodivergent. Therefore, our term neurodivergent+ acknowledges these extended and adjacent groups.

What are the benefits of volunteering?

All volunteers will receive training relevant to their role. Volunteers have access to our Volunteer Support Fund, complimentary membership, monthly check-ins, and support from our volunteer coordinator. 

You’ll also be part of an incredible community working with and towards autonomous mental health care! 

We are looking for volunteers who can dedicate their much-valued time and passion to an abolitionist community organisation seeking to create alternatives to mainstream mental health care. 

About the Role

The Administrative & Operational Coordinator Volunteer will provide essential support to ensure smooth day-to-day operations of NEUROMANCERS. This role involves handling administrative tasks, financial coordination, and operational design to improve efficiency across the organization.

Key Responsibilities:

• Administrative Support:

  • Manage straightforward administrative tasks (e.g., contacting people, making phone calls, sending emails, making queries on behalf of the organisation and the Founder).

  • Assist with proofreading and editing documents.

  • Handle contracting for guest workshops (inputting key details into pre-written contracts and ensuring they are signed).

• Financial Coordination:

  • Support basic financial management (e.g., tracking expenses).

• Operational Design:

  • Develop and implement systems to streamline repetitive tasks and improve organisational efficiency.

  • Identify opportunities for process improvements within volunteer teams and individual workflows.

  • Designing and outlining visual representations of workflows and systems for accessibility. 

Ideal Candidate:

• Strong organisational and administrative skills.

• Detail-oriented with excellent proofreading and editing abilities.

• Proactive problem-solver who can design efficient systems.

• Comfortable with basic financial tasks and contract management.

THIS IS AN UNPAID VOLUNTEER ROLE.

About White Ribbon Alliance UK

White Ribbon Alliance UK is an intersectional feminist charity working to end gender-based violence and advance gender equity in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). We focus especially on marginalised and underrepresented communities.

Through research, advocacy, training, and systems change, we centre the voices of women, girls, and trans and non-binary people across the lifecycle of sexual and reproductive health. Our programmes are grounded in intersectional feminist values and led by lived experience.

About the Role

We are recruiting Campaign & Content Volunteers to help us deliver two major campaigns this autumn:

• Big Give Women & Girls Match Fund: A national matched-funding campaign to raise £20,000 to confront medical misogyny in sexual and reproductive healthcare.

• Free From Harm awareness campaign: Spotlighting the impact of obstetric violence on women, girls, and pregnant people, especially those from marginalised communities.

Volunteers will play a key role in creating and sharing social media content, amplifying campaign messages, and helping us engage supporters during this critical fundraising and awareness window.

What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll join a small, supportive team and contribute in ways that suit your skills and capacity. Tasks may include:

• Designing graphics and visual content using Canva

• Drafting or editing captions for social posts (optional)

• Helping schedule and share campaign content across platforms

• Amplifying posts and messages during campaign week (8–15 October)

• Creating simple thank-you or update posts to keep momentum going

• Supporting with community outreach and sharing materials locally

We’ll provide all content briefs, guidance, and check-ins so you’re never working in isolation.

What You’ll Get From It

• Practical experience in digital campaigning and content creation

• Clear briefs and supervision from WRA UK staff

• The chance to see your work published on national campaign platforms

• Credit on campaign posts if you’d like to be named

• Flexible, remote working on your own schedule (3–4 hours per week minimum)

• A meaningful role supporting justice in maternity and reproductive healthcare

• A reference or LinkedIn recommendation upon successful completion

Who This Role Is For

We’re looking for people who are:

• Familiar with Canva (essential)

• Familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, or similar (essential)

• User of Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and/or TikTok (preferred)

• Comfortable using or learning social media scheduling tools

• Interested in digital campaigning and creative storytelling

• Passionate about equity in gynaecological care and reproductive justice

• Organised, responsive, and able to meet agreed deadlines

• Team players who enjoy collaboration in a small, supportive group

Preferred but not essential: Experience creating social media content or digital campaign materials.

Diversity & Inclusion

We highly value diversity and strongly encourage applications from individuals in underrepresented communities, including but not limited to: Black, Asian, disabled, chronically ill, LGBTQ+, and retired individuals.

Residency and Legal Eligibility

• Applicants inside the UK must already have the right to volunteer. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship.

• Applicants outside the UK may volunteer if laws in your country of residence permit you to undertake the tasks described here with an overseas charity.

East London Waterworks Park is looking for illustrators, animators and graphic designers to help campaign in the creation of our new park with natural swimming ponds.

East London Waterworks Park is a volunteer-led charity that has won a 2024 New London Architecture award and raised £2m towards buying land from the Department for Education to transform the 14-acre Thames Water Depot on Lea Bridge Road on the border of Waltham Forest and Hackney, into a new biodiverse park with natural swimming ponds, forest schools and community spaces. 

We are looking for illustrators, animators and graphic designers to contribute to our community-led working circle who are working on coordinating our digital marketing. 

There is opportunity to lead on projects across content creation, social media, film or any other channels of interest, and facilitate the direction of the working circle.

The Comms Circle currently meets fortnightly on a Tuesday evening on Google Meet and spends voluntary time outside of the meeting completing agreed tasks remotely.

While technical skills are essential, we also value your ability to think creatively and strategically. You should have experience in creating engaging visual content for various platforms that will engage stakeholders and decision makers, such as public reports, presentations for decision makers, social media and websites. A strong understanding of storytelling and the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively through visuals will be invaluable. You should be comfortable with community-led processes. Our roles are quite flexible. We hope that people bring radical imagination, peace with nature, and courageous inclusiveness to the role. 

Contribute to the creation of a new biodiverse community-owned park with free access natural swimming ponds.Your creative talents will be invaluable in bringing the park’s biodiversity to life. Through your illustrations, animations, and graphic designs, you’ll help us create visually captivating content that inspires, educates, and engages our community, stakeholders and decision makers. Your work will play a vital role in fostering a strong connection between people and nature, ultimately creating the park’s future.

Sharing Seeds

We are a non-profit organization empowering rural communities in Nepal through organic Arabica coffee farming, beekeeping, and women-led community tourism.

Across Nepali villages, many young people migrate to the Middle East and other countries in search of better income, often working in harsh, risky conditions for very little pay—and sometimes losing their lives. At Sharing Seeds, we encourage local youth and women to rediscover opportunities at home by engaging in sustainable cash crop farming and community-based enterprises.

By promoting modern agricultural practices, we help farmers transform unused land into thriving organic coffee and beekeeping ventures. At the same time, we create fair-wage opportunities for rural women, enabling financial independence and stronger families.

Based in Sarangkot Pandeli village near Pokhara, Nepal’s tourism capital, Sharing Seeds is building a future where communities flourish through sustainable farming, women’s empowerment, and authentic tourism experiences.

Graphic Designer (Stickers)

Volunteer Role Description (remote, unpaid)

This is the role for the interested creative volunteer with great experience in graphic design, who can create an outstanding sticker for our locally produced organic Coffee Cascara (Outer layer of dried arabica coffee) , sourced from our more than 100 small community farmers. We need this sticker to design and print as a label on our paperkfat packets to sell in the market and to travelers who come to our place for a visit.

Weekly Time Commitment

2-3 hours per week

Duration of Volunteer Role (remote)

3-4 weeks

Lived Experience Board Member (Advisory Role)

About the Role
At Living Reasons, we believe that real change comes from lived experience. To make sure everything we do is relevant, effective, and grounded in the realities of people’s lives, we are creating a Lived Experience Advisory Board.

This is a non-executive, advisory role. Board members do not carry trustee responsibilities but instead play a vital part in shaping and guiding the organisation. The insights and perspectives of our board members will directly inform the decisions of our trustees, helping us stay focused on what truly matters to the people we support.

How the Board Works

• The board is made up of different lived experience groups, each focusing on particular areas.

• Members can meet in their groups to share experiences, support one another, and identify key issues.

• Groups can also set up their own sub-groups where needed.

• Each group decides what information it wants to share with Living Reasons — members are always in control of their voice.

• From time to time, the full board meets together to discuss wider themes, shared experiences, and how these can guide the direction of Living Reasons.

What You’ll Do

• Share your lived experience in a safe, respectful group setting.

• Take part in discussions, focus groups, and community support activities.

• Contribute to shaping campaigns, policies, and services.

• Review materials, research, and proposals and give feedback to help the organisation grow.

• Be part of a supportive community that uses lived experience to drive meaningful change.

Who We’re Looking For

• People with lived experience of chronic pain conditions, either:
   

  • through your own personal experience, or
     

  • as a supporter, caregiver, guardian, or family member.
     

We will keep these as two separate groups (personal experience, and supporter/caregiver) so that conversations can be open and relevant to each perspective.

Why Join?

• Your experience will drive real change — in Living Reasons and in wider society.

• You’ll be part of a community where lived experience is valued, respected, and heard.#

• You’ll have a direct line to trustees and a say in how resources, campaigns, and priorities are shaped.

What is the plan?

The person who is starting the charity up is autistic, has ADHD, CPTSD and also multiple physical conditions that effect daily life and is part of the LGBTQ+ community and has faced a lot of issues in life because of these things.

Living Reasons is being created to fix what we think is a challenging situation that is getting harder to achieve every week, month and year in the current economic, political, environmental and societal landscape. It is not easily defined but we hope the charity objects below will help put context to what we want to achieve, what we can say is that below are the issues we are trying to address, how we do this will change as quickly as society does, but the issues we want to tackle are these:

1) Outdated and damaging employment practices

2) Accessibility to services

3) Limited employment, training and education opportunities

4) Lack of support during times of crisis or need

5) Lack of equity and agency for many people in society

6) Institutional discrimination that is not challenged

7) Abuse of the legal system at all levels

8) Abuse of power in government bodies

9) Poor access to healthcare

10)  Unequal treatment of many people in society by large corporations

11)  Assumptions made by wider society based on incorrect, outdated or discriminatory rhetoric that is used in daily life

12)  Outdated company engagement with the public

13)  Lack of support that is not talked about and not being addressed

Our Living Values -

Creativity

1) Imaginative Development (Individual)

2) Instilled Collaboration (Internal)

3) Changing The Status Quo (External)

Prospectivity

1) What Can You Do (Individual)

2) What Can We Do (Internal)

3) What Can They Do (External)

Revolutionary 

1) Inspire With Confidence (Individual)

2) Boundaryless Innovation (Internal)

3) Challenge Traditions (External)

Attentivity

1) Analyse and Redesign (Individual)

2) Rebel and Reform (Internal)

3) Enquire and Reimagine (External)

Join the pack. Lend a hand. Change lives. Join your local fundraising group as a volunteer.

Are you looking for a volunteering opportunity where you can meet new people and raise funds that will change lives?  Join a Guide Dogs group near you for fun, fundraising and four-legged friends.

Did you know it costs £102,000 to raise, train, and support a guide dog from birth to retirement.

We have a range of roles from being a group member, to taking on a lead role such as Group Coordinator, Deputy Coordinator, Treasurer, Merchandise Coordinator or Collection Box Coordinator.

Why become a fundraising volunteer:

As well as making a huge difference to people’s lives, volunteering with your local Guide Dogs fundraising group is a great way to spend some of your free time and give back.

• Inspire people to support Guide Dogs and make a difference to someone with sight loss.
• Have fun finding new events and places to volunteer at.
• You’ll meet lots of special dogs – from young puppies in training to incredible guide dogs in partnership.
• You’ll empower others to get involved with Guide Dogs.
• You’ll learn new skills and we’ll provide all the training you need for your role.
• You can take on as much or as little as you want, and you can fit the role around your other commitments.

Who you are:

We appreciate our volunteers’ passion and energy, but we also value your unique skills, perspectives and personalities.

• Inspire others: Do you have lots of ideas that could motivate others? We need more inspirational volunteer leaders and fundraisers who can bring their energy and unique perspective to our local fundraising groups.

• Bring your skills: Could you help organise a calendar of events, take care of ordering merchandise, or count the funds raised by your local team? We need more volunteer treasurers, secretaries, and merchandise coordinators to support our fundraising groups.

• Help take Guide Dogs into your community: Are you well connected or do you love going to new places and meeting new people? We need more volunteer fundraisers to help at our events and spread the word about our work.

Training and pre-agreed expenses available.

Visit our webiste to see what roles are available where you live. 

Winners Group Initiative

Winners Group Initiative works to improve the lives of marginalized youth, women, children, and people living with HIV/AIDS through education, entrepreneurship, and sustainable, community-driven change. Addressing challenges such as poor-quality education, inadequate healthcare, discrimination against marginalized groups, and lack of skills, they run four key programs. Education provides resources and support to 10 local public primary schools, with special focus on girls’ education. Community Development fosters collective action and skills training for employment. Advocacy empowers marginalized voices to influence decisions. Health promotes preventive care, strengthens local facilities, and extends grassroots services—creating lasting, equitable improvements in the community.

Trustee

Volunteer Role Description (remote, unpaid)

We wish to have volunteer board members/ trustees who will create a UK based winners group initiative office. They will:

Work on governance, financial oversight, navigating foreign regulations, managing international partnerships, and ensuring global accountability.

Weekly Time Commitment

10+ hours per week

Duration of Volunteer Role (remote)

6+ months

Lived Experience Board Member (Advisory Role)

About the Role
At Living Reasons, we believe that real change comes from lived experience. To make sure everything we do is relevant, effective, and grounded in the realities of people’s lives, we are creating a Lived Experience Advisory Board.

This is a non-executive, advisory role. Board members do not carry trustee responsibilities but instead play a vital part in shaping and guiding the organisation. The insights and perspectives of our board members will directly inform the decisions of our trustees, helping us stay focused on what truly matters to the people we support.

How the Board Works

• The board is made up of different lived experience groups, each focusing on particular areas.

• Members can meet in their groups to share experiences, support one another, and identify key issues.

• Groups can also set up their own sub-groups where needed.

• Each group decides what information it wants to share with Living Reasons — members are always in control of their voice.

• From time to time, the full board meets together to discuss wider themes, shared experiences, and how these can guide the direction of Living Reasons.

What You’ll Do

• Share your lived experience in a safe, respectful group setting.

• Take part in discussions, focus groups, and community support activities.

• Contribute to shaping campaigns, policies, and services.

• Review materials, research, and proposals and give feedback to help the organisation grow.

• Be part of a supportive community that uses lived experience to drive meaningful change.

Who We’re Looking For

• People with lived experience of wheel chair use, either:

  • through your own personal experience, or

  • as a supporter, caregiver, guardian, or family member.

We will keep these as two separate groups (personal experience, and supporter/caregiver) so that conversations can be open and relevant to each perspective.

Why Join?

• Your experience will drive real change — in Living Reasons and in wider society.

• You’ll be part of a community where lived experience is valued, respected, and heard.

• You’ll have a direct line to trustees and a say in how resources, campaigns, and priorities are shaped.

What is the plan?

The person who is starting the charity up is autistic, has ADHD, CPTSD and also multiple physical conditions that effect daily life and is part of the LGBTQ+ community and has faced a lot of issues in life because of these things.

Living Reasons is being created to fix what we think is a challenging situation that is getting harder to achieve every week, month and year in the current economic, political, environmental and societal landscape. It is not easily defined but we hope the charity objects below will help put context to what we want to achieve, what we can say is that below are the issues we are trying to address, how we do this will change as quickly as society does, but the issues we want to tackle are these:

1) Outdated and damaging employment practices

2) Accessibility to services

3) Limited employment, training and education opportunities

4) Lack of support during times of crisis or need

5) Lack of equity and agency for many people in society

6) Institutional discrimination that is not challenged

7) Abuse of the legal system at all levels

8) Abuse of power in government bodies

9) Poor access to healthcare

10)  Unequal treatment of many people in society by large corporations

11)  Assumptions made by wider society based on incorrect, outdated or discriminatory rhetoric that is used in daily life

12)  Outdated company engagement with the public

13)  Lack of support that is not talked about and not being addressed

Our Living Values -

Creativity

1) Imaginative Development (Individual)

2) Instilled Collaboration (Internal)

3) Changing The Status Quo (External)

Prospectivity

1) What Can You Do (Individual)

2) What Can We Do (Internal)

3) What Can They Do (External)

Revolutionary 

1) Inspire With Confidence (Individual)

2) Boundaryless Innovation (Internal)

3) Challenge Traditions (External)

Attentivity

1) Analyse and Redesign (Individual)

2) Rebel and Reform (Internal)

3) Enquire and Reimagine (External)

InStudents

A global social enterprise that empowers students to lead local projects, dismantling educational barriers to ensure equitable access to opportunities for all.

• Lack of Access: Students in rural and underserved regions lack quality career guidance and opportunities equivalent to their privileged peers.

• Employability Gap: Students from less prestigious universities often struggle to gain the real-world work experience and confidence needed for employment.

• Ineffective Aid: Many top-down educational solutions fail because they lack crucial local context, cultural understanding, and input from the communities they aim to serve.

We are building a global, student-led movement for educational equity, empowering local leaders to solve local challenges.

• Equal Opportunities Project (EQOP): We deliver free, career-focused courses to students in underserved regions using accessible technology like WhatsApp. The content is co-created with UK university and corporate partners.

• Impact Champions Project: We are establishing a global network of student-led societies on university campuses. Each society identifies and tackles local education issues with our support, creating a sustainable, "locally led, globally connected" model for change.

Hello! We believe that a student's potential should be determined by their ambition, not their background. Right now, millions of students in underserved communities are being left behind, lacking the guidance and opportunities they need to thrive.

InStudents is changing that. We empower students to become leaders who solve educational challenges within their own communities, from running career courses via WhatsApp in rural India to building a global network of on-campus "Impact Champions".

We're looking for passionate people to help us scale this student-led movement. Whether you have skills in marketing, content creation, project management, or mentoring, your time and expertise can directly help a student discover a new career path or gain the confidence to lead. Join us and help build a world where every student has the chance to succeed.

Student Network Catalyst (Impact Champions)

Volunteer Role Description (remote, unpaid)

Be at the heart of building a global, student-led movement for educational equity. We are launching 'Impact Champions' - a worldwide network of student societies tackling local education challenges. We need a catalyst to help us find and empower the founding leaders of this network.

In this role, you will:

• Develop creative outreach strategies to find and recruit the most passionate student leaders, starting in South Asia.

• Build and nurture an inspiring online community for our first cohort of leaders, connecting them with each other and our mission.

• Help shape the support system for these new societies, ensuring they have the tools and confidence to create real-world impact.

• Your work will directly lead to the creation of new campus hubs for social change, empowering hundreds of students to become leaders in their own communities.

Weekly Time Commitment

4-6 hours per week

Duration of Volunteer Role (remote)

3-5 months

The Bread and Butter Thing (TBBT) is about making everyday things in life more affordable for people in low income households. We do this through a membership scheme that offers regular provisions such as food and toiletries.

People apply for membership through our community hubs. Hubs are projects that are already doing great work in the community throughout the Northwest. TBBT requires volunteers at our warehouse in Trafford to collect food from our suppliers.

We get food from industry surpluses that might otherwise become waste and we use it to put food in the homes of people in need. Every day we collect food or have it delivered into our warehouse at Trafford.

What we do really makes a difference to thousands of families, but we couldn’t do it without our amazing volunteers. 

If you are keen to work with great people whose common goal is to help support local communities, then we would love to welcome you into our team of volunteers.

You’d need to be over 25 with a full, clean UK driving licence, with various shifts Monday to Saturday starting from 7am.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
You must be resident in the UK and living in Greater Manchester, or within easy commuting distance of our base, in order to volunteer with us. We are unable to offer sponsorship for overseas applicants.

No one should die because they needed first aid and didn’t get it. St John Ambulance teaches people first aid so they can be the difference between life and death, and you can help us do this.

We need people who have a passion for helping others, care about their communities and want to make a difference, supporting them to become safe and more resilient by enabling our volunteers and staff to have the right equipment and resources to do the job. As an Operational Support Team Member, you’ll support St John Ambulance in deploying equipment to events and activities within your community, as well as support the maintaining of equipment to ensure networks are properly resourced.

Through volunteering as an Operational Support Team Member, you’ll get a huge sense of satisfaction and pride providing essential resources to our medical and education teams. It’s great for you, great for your community and great for our nation, and it requires only a small commitment of your time. 

We will make sure you will have access to a proper induction to volunteering with SJA and the training you need for the role you take on. We will also provide you with a supportive environment while you are volunteering with us. Information about our volunteer roles are included in the role descriptions. What you can expect from SJA, and what we expect from those who volunteer with us, is included in the volunteer charter.

Training for role - Applicants will be shortlisted and interviewed then inducted on a buddy system

Closing date for these opportunities is: 18/09/2025

To apply for this opportunity please follow the link below:

Lived Experience Board Member (Advisory Role)

About the Role
At Living Reasons, we believe that real change comes from lived experience. To make sure everything we do is relevant, effective, and grounded in the realities of people’s lives, we are creating a Lived Experience Advisory Board.

This is a non-executive, advisory role. Board members do not carry trustee responsibilities but instead play a vital part in shaping and guiding the organisation. The insights and perspectives of our board members will directly inform the decisions of our trustees, helping us stay focused on what truly matters to the people we support.

How the Board Works

• The board is made up of different lived experience groups, each focusing on particular areas.

• Members can meet in their groups to share experiences, support one another, and identify key issues.

• Groups can also set up their own sub-groups where needed.

• Each group decides what information it wants to share with Living Reasons — members are always in control of their voice.

• From time to time, the full board meets together to discuss wider themes, shared experiences, and how these can guide the direction of Living Reasons.

What You’ll Do

• Share your lived experience in a safe, respectful group setting.

• Take part in discussions, focus groups, and community support activities.

• Contribute to shaping campaigns, policies, and services.

• Review materials, research, and proposals and give feedback to help the organisation grow.

• Be part of a supportive community that uses lived experience to drive meaningful change.

Who We’re Looking For

• People with lived experience of fluctuating conditions, either:
   

  • through your own personal experience, or
     

  • as a supporter, caregiver, guardian, or family member.
     

We will keep these as two separate groups (personal experience, and supporter/caregiver) so that conversations can be open and relevant to each perspective.

Why Join?

• Your experience will drive real change — in Living Reasons and in wider society.

• You’ll be part of a community where lived experience is valued, respected, and heard.#

• You’ll have a direct line to trustees and a say in how resources, campaigns, and priorities are shaped.

What is the plan?

The person who is starting the charity up is autistic, has ADHD, CPTSD and also multiple physical conditions that effect daily life and is part of the LGBTQ+ community and has faced a lot of issues in life because of these things.

Living Reasons is being created to fix what we think is a challenging situation that is getting harder to achieve every week, month and year in the current economic, political, environmental and societal landscape. It is not easily defined but we hope the charity objects below will help put context to what we want to achieve, what we can say is that below are the issues we are trying to address, how we do this will change as quickly as society does, but the issues we want to tackle are these:

1) Outdated and damaging employment practices

2) Accessibility to services

3) Limited employment, training and education opportunities

4) Lack of support during times of crisis or need

5) Lack of equity and agency for many people in society

6) Institutional discrimination that is not challenged

7) Abuse of the legal system at all levels

8) Abuse of power in government bodies

9) Poor access to healthcare

10)  Unequal treatment of many people in society by large corporations

11)  Assumptions made by wider society based on incorrect, outdated or discriminatory rhetoric that is used in daily life

12)  Outdated company engagement with the public

13)  Lack of support that is not talked about and not being addressed

Our Living Values -

Creativity

1) Imaginative Development (Individual)

2) Instilled Collaboration (Internal)

3) Changing The Status Quo (External)

Prospectivity

1) What Can You Do (Individual)

2) What Can We Do (Internal)

3) What Can They Do (External)

Revolutionary 

1) Inspire With Confidence (Individual)

2) Boundaryless Innovation (Internal)

3) Challenge Traditions (External)

Attentivity

1) Analyse and Redesign (Individual)

2) Rebel and Reform (Internal)

3) Enquire and Reimagine (External)

Use your expertise to shape education, influence communities, and grow as a leader. Roles available at colleges England.

Are you a business leader or corporate professional looking to make a meaningful impact outside the boardroom?

By becoming a volunteer governor at a further education (FE) or sixth form college, you’ll help shape the strategic direction of an organisation that transforms lives through education and skills—while strengthening your own governance experience and leadership credentials.

Why it’s relevant to professionals like you

Further Education colleges train over 1.6 million learners annually, preparing the skilled workforce that keeps our economy moving—from engineers and IT specialists to healthcare professionals and construction experts.

As a college governor, you’ll sit on the board of an FE institution (and registered charity), where your insight into strategy, risk, people, or finance will have a direct impact on how public funds are spent, how performance is measured, and how learners are supported to succeed.

This is an opportunity to:

• Apply your corporate skills in a charitable leadership role
• Gain board-level experience and enhance your CV
• Contribute to local economic growth and social mobility
• Support a vital sector during a time of transformation

What you’ll do

As part of a governing board, you’ll:

• Set strategic direction: Help define the college’s mission and goals
• Hold leadership to account: Monitor finances, performance, and outcomes
• Ensure governance excellence: Make decisions in the best interests of learners and stakeholders
• Act as a charity trustee: Ensure financial sustainability and legal compliance

You’ll also engage with senior leaders and external stakeholders, including local employers, regulators, and community partners.

Who we’re looking for

We welcome professionals from a broad range of sectors, including but not limited to:

• Finance, Audit & Risk
• HR, People & Culture
• Strategy, Transformation & Operations
• Technology, AI & Digital
• Legal, Governance & Compliance
• Marketing, PR & Communications
• Education, Apprenticeships or vocational courses

What matters most is your strategic thinking, commercial awareness, and commitment to helping others succeed.

Prior education experience is not required. Full induction and training are provided, with access to DfE-funded development and peer mentoring where needed.

Time commitment

Expect to give approximately 1–2 days per month, including:

• Attending board and committee meetings (in-person or remote)
• Reading papers and preparing questions
• Participating in training and occasional college visits

The time commitment is manageable alongside a full-time role—and many employers actively support staff to take on governance roles as part of their professional development.

Where you’ll be needed
Some colleges offer remote governance and meetings take place online. This may suit you best, or we may suggest a role where you volunteer on a hybrid basis at a college within a reasonable distance from you. We are recruiting governors for colleges across England, with new opportunities added regularly. 

What’s in it for you?

· Enhance your board-level and governance experience

· Develop strategic oversight and leadership outside your day-to-day role

· Expand your professional network

·Give back in a way that creates long-term, measurable impact

· Gain exposure to the education, charity, and public sectors

Ready to step into a strategic, purpose-driven leadership role?

If you’re ready to bring your corporate insight to the education sector and help shape the future of skills, opportunity, and social mobility—we’d love to hear from you.

Apply now to become a volunteer college governor.

With an ageing population, more and more older people are at risk of isolation and loneliness as partners and friends pass away, children and grandchildren move away and the community around them changes at a fast pace.  As a Befriender you will become part of the solution to tackling the issues of isolation and loneliness by developing strong relationships with clients and encouraging them to engage in a variety of ways.

Main activities/tasks:

• Visit an older person in their home once a week for up to 2h
• Spend time getting to know them and to understand what things they may like to do at home (e.g. chess, knitting, reading)
• Offer healthy and fun conversation and encourage them to talk
• Give support to enable them to get out in the community and encourage participation in activities.
• Promote healthy living and wellbeing.
• Accompany on hospital visits or to the GP. Go for a walk, or shopping
• Support older person to find information as requested.
• Make monthly reports on visits carried out