Volunteer roles in south west

Do you have professional writing skills and would like to use them to support our work? 

What will you be doing?

Willowbrook Farm Charity is looking for a dedicated and skilled Volunteer Bid Writer to support our Operational Director in identifying and applying for grant funding. This is a unique opportunity to use your writing and research skills to directly contribute to building inclusive, nature-based educational opportunities for communities across the UK.

You will work closely with the Operational Director to help:

• Draft and edit funding applications
• Interpret and respond to funder criteria
• Summarise key information within character or word limits
• Help shape compelling, values-driven narratives for our projects
• Join short weekly remote check-ins 

What are we looking for?

• 3+ years of experience with writing, copywriting, research or similar qualification.
• Excellent written English (grammar, clarity, tone)
• Ability to understand and match funders’ priorities
• Skilled at summarising and restructuring complex content
• Experience in bid writing, copywriting, research, or professional writing (or willing to learn how to use your professional writing skills in this area)
• Self-motivated, organised, and collaborative
• Commitment of at least 2–3 hours per week 
• UK-based only (but remote role, so open to any applicants in the UK)

Please note: We do not provide references for volunteers who have been with us for less than four months.

What difference will you make?

What You'll Gain

• Make a real impact: Help raise vital funds to support inclusive environmental education, accessible farming experiences, and biodiversity-focused projects
• Join a passionate and values-led team committed to sustainability, inclusion, and community
• Gain or build experience in the charity and funding sector
• Flexible, fully remote role that fits around your schedule
• Recognition on our website and/or in reports (if desired)

This role is ideal for professional writers, researchers, copywriters, or anyone with strong communication skills looking to use their talents for social good.

Before you apply

Please, check our website first to understand our work and send your application with a CV and cover letter. Applications without a cover letter will, unfortunately, not be considered. Thank you! 

Key Responsibilities

 •  Identify and apply for grants and funding opportunities that align with our goals.

 •  Cultivate relationships with individual donors, corporate partners, and foundations.

 •  Maintain accurate records of donations, track progress toward goals, and prepare reports for leadership.

Key Skills and Qualifications

 •  Proven experience in fundraising, sales, marketing, or nonprofit development.

 •  Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to inspire and engage diverse audiences.

 •  Ability to work independently, manage multiple projects, and meet deadlines.

 •  Familiarity with fundraising platforms, CRM systems, and social media marketing is a plus.

Can you commit to volunteering for a minimum of 2 years? 

Do you have 2 to 4 hours spare a month? 

Do you live in Gloucestershire?

Would you like to befriend a child or young person in care and make a long-term friendship with them? 

If yes, then volunteering for Reconstruct may suit you.

An Independent Visitor is an adult volunteer who befriends a young person in care and develops a long-term friendship with them. This often involves helping young people develop new interests, skills and hobbies or going on outings such as to the cinema, bowling or just a walk in the park.

You must be 21+, available for flexible working and able to commit to a minimum of 2 years. As a volunteer, you would spend about 2-4 hours every month with your allocated child.

Each volunteer is carefully matched with a child or young person in care in their local area who shares similar interests.

WHAT DO INDEPENDENT VISITORS DO?

• Visit a child monthly and becomes a trusted adult friend to them.
• Provide a consistent and reliable adult with a view to building a trusting and positive relationship with the child.
• Provide a child with the opportunity to try new activities and spend time with them away from their placement. This in turn can enhance progress and resilience of children, by building self-esteem, strengthening mental health, and opening new social relationships outside of the care system.

WHAT SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE DO YOU NEED?

• Interpersonal Skills – Ability to easily build rapport an identify with children and young people.
• Communication – Excellent communication skills, good report writing skills.
• Committed – Willing to commit to a child for at least one year and preferably two years.
• Role Model – A good role model for a child or young person who may have experienced difficult times during their childhood.
• DBS Check – We will carry out safer recruitment checks and you will be required to have an Enhanced DBS check.

Examples of activities can include:

• Sports
• Play football 
• Cinema
• Bowling
• Go to the library

You will be allocated a budget for each visit for your activity, and payment of your expenses, are paid so you are not out of pocket. These include, travel costs, and parking.

As part of the recruitment process, candidates will be required to attend necessary training for the role. Interviews will be arranged in due course thereafter.

Can you commit to volunteering for a minimum of 2 years? 

Do you have 2 to 4 hours spare a month? 

Do you live in South Gloucestershire?

Would you like to befriend a child or young person in care and make a long-term friendship with them? 

If yes, then volunteering for Reconstruct may suit you.

An Independent Visitor is an adult volunteer who befriends a young person in care and develops a long-term friendship with them. This often involves helping young people develop new interests, skills and hobbies or going on outings such as to the cinema, bowling or just a walk in the park.

You must be 21+, available for flexible working and able to commit to a minimum of 2 years. As a volunteer, you would spend about 2-4 hours every month with your allocated child.

Each volunteer is carefully matched with a child or young person in care in their local area who shares similar interests.

WHAT DO INDEPENDENT VISITORS DO?

• Visit a child monthly and becomes a trusted adult friend to them.
• Provide a consistent and reliable adult with a view to building a trusting and positive relationship with the child.
• Provide a child with the opportunity to try new activities and spend time with them away from their placement. This in turn can enhance progress and resilience of children, by building self-esteem, strengthening mental health, and opening new social relationships outside of the care system.

WHAT SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE DO YOU NEED?

• Interpersonal Skills – Ability to easily build rapport an identify with children and young people.
• Communication – Excellent communication skills, good report writing skills.
• Committed – Willing to commit to a child for at least one year and preferably two years.
• Role Model – A good role model for a child or young person who may have experienced difficult times during their childhood.
• DBS Check – We will carry out safer recruitment checks and you will be required to have an Enhanced DBS check.

Examples of activities can include:

• Sports
• Play football 
• Cinema
• Bowling
• Go to the library

You will be allocated a budget for each visit for your activity, and payment of your expenses, are paid so you are not out of pocket. These include, travel costs, and parking.

As part of the recruitment process, candidates will be required to attend necessary training for the role. Interviews will be arranged in due course thereafter.

This is a prestigious voluntary opportunity to play a key role in the governance of Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site (WHS) and contribute to protecting the WHS for current and future generations.

Could you be the first independent Chair of the Expert & Stakeholder Group? This is a new role in the WHS Partnership, supporting the group of 30 local and national partners to carry out its role effectively. Working closely with the independent Chair of the Executive Board, the Expert and Stakeholder Group Chair will facilitate effective discussion and encourage a broad range of participation. 

Applications are sought from candidates with experience of successfully chairing sensitive committees and ensuring effective organisational governance. 

• Voluntary position with travel expenses.

• 3-year term, potentially renewable by the appointing body for a second term.

• Time commitment of up to 2-3 days per month including chairing 3 Expert & Stakeholder Group meetings, and attending 3 Executive Board meetings, per annum.

Title:  Communications volunteer

Summary

Help us grow and engage our audiences by creating communications materials for us to use externally and across our website, social media, print materials and newsletter, so that we can help support the mental health of more women across Sussex.

Description

Our charity delivers counselling and therapeutic groups for women across Sussex. We are looking for an experienced communications professional to work with to support with all or some of the following:

Communications:

· Help to create a communications plan with the CEO, mapping out key activities and campaigns over the year

Blog:

·         Create helpful mental health blog content for women, using SEO keywords

Outreach:

· Build contacts and reach out to potential press to raise awareness of our organisation

Events:

· Assist with fundraising events and promotion of these from the Brighton 10K run, our Christmas raffle and party.

You will be working with the CEO who will provide our existing brand/style/logo guidelines and brand research/user personas.

What impact will they have?

Your creative output will shape how we present ourselves to our clients and funders. With your help we will be able to continue to reach and support more women across Sussex.

About the volunteer

Description

We are looking for a volunteer who:

· Has experience in creating and writing SEO blog content

· Has the ability to quickly understand the needs of our team / organisation / participants

· Has good communications and organisation skills

· Understands the resource constraints of a small charity and is able to work with these.

Skills

· Marketing and communications

Where and when

Location

Can be fully remote or partly remote if based near Brighton.

Time

Time commitment

· 0-6 hours / week – the role could be an ongoing role

Volunteer availability

Either inside or outside office hours.

Application details

Application instructions: please send published content examples (social, blog or e-newsletter posts) a CV and details of your availability and interest in the role 

Sands is the UK's leading pregnancy and baby loss charity.

We are looking for two individuals to join our Board of Trustees, to help save babies’ lives and support bereaved families. 

The Board is responsible providing strategic oversight and leadership, ensuring that Sands pursues its stated objectives through its vision and mission.Each Trustee should use any specific skills, knowledge or experience, he or she has to help the Board of Trustees reach sound decisions.

We are looking for trustees who reflect the different communities served by Thirtyone:eight and bring a range of skills and expertise that will assist us in achieving our mission and vision.

We are particularly keen to appoint trustees who are based in, or who have relevant knowledge of operating in, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 

We welcome applications from all ethnic minority groups and age-groups.

We are specifically looking for trustees with experience in the one or more of the following areas:

• IT
• Fundraising and Campaigning
• Marketing, Communications and PR

Commitment

Trustees currently meet as a full Board four times per year, one of which is in person and includes an overnight stay. The remaining meetings are conducted online and times vary to assist attendance of all members. In addition to full Board meetings, trustees will be strongly encouraged to participate in committees and working groups, which again are held remotely. An invitation is also extended to all trustees to attend an annual team event which includes an overnight stay.

Are you skilled in email marketing and love creating compelling content?
Join us at Bladder Health UK, the UK’s only charity dedicated to supporting people living with bladder illness. For over 30 years, we’ve provided trusted advice, expert guidance, and emotional support — but we need your help to engage and grow our community through impactful email campaigns and newsletters.

Amazing, giving, and inspiring – just a few of the words we use to describe our volunteers.

At Rethink Mental Illness, volunteers play an essential role in supporting the people we work with, and the services we provide. If you’re looking for a rewarding role where you can truly make a difference while gaining valuable experience, we’d love you to join us.

About the role

 Do you enjoy chatting with people, making them feel welcome, and offering a supportive ear? We’re looking for friendly volunteers to give around 2 hours a week to help us run our carers’ groups and activities in Bristol.

As a Carer Support Volunteer, you’ll:

· Co-facilitate monthly drop-in sessions and activity groups

· Welcome carers and help create a safe, supportive space

· Assist with events (e.g., setting up, registering attendees, making refreshments)

· Share information about upcoming groups and activities

Full training and regular supervision will be provided, so you’ll feel confident and supported in your role.

About the service

 The Bristol Carers Service supports adult family members, partners, and friends of adults living with mental health conditions. We provide one-to-one and group support through phone calls, online sessions, and in-person activities. These include monthly support groups, education sessions, social events, and walks.

The service is delivered by a Service Coordinator and a Hospital Liaison Worker, as part of the wider Rethink Bristol Community team.

What will make you a great fit for this role?

 · Being empathetic and non-judgmental

· Understanding the importance of confidentiality

· Being flexible, punctual and reliable

Who are we?

 We’re Rethink Mental Illness, a leading charity provider of mental health services in England. We support thousands of people through our groups, services, policy, campaigns and advice and information. Our work supports us in delivering on our mission: “A better life for everyone severely affected by mental illness.”    

It is an exciting time to join our growing charity. We are on a transformation journey, one that supports the delivery of the organisation strategy – delivering Communities that Care. Supporting employees, managers and leaders through this change is a key priority for the People function. Just like its key that we attract diverse people to come and work for us.    

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion  

Diversity is important to us and we appreciate difference through difference, inclusiveness and belonging. It gives us a deeper understanding of the world, our society and the diverse communities we’re working with. By including everyone, we are able to draw on the unique experiences and expertise of our people to help shape and enrich our workplace and improve our services. One way we are doing is through our valued staff networks which play a critical and highly valued role in keeping us focused on creating a diverse, inclusive and engaged employer.  We recognise and support staff networks for our Black, Asian and minority ethnic and our LGBTQIA+ colleagues. We are also proud to have been awarded Disability Confident Employer status and are a signatory to the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter.  

Becoming a truly anti-racist organisation  

We have an ambition of become a truly anti-racist employer, campaigning organisation and service provider - and in our efforts to influence policy and wider societal factors impacting on mental health set out in our anti-racist statement . We have designed a multi-year anti-racist programme of work contained in our Race Equality Action Plan which demonstrate our intention to hold ourselves accountable and be judged on our progress on becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.  

We therefore actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including applicants with lived experience, those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or questioning), Intersex and (asexual) (LGBTQIA+), people with a disability, and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. 

InStudents

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

We help address:

• 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.

Solution

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.

Brand Associate (Gen Z Marketing)

We are about to launch the Impact Champions Project (ICP), our global initiative to build a network of young people solving education challenges on their university campuses. We don’t just want to announce it; we want to ignite a movement. Your mission is to make ICP the most compelling social impact opportunity for Gen Z. In this role, you will: Architect the Launch: Develop and execute a social media strategy from the ground up to build the ICP brand across platforms where young people live, like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Create Buzz: Design exciting content (short videos, graphics, stories) that captures the energy of a new global project and inspires the first wave of applicants. Drive Recruitment: Your primary goal is to promote our first global cohort, turning awareness into applications from passionate young leaders around the world. The impact is massive: You will be the architect behind the brand that launches a global network. The content you create will be the reason the founding members of the Impact Champions Project sign up and start making a difference. You will not be alone and will be supported by a group of people who are passionate about the cause.

Minimum Hours per Week

2-3 hours per week

Duration

3-5 months

We are looking to appoint a trustee with experience in Finance to oversee our finance functions, providing advice, scrutiny and support to the charity and to be the Chair of our Governance, Audit & Risk Committee (GAR)

Knowledge & Experience:

• Qualified accountant with demonstrated commercial awareness and knowledge and thorough understanding of the Charities SORP (statement of recommended practice)
• Knowledge and experience of charity fundraising and finance practices
• Ability to communicate and explain financial information to members of the Board and stakeholders
• Understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship
• Dedicated to the organisation’s cause and objectives

The Governance, Audit & Risk Committee (GAR) Purpose & Duties:

The Governance, Audit and Risk Committee is a Sub-Committee of the Board of Trustees of the 1851 Marine Trust (the “Trust”). The Committee shall meet not less than 4 times a year and at such other times as it considers necessary.

The Committee shall provide support, assurance and recommendations to the Board on:

• Best practice in charity governance and as appropriate governance arrangements for the Trust
• The effectiveness of the Trust’s internal control and risk management framework, including key policies and procedures
• The conduct of the external independent examination or audit and the Trust’s annual report and accounts, including the performance of the independent examiners’
• The day-to-day financial operations and controls including monitoring income and expenditure against the annual budget

Trustee - Role and Responsibilities

As a Trustee your role will be to use your skills and your personal experience to contribute to the work of the Board. Trustee responsibilities will include the following:

Leadership:

Promote the vision, values and objectives of the 1851 Marine Trust and take an active role in supporting the Trust’s strategy. Assist fellow Trustees in agreeing strategic aims, ensuring that the necessary financial and human resources are in place to meet its objectives, and that performance is effectively monitored and reviewed. Engage positively and collaboratively in Board discussion of agenda items.

Management:

In accordance with agreed Board procedures, monitor the performance of the Trust, identify and manage risks posed by its activities and assist in the satisfaction of statutory duties around the preparation of annual reports and accounts, fundraising and safeguarding. Provide independent judgement and advice on issues of strategy, vision, performance, resources and standards of conduct and apply this to the benefit of the organisation, its stakeholders and wider community. Participate in committees as determined and delegated by the Board of Trustees.

Governance:

Commit to working to, and encouraging within the Trust, the highest standards of probity, integrity and governance and contribute to ensuring that the internal governance arrangements, including the management of conflicts of interest, conform with the Trust’s constitution, best practice and statutory requirements. Obtain assurance that financial information is accurate and that financial controls and risk management systems are robust and appropriate.

Requirements for new Trustees:

Able to attend 4-6 meetings a year with sufficient time to review meeting papers. The time commitment is estimated at a minimum 20 hours per year but could increase depending on the outcome of agenda items and related sub-committee work. Documents are sent to Trustees by email and meetings are held both electronically and in person.

Trustees/Board members are not paid, though reasonable expenses are claimable. Initial term of office is for three years. 

Who They Are
CleanupUK, founded in 2007, is a young and ambitious charity with a strong focus on making every activity—whether organising a litter pick or holding a trustees’ meeting—engaging and enjoyable. The charity’s primary mission is to support residents in less affluent areas to come together, clean up parts of their community that local councils do not cover, and in doing so, create environments that are cleaner, stronger, and safer.

The Role
Now in its 18th year, CleanupUK is entering a growth phase and is seeking trustees with diverse backgrounds and experiences to join its board. Prospective trustees are likely to be passionate about litter and its impact on communities.

The charity is currently recruiting three new trustees who are willing to devote their time and expertise to supporting CleanupUK’s next stage of development. The three areas of expertise sought are:

• Financial (Deputy Treasurer)

• Fundraising

• Communications, marketing, or social media

About ASCO
The Association of Special Constabulary Officers (ASCO) is the nationally recognised professional body representing Special Constables (who are volunteer police officers) across the UK.Our mission is to ensure every Special Constable has a positive, safe and rewarding volunteer career which contributes to improving public safety, trust and confidence in policing. We do this by championing professional development, advocating for civic engagement through Citizens in Policing programmes, and influence decision-making at the highest levels.

Role Overview
We are looking for a creative and proactive Volunteer Communications Support Advisor to help us amplify our voice, engage our members, and showcase the incredible work of Special Constables. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to meaningful communications campaigns that make a real difference.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist in creating compelling social media content (graphics, posts, short videos).

• Draft and edit articles, newsletters, and website updates.

• Monitor engagement across digital platforms and suggest improvements.

• Help develop campaigns that celebrate Special Constables and promote key initiatives.

• Support the development of press releases and external communications.

Skills & Attributes

• Passion for communications, media, or marketing.

• Strong writing skills with an eye for engaging storytelling.

• Basic knowledge of social media platforms (LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram).

• Creativity and confidence to bring fresh ideas.

• Ability to work collaboratively with a small but dedicated team.

What You’ll Gain

• Experience in communications and media within a national organisation.

• A chance to support volunteers who give thousands of hours to policing each year.

• Networking opportunities with policing, charity, and government stakeholders.

• Exposure to a national charity operating with national policing and government senior stakeholders.