Activities assistant volunteer volunteer roles

FareShare Greater Manchester is looking for safe, confident drivers to join our busy, friendly delivery team. 

We re-distribute tonnes of surplus food a month to charities and community initiatives across Greater Manchester. This is an achievement of which we’re proud, and want to expand and is why we need your driving and delivery skills to support our growing operation, especially in these current times of increased need.

Key responsibilities

Driving a van to deliver surplus food orders to the premises of the various Community Food Members we support. 
Loading and unloading the vehicle and carrying out a range of tasks, from basic vehicle checks to delivery administration.

As a Delivery Driver at FareShare, you will be driving a temperature-controlled 3.5 tonnes Mercedes Sprinter van; working closely with a Driver’s Assistant to re-distribute food orders to the premises of a wide variety of Community Food Members. You will be involved with loading the vehicle and carrying out a range of tasks, from basic vehicle checks to delivery administration.

The required skills and attributes are as follows. You must:

Be aged 25 or over, with a clean driver's licence (or a maximum of 3 points).
(Experience of driving a van is desirable though not essential).

Be reliable and be able to commit to pre-agreed volunteer shifts.

Be physically fit to take on moving and handling of food orders.

Possess the ability to follow procedures and instructions.

Have good verbal communication skills.

Have a high respect for Health & Safety standards and procedures.

Have an interest in the work of FareShare Greater Manchester and our values.

In return you will gain:

Career, CV advice and support

A reference for future employers

Reimbursement of travel and lunch expenses 

The opportunity to give practical help to fight food poverty and reduce food waste (and associated CO2 emissions)

The opportunity to meet like-minded people and make new friends

Our operating hours are Monday - Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm. 

Drivers' 4 hour shifts begin at 8:30am. 

We especially welcome volunteers who can commit to one day a week. 

The days and rota hours of volunteering are agreed around your availability.

​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. There are no exceptions to this rule. This is because we require volunteers to be able to reliably commit to regular shifts for some of our roles. We are unable to offer sponsorship for overseas applicants.

Know someone else who might be interested in volunteering with us?
Please pass our details on to them as we always welcome new people on our teams. :)

ABOUT MARY’S

At Mary’s Youth Club, we’re not just a youth club – we’re a vibrant, inclusive community where young people aged 10–19 (up to 25 for those with disabilities) come together to share, grow, learn, and enjoy themselves. We believe in creating joyful and enriching experiences that empower every young person who walks through our doors. 

Our open access youth club runs exciting and diverse programmes Monday to Friday, including school holidays. Whether it’s the energy of drop-in activities like gaming, sports, and board games, or the focused buzz of creative arts, health and wellbeing sessions, life skills workshops, or youth-led social action – there’s always something happening at Mary’s. Young people help shape our programmes, and we champion their independence, creativity, and voice. 

Young people describe us as “like a family” – a safe, friendly, and welcoming space where they can be themselves. Our team is deeply rooted in youth work values: inclusion, equality, justice, reflection, and lifelong learning. Together, we work to support young people to navigate challenges and take steps toward brighter futures. 

VOLUNTEER WITH US! 

Volunteer role title: Volunteer Chef/Cook/Kitchen Staff

Hours: 2-3 hours on a Friday evening, from about 4.30/5pm

Help us to meet our goal of creating healthy meals for young people, by volunteering in our kitchen! 

We are looking for volunteers with a passion for cooking, nutrition and healthy eating, to assist in the kitchen independently, as a group, or alongside our youth workers and young people, preparing a warm meal for up to 40 young people.

You are welcome to come along as an assistant volunteering with the rest of the team, but we would also love volunteers who are interested in heathy eating to lead on this initiative, teaching those young people who choose to volunteer in the kitchen, food preparation skills, how to cook nutritious foods, as well as sharing the joy of eating together 

This role will include: 

• helping to prepare hot food by chopping vegetables, cooking etc 

• serving the young people during the Friday evening dinner service. 

• helping with cleaning up the dining room and the kitchen

If you are interested in taking a more active role/lead on this project then you would also lead on the menu planning and budgeting 

The commitment 

• We are looking for people who are able to commit 2-3 hours on a Friday, from 4.30/5pm

• This commitment is during term time (please note that additional volunteering in school holidays is beneficial to Youth Club delivery but not essential) 

Experience 

You do not need to have experience in catering, or to have volunteered before, as you will be well looked after by the team, but if you are interested in leading on this project then it would be beneficial to be able to demonstrate your knowledge/passion 

Training 

You will be given a full induction to Marys Youth Club.

This includes access to our training platform. The mandatory training for this role includes: 

• Food hygiene and safety 

• Safeguarding 

• Health and Safety 

• Equality and diversity 

Essential for This Role

Safer Recruitment Checks:

• DBS is essential for this role (we will provide this)

• Completion of mandatory training modules as outlined above 

• Interpersonal skills

• Time Management skills 

• Team Work

• Ability to get stuck in 

• Commitment to/ interest in, the work that we do 

In return 

You’ll be sharing your time and skills and gaining accreditations and valuable CV boosting skills

We will also provide, references and/or a volunteer certificate 

Reasonable travel expenses can be covered 

Note that we do also have other volunteer roles, both in the office and working directly with young people, so if you aren’t able to commit to Friday evenings, or have interests other than cooking/volunteering in the kitchen, then get in touch to discuss 

Application Process 

All potential volunteers are asked to first attend a volunteer intro call

After this intro call, potential volunteers are invited to come to the youth club to meet the young people and the youth workers, this is a chance to see if volunteering with us is a good fit 

If you are invited to progress with your application, you will be asked to complete a DBS, provide us with 2 references, and complete the mandatory training listed above. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE TO PROVIDE SPONSORSHIP, THEREFORE YOU DO NEED TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO WORK IN THE UK

Would you like to help end food insecurity and tackle climate change in Greater Manchester, whilst gaining valuable experience and skills? Or perhaps you'd just like to keep busy and active and make new friends, whilst supporting a great cause.

WHAT WE OFFER YOU

Induction, training and support.
Practical experience and transferable skills in food redistribution and warehousing.
A reference (after 2 months with us).
An understanding of warehousing and logistics.
Expenses:
Reimbursement of travel costs of up to £5 for public transport, and up to £6 for car drivers.
Up to £3 towards lunch, if you have special dietary requirements. (We provide lunch, so will contribute towards the cost of a meal, should you bring your own, if what we are offering isn't considered suitable; e.g. a diet that's restricted for health, ethics or religion).

ABOUT US
As a sustainability charity, we take donated surplus (over-stocked) food and redistribute it to people in need.
The initiatives we support include food banks, schools, community groups and charities.
Our vital work supports people experiencing extreme hardship and prevents good food going to landfill, where it would contribute to climate warming through greenhouse gas emissions. 
We need help in our warehouse to receive and record supplies, load and unload vans, and prepare orders for delivery. In return, we offer training and support to help you obtain skills and experience if you are seeking work. If you're not looking for a job, volunteering with us is rewarding in many other ways; offering an opportunity to make friends, keep physically active and support your community.

This role is vital to FareShare's work, ensuring that the food in our warehouse is sorted, labelled and organised into orders.
It is perfect for someone who is:

a) Looking for a practical activity to keep busy and physically fit.
b) Looking for experience and skills to gain employment in the food industry, warehousing or customer service.
c) Wanting to help their community and help tackle global warming.
d) Wanting to make new friends.

Our volunteer roles are available Monday to Friday, for a whole or half day, with shifts between 8:30-am-12:30pm and 12:30-4:30pm. 
Volunteers are typically involved on one day a week.

WHAT WILL I BE DOING?
Receiving, sorting, cataloguing and storing chilled and ambient food and preparing orders for delivery. 
Ensuring food quality and safety by checking ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates.
Unpacking deliveries, recording and categorising food.
Assembling food orders.
Assisting our Community Food Members with their order collections.
Maintaining health and safety and hygiene standards. 
Helping with cleaning and other routine tasks.

PERSON SPECIFICATION: You must...
Be reasonably physically fit to carry out tasks, including lifting and loading.
Speak English well in order to communicate clearly with our Community Food Members, and to understand and follow instructions and health and safety rules. 
Have basic literacy and numeracy skills to record details of donated food.
Be able to work to Health and Safety standards.
Be happy to complete tasks independently according to instruction.
Be positive, friendly and enthusiastic about tackling food waste and food insecurity.
Be reliable and able to commit to an agreed session/day.

LOCATION
We are located in Maynard House, New Smithfield Market, Openshaw, M11 2WJ, which is easily reachable on public transport. We have free-onsite parking and secure storage for bicycles.

​IMPORTANT NOTE:
You must be a UK resident and living within easy commuting distance of our base in order to volunteer with us. This is because our volunteers must be able to reliably commit to regular shifts for our roles.
We are unable to offer sponsorship for overseas applicants.

Know someone else who might be interested in volunteering with us?
Please pass our details on to them as we always welcome new people on our teams. :)

Join Richmond Foundation as a Non-Trustee Grants Committee Member and help shape a fairer, healthier future for our community.

Richmond Foundation is a long-established local charity with a proud history of supporting residents through grant-making, property management, and community initiatives. We are seeking new Non-Trustee (volunteer) members to join our Grants Committee and contribute to our vision: Everyone in Richmond has opportunities to build healthy and fulfilling lives.

Who We’re Looking For

We want to add Non-Trustee members to our Grants Committee to increase the breadth of knowledge and to provide different fresh perspectives into our grant making. We welcome applications from individuals who share our values of integrity, excellence, collaboration, agility, and ambition.

We are aiming to have six members of the Grants Committee with at least one being a non-trustee member, who will participate alongside our Trustees.

Our goal is to recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds, with different expertise, experience and knowledge. We want to make our committees more diverse and representative of the groups and people we support. You can read more about our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion here.

We are keen to receive applications from people who:

• Are aged between 16 and 35
• Are from lower-income socio-economic backgrounds
• Have lived experience relevant to our work
• Are disabled or have a long-term health condition
• Are from communities experiencing racial inequity

We are committed to creating an inclusive recruitment process and are happy to provide reasonable adjustments to support applicants at any stage.

The role of a Non-Trustee Grants Committee Member

This is an exciting opportunity to work closely with the Richmond Foundation team to participate in important decisions around awarding funding and to influence policy and strategic direction.

Terms of appointment

Appointments will be for a two-year term, with the possibility of renewing for an additional two-year term.

You will need to:

• Uphold Richmond Foundation’s vision, mission, objectives, and values
• Attend at least four Grants Committee meetings per year at our central Richmond location (1.5 hours from 5:00pm to 6:30pm)
• Prepare for meetings by reading all relevant documentation and reviewing minutes
• Attend relevant training and at least one event/visit hosted by a grant-funded organisation each year
• Attend our annual AGM meeting in November

Responsibilities include:

• Provide strategic direction and expert guidance on our developing grants portfolio
• Maintain oversight of grant giving activities to ensure: it is in line with our strategic objectives and within agreed budget; grant giving practices are in line with agreed policy, legislation and good practice
• Receive and feedback on impact and other reporting
• Provide support and challenge to the Grants Director and team
• Occasionally attending internal briefings and training and other relevant external events on behalf of Richmond Foundation
• Contribute relevant specialist experience

General experience:

• Contribute to the discussions and decision-making that take place during meetings from a general point of view, as someone who has knowledge and experience relevant to the work of the committee
• A keen interest and understanding of the charitable sector
• An understanding of, and commitment to, safeguarding and diversity, equity and inclusion in the charitable sector and how this relates to grant-making
• Ability to take an independent view which varies from that of other committee members
• Relevant knowledge, perspective, insight, and understanding gathered through lived experience

To support you, we will:

• Provide background information to be discussed in an introductory session and supported by the Trustee and Committee Member Handbook
• Give initial training about Richmond Foundation and our grantmaking, with further training and support to enable you to fully take part in committee meetings
• Ongoing annual training and access to document library
• Link you with a Richmond Foundation Trustee who will act as a buddy. Before each committee meeting, they will offer support with preparing for the meeting and discuss any key issues with you
• Cover reasonable childcare, carer and travel costs if these are required to enable you to attend committee meetings

How to Apply

If you are interested in making a difference in Richmond and can contribute your time and expertise to help us deliver our charitable objectives, we would love to hear from you.

Full details, person specification and requirements, and application instructions are available in the Non-Trustee Grants Committee Member Recruitment pack.

Richmond Foundation are hosting a Webinar and Q+A for interested applicants on 18 March 2026. This will be an opportunity to learn more from our CEO, Chair and Trustees and ask questions. Details will be posted on our website.

The application deadline is 10:00am on Monday 13 April 2026

Interviews: Scheduled in May/June 2026

Term Commences: 23 September 2026 (with a short induction period beforehand)

Overall Purpose of Role

• To ensure on behalf of the Board that Plateful Cafe’s assets are properly managed, only used for approved purposes, and applied as effectively as possible
• Oversee the financial affairs of the organisation and ensure they are legal, constitutional and within accepted accounting practice

Main Responsibilities

• Share the responsibility of jointly reporting the financial position (balance sheet, cash flow, fundraising performance etc).
• Oversee the production of necessary financial reports/returns, accounts and audits and the production of an annual budget and propose its adoption at the last meeting of the previous financial year.
• To ensure that proper accounts and records are kept and that Plateful Cafe meets its legal obligations in respect of its financial affairs and financial reporting
• To ensure that Plateful Cafe’s financial resources are spent in line with good governance and legal and regulatory requirements
• To be jointly instrumental in the development and implementation of Plateful Cafe's financial policies
• To supervise and assist Finance assistants

Main Tasks
- Liaising with the appropriate member(s) of volunteers responsible for Plateful Cafe’s
financial activities and financial record-keeping
- Make members aware of their financial obligations and take a lead in interpreting
financial data to them.
- Monitoring that financial systems and controls are in place and adhered to
- Assist the fundraising team and team with Funding applications with the finance
questions
- Assist with preparing budgets and other financial information for funding bids
- Assist volunteers with the preparation of financial reports for funders
- Acting as a financial spokesperson for Plateful Cafe as appropriate
- Ensure proper records are kept and that effective financial procedures and controls
are in place, ie:

• Cheque signatories
• Purchasing limits
• Purchasing systems
• Petty cash/ float
• Others as appropriate

- Appraising the financial viability of plans, proposals and feasibility studies.

- Lead on appointing and liaising with auditors/an independent examiner.

- Undertake bookkeeping duties and/or oversee the finance volunteer ensuring posting
and bookkeeping is kept up-to-date.

- Maintain the petty cash system and regularly process petty cash claims.

- Regularly carry out reconciliations/ oversee regular reconciliations by the finance
volunteer.

- Arrange payments to creditors as appropriate and arrange appropriate signatures on
payments.

- Make the necessary arrangements to collect payments from debtors and bank
payments promptly.

Qualities

must have charity sector experience
 Knowledge and experience of current and fundraising finance practice relevant to
voluntary and community organisations.
 Knowledge of bookkeeping and financial management (as necessary).
 Good financial analysis skills.
 Ability to communicate clearly
 Previous usage of Free Agent system preferable
 Attention to details
 Preferable previous experience on payroll
 Experience on preparing budget

You will welcome clients and visitors, and support the smooth running of our local office at our drop in sessions on Mondays or Thursdays (or both)

Commitment: 6 hours/week (flexible)

Receptionists are the first point of contact for clients, welcoming visitors. You’ll record client details on our computer system, explain waiting times, and help ensure the service runs smoothly. The role builds communication, IT, and teamwork skills while making a real difference in the community. Full training and expense reimbursement are provided.

What you gain: Communication skills, admin experience, confidence using IT, and full training.

You'll gain valuable transferable skills in communication, problem solving, teamwork.

Whether you are starting out, changing career, retired, or returning to work, volunteering strengthens your CV and provides practical experience.

We’re seeking committed new trustees to help guide a small but ambitious charity supporting children and young people with cerebral palsy, ensuring our funds deliver meaningful, life-changing impact.

Our Board is made up of a small, committed group of trustees who bring a mix of professional expertise and personal connection to our cause. Together, we oversee a grant-making charity that has a long heritage and a clear ambition: to increase our income and ensure we can support more children and young people with cerebral palsy in meaningful, practical ways.

Like many small charities, our challenge is balancing strong governance with growth. We are financially stable and well run, but we want to think more strategically about our future: how we prioritise funding, how we grow awareness and income, and how we ensure every grant we make delivers real, lasting benefit for families. The new trustee will play an active role in shaping these conversations and helping the Board move confidently from steady state to sustainable growth.

The role is hands-on and collaborative. Trustees are expected to attend four board meetings a year, contribute thoughtfully to discussion and decision-making, and engage between meetings when specific issues arise. Depending on interest and experience, the new trustee may also be invited to take a lead role in an area of work or join a small working group, for example around fundraising development, investment oversight, or grant assessment.

This is an opportunity to influence how limited charitable funds are used where they matter most. Trustees are directly involved in decisions that enable children to access therapy, specialist equipment, and support that may not otherwise be available. For someone who wants to make a tangible difference, this is a role where your contribution can be clearly seen in the lives of the children and families we support.

The Board values open discussion, shared responsibility, and a supportive culture, making this an especially rewarding role for someone who wants their time and judgement to have genuine impact.