Crisis support worker volunteer roles in Dunstable, central bedfordshire

About The Big House

The Big House Multibank exists to improve lives and build a more sustainable Scotland by reducing waste, maximising resources, and supporting families facing hardship. We do this by redistributing surplus goods from corporate partners to frontline organisations, schools, social workers, health visitors and community groups who support families in crisis.

Based in Fife, with satellite hubs in Dundee, Perth and Edinburgh, and expanding across Scotland, we combine environmental action, social justice and community partnership to tackle poverty, reduce pollution and strengthen local support systems.

Our work supports families to stay together, children to thrive, and communities to flourish while diverting significant volumes of surplus goods from landfill.

Our Ambition
Our 2026 Business Plan sets out an ambitious growth agenda, including: 

• Doubling the volume of goods distributed 
• Expanding into the Glasgow City Region 
• Introducing digital inventory and tracking systems 
• Embedding wrap-around care pathways for families 

Strengthening our circular economy and environmental impact 

Increasing fundraising, communications and corporate partnerships 

To deliver this, we are strengthening our Board to ensure excellent governance, strategic leadership, and a clear focus on impact, purpose and people. 

Purpose of the Role

To provide strategic leadership and governance, ensuring The Big House fulfils its charitable objectives, operates effectively, and remains sustainable, accountable and impactful.

Key Responsibilities

• Set and uphold the strategic direction of the charity
• Ensure legal, regulatory and financial compliance
• Provide oversight of risk, safeguarding and organisational performance
• Support and challenge the executive team constructively
• Act as an ambassador and advocate for The Big House

Legal Duties

Trustees share collective responsibility for:

• Acting in the best interests of the charity
• Managing resources responsibly
• Ensuring accountability and transparency
• Complying with charity law and governance best practice

Skills & Experience We Are Seeking 

We are seeking individuals with senior-level expertise in one or more of the following areas: 

• Safeguarding & Social Care - senior experience in social work, education, health, early years or family support services, with strong safeguarding expertise. 
• Supply Chain, Logistics & Warehousing - experience in logistics, operations, warehousing, fulfilment, or supply chain transformation. 
• Digital Transformation & Data Governance - experience delivering digital systems, data governance, cyber security or operational technology. 
• Circular Economy & Environmental Leadership - background in sustainability, reuse, recycling, environmental strategy or circular economy innovation. 
• Corporate Retail, FMCG & Surplus Partnerships - senior experience within retail, manufacturing or FMCG, particularly in surplus, ESG or supply chain partnerships. 
• Social Enterprise & Scale-Up Leadership - experience growing mission-led organisations, trading models or hybrid charities. 

We also welcome candidates with strengths in: 

• Finance, audit and risk 
• Fundraising and philanthropy 
• Communications, brand and public affairs 

We are seeking Trustees who demonstrate: 

• Strategic thinking and sound judgement 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills 
• Integrity, empathy and emotional intelligence 
• Commitment to social justice and environmental sustainability 
• Willingness to contribute time, expertise and energy 
• Ability to challenge constructively and support collaboratively 

We particularly welcome applications from individuals who: 

• Bring lived experience of poverty or inequality 
• Are underrepresented in charity governance 
• Are at an earlier stage of their Board career 

Timeline: 

• We are recruiting Trustees on a rolling basis to allow flexibility and to ensure we appoint the right people at the right time as the organisation continues to grow. 
• Applications will be reviewed as they are received, with interviews scheduled throughout the year. 
• Appointments will be made on a rolling basis, with new Trustees formally ratified at the next appropriate Board meeting or Annual General Meeting (AGM), in line with our constitution. 
• While we anticipate a number of appointments during 2026, we encourage early applications and expressions of interest at any point. 

For more information, please download the job description attached in this advert. 

Chair of the Board of Trustees and Trustee Opportunities (Voluntary)

Ben is the charity supporting the health and wellbeing of people who work or have worked in the UK automotive industry. As the sector continues to transform, Ben is entering an ambitious new phase to significantly expand its reach, strengthen its role as the industry’s trusted wellbeing partner and deliver its goal to treble impact and double fundraising by 2030. With strong financial foundations and clear ambition for growth, we are now seeking a new Chair and several Trustees to help shape this next chapter.

The Chair will provide strategic leadership to the Board, support and challenge the CEO, and ensure strong governance, financial sustainability and clarity of purpose. They will lead the Board in setting strategy, driving impact, stewarding significant reserves and acting as an ambassador across the sector.

We are looking for:

• Non-executive experience including as committee or board chair
• Strong governance and financial acumen
• Experience of organisational change or growth
• A collaborative, values driven leader who brings sound judgement, strategic insight and excellent relationship building skills.

The Board meets 4 times a year, with approximately 50% of those taking place in-person. The Chair will serve up to 4 years.

People & Planet is looking for volunteers to assist with compiling its 2026/27 People & Planet University League; the only higher education ranking that classifies based on ethics and climate justice criteria.

Universities impart skills and knowledge, form life-long beliefs and behaviours, act as centres of communities, employ, house and feed large numbers of people and promote the creation and sharing of knowledge. We believe this makes them uniquely placed to lead on environmental and ethical issues. For this reason the People & Planet University League has been running since 2007 and has been published by high-profile media partners such as The Guardian (2021, 2022. 2023, 2024, 2025), The BBC, and whose data is used in the Sunday Time Good University Guide.

Volunteers will research publicly available university documents and assess universities against our marking criteria, which cover a wide range of climate and social justice issues including decarbonisation, fossil fuel divestment, ethical banking, workers’ rights and environmental management among others. This work will help to incentivise the university sector towards taking immediate and appropriate action on the climate crisis and upholding the rights and wellbeing of all people internationally.

The role will develop and improve the following areas:

• Qualitative research skills

• Attention to detail

• Use of data collection software

• Time management and keeping to deadlines

• Working independently and remotely

• Communication skills

• Knowledge of environmental management processes and sustainability reporting.

Training is provided for the role. We believe the skills and experience gained could be valuable for a number of career paths, including working in NGOs, corporate sustainability, estates management, higher education policy making, research and campaigning among many others.

People & Planet would like to support volunteers in their future careers, so will give all volunteers an official reference letter on successful completion of their placement and will act as a referee for future positions for which you may apply. From last year’s cohort, 100% said they would recommend this position to someone who wanted to add experience to their CV.

Feedback from previous volunteers

‘I think as someone looking for relevant experience to bolster a CV, this is a helpful and not-too-time-consuming position. It had exactly the kind of flexibility that I required at this point in time.’

‘It's a really great opportunity to hone one's research skills, learn more about what our universities can do to improve their impact on the planet, and make a small but real difference.’

Person Specification -the following are essential:

• Access to a computer or laptop and internet connection.

• Familiarity with desk-based research.

• Ability to work accurately and efficiently to agreed standards.

• Reliability and commitment to completing work to deadlines.

• Able to communicate needs with staff at People & Planet and if needed, ask for appropriate support to complete tasks in time.

• Ability to search policy documents for specific information in English.

• Ability to assess information against standardised frameworks.

• Ability to work remotely and independently

The following are desirable:

• Awareness of current issues in sustainability and ethics.

• Experience of research and data collection.

• An interest in higher education policy.

Please note anyone employed by a UK university cannot volunteer as a Researcher.

You will need to commit to

• Two 25 hour weeks of remote work in July and August.

• 5 hours work per day for the two week period. Volunteers can manage their own time flexibly and will receive support from People & Planet, but must meet task deadlines on a weekly basis and attend a short daily meeting. Volunteers are free to work evenings and weekends, but please note People & Planet operates a 4 day week from 9-5.

• One induction session the week prior to your 2 week engagement.

• Completion of a self-access standardisation activity prior to the start of your engagement.

• Attending a brief meeting in the morning or afternoon each day and one individual check-in meeting in week 1.

• Checking the work chat function regularly.

Summer timetable

June 22nd-July 3rd Ethical Investment and Banking, Ethical Careers and Recruitment, Education for Sustainable Development. Induction 18th June 10am

July 13th-July 24th Sustainable Food, Staff & HR, Environmental Policy and Strategy Induction 9th July 10am

August 3rd-August 14th Managing Carbon, Workers’ Rights, Staff and Student Engagement. Induction 30th July 10am

How to Apply

Fill in this form and attach a C.V that has your full name in the filename.

Applications will be processed on a rolling basis until positions are filled, so please apply early to avoid disappointment. The deadline for applications is Wednesday the 20th May at 11:59

Candidates will need to attend a non-competitive group recruitment session and complete an online self-access task before being invited to volunteer with us.

Please let us know if you have specific access needs and what we can do to make the interview, training and volunteer experience more accessible to you, including organising a one-on-one interview. We welcome people with hearing loss, deaf and or disabled people to apply for this volunteer opportunity -unfortunately we don't use BSL so would need to make alternative support provisions for the training, unless a BSL interpreter can join you. If you have specific needs where we might support you by making this volunteering opportunity more accessible, please contact us.

People & Planet welcome applications from BAME folks and people of colour, from disabled people, from LGBTQI*people, from people who speak English as a second language, from people who identify as non-binary gender, from women, from people of different ages, from people with caring responsibilities and from people with irregular migration status, people seeking asylum in the UK or with a migrant background, folks with a working class background, and everyone else.

Ben is the charity supporting the health and wellbeing of people who work or have worked in the UK automotive industry. As the sector continues to transform, Ben is entering an ambitious new phase to significantly expand its reach, strengthen its role as the industry’s trusted wellbeing partner and deliver its goal to treble impact and double fundraising by 2030. With strong financial foundations and clear ambition for growth, we are now seeking new Trustees to help shape this next chapter.

Board of Trustees  (Voluntary)

As a Trustee, you’ll play a key role in guiding Ben’s strategy, championing good governance and supporting our senior team. You’ll help us stay connected to the needs of today’s workforce and ensure our impact keeps growing.

We’re particularly keen to bring fresh perspectives onto our Board, and we actively encourage younger people and early‑career leaders to apply - including those who may not have been a trustee before. If you’re motivated by improving wellbeing and want to build your leadership experience, we’d love to hear from you.

We are looking for Trustees who can bring insight in one or more of the following areas:

• Automotive industry (retail, manufacturing or aftermarket)
• Fundraising, philanthropy, income generation or business development
• Welfare, health and wellbeing
• Impact measurement, evaluation or outcomes frameworks
• Brand, marketing, communications, social media or customer experience
• Finance, audit and risk
• Technology, digital or data
• Research and development
• Governance

We’d especially love to hear from you if you:

• Are values‑driven and excited about helping others
• Bring a collaborative, open‑minded approach
• Want to develop board‑level experience
• Can offer a different generational or lived‑experience viewpoint

We welcome values driven leaders who bring strong judgement, collaboration and diverse perspectives, and who are motivated by improving wellbeing across the automotive industry.

The Board meets 4 times a year, with approximately 50% of those taking place in-person. 

VOLUNTEER POSITION – Grants Assistant

Hope and Vision Communities is a small charity based in Reading providing supported, move-on accommodation for people who have successfully completed residential rehabilitation.  We have a Christian ethos, where everyone can be loved and accepted with a sense of belonging, with the hope and opportunity of a new life. We are growing to expand who we can help to other geographical areas, as well as working on opening a women’s service.    

Growing our services means that we also need to grow our fundraising income, and to help reach this, we are looking for a skilled volunteer who could help us increase our grant submissions. The role will support the Trusts and Grants Fundraiser in managing a regular flow of grant applications to Trusts and Foundations.

Key Responsibilities

 •  Research and apply for grants and funding opportunities already identified in our CRM system - this could be potentially 3 applications a week where you prepare a customised case for support to be sent out to a funder

Key Skills and Qualifications

 •  Experience in using Microsoft Sharepoint for remote working

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

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

Hope and Vision Communities is a small charity based in Reading providing supported, move-on accommodation for people who have successfully completed residential rehabilitation.  We are growing to expand who we can help to other geographical areas, as well as working on opening a women’s service.    

Growing our services means that we also need to grow our fundraising income, and to help reach this, we are looking for a skilled volunteer who could help us take our communications to the next level. The role will support the Trusts and Grants Fundraiser with a focus on managing the charity’s social media posts; updates to the website and supporting event admin.

Key Tasks:

• Scheduling audience-specific, engaging and shareable content in different formats 

• Regularly posting across our social media platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook) and monitoring engagement to increase our following 

• Creating call to actions to increase our Mailchimp mailing list 

• Book attendance at networking and fundraising events

• Help us with copy writing for the press, fundraising tools and internet site. 

Key Skills:

• Comfortable in using digital comms tools such as mailchimp; wordpress; eventbrite; canva 

• Experienced in using social media such as Facebook; Instagram; LinkedIn 

• Able to research social media management tools such as Buffer 

• A confident copywriter who can write for different comms channels 

• Confident communicator with strong organisational skills

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

EXPERIENCE 

Relevant experience using digital communications tools and creating engaging content 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES 

Ability to present written and verbal information clearly, accurately and to a standard appropriate for external presentation and communication 

Ability to work well within a team and independently 

Understanding of issues faced by those recovering from addiction 

Demonstrated commitment to the vision, mission and values of the organisation 

You will be supported to succeed and gain real workplace experience with a great group of people and the chance to make a real difference to the people in recovery we support.   

MAIN PURPOSE: 

• To support the comms/fundraising team with communication and events. 

• Help us increase our outreach in the communities and beyond, build a group of supporters and regular donors.

Estimated need for the charity: 

Roughly 4-6 hours per week, whenever is most convenient for you. For example, 3 hours, two days a week. You will be working mainly remotely from home, although volunteers are very welcome to work from our offices in Hare Hatch. You must have access to your own laptop and secure internet connection.