Volunteering officer jobs

Job purpose

This role serves as a liaison for the BDA’s specialist group, sub-group and branch volunteer communities. Working closely with colleagues across the BDA, the role ensures a high level of support, maintenance and development of the organisation’s member led networks.

The role supports the work of the membership, marketing and communications team to coordinate activity and projects that promote the work of member volunteers and the wider volunteer programme.

In collaboration with the Volunteer Manager, the role supports and coordinates volunteer activity, providing advice, training and guidance to member volunteers as required. It is also responsible for developing, maintaining and managing strong relationships with stakeholders to drive engagement and enhance services for members.

The role acts as essential support to colleagues and works effectively across the MMC team and the wider organisation.

 Job context

 The British Dietetic Association, founded in 1936, is the professional association and trade union for registered dietitians in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is the largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals with almost 10,000 members.

The Membership, Marketing and Communications Team delivers and maintains responsive

member services and excellent communications to engage with our membership community in person and through both digital and print media. The organisation has a motivated and engaged network of high-performing member volunteers within our specialist groups and branches and a well-established volunteer programme, which we wish to continue to grow and develop.

All staff uphold the values of the Association (Professional, Dynamic, and Innovative) and represent the profession and the Association to stakeholders

 Key areas of responsibility

Volunteer support and coordination

• Act as an internal contact for BDA specialist groups, sub-groups and branches, liaising with colleagues across the BDA to ensure the effective delivery of volunteer services.
• Serve as a main point of contact for the BDA’s regional branch network, which provides CPD and networking opportunities for members and other attendees at a local level.
• Provide advice, support and guidance to BDA specialist group and branch volunteers as required.
• Work with the events team to support the delivery of group and branch meetings and events (in-person and virtual), ensuring appropriate technical support and platforms are in place.
• Work collaboratively across BDA staff teams, specialist groups and branches to ensure members receive high-quality services, resources, events and information through appropriate communication channels.
• Support volunteer recruitment activity and deliver inductions for volunteers.
• Maintain regular and proactive engagement with committee leaders to strengthen links between volunteers, the BDA office team and other groups or branches.
• Attend group and branch meetings and events as required, representing the BDA.
• Build strong internal relationships to stay informed of policy, practice, education developments and key organisational priorities, helping to align volunteer activity with wider BDA work.
• Work with the Volunteer Team to ensure groups and branches operate within BDA policies, governance, financial and legal frameworks, and are supported to meet governance requirements.
• Support groups and branches to develop relationships with relevant internal and external stakeholders.

Resource, governance and development

• Work with the Volunteer Team and wider BDA team to develop and deliver new services, benefits and resources for the group and branch network.
• Support the identification, development and delivery of education and continuing professional development opportunities for member volunteers.
• Apply volunteering best practice to develop, review and maintain policies, guidance and tools related to volunteering.
• Support the Events and Volunteer Teams to deliver the BDA’s annual volunteer support day.
• Assist the Volunteer Team in providing governance advice and support to member volunteers, including developing and maintaining effective processes.

Communications

• Manage, and support the wider membership, marketing and communication team, to deliver volunteer communications channels by:
  • Developing and coordinating content, opportunities and contributions for our regular Volunteer Ezine.
  • Facilitate regular volunteer networking.
  • Update content and develop content for the volunteer hub.
  • Develop and coordinate content relating to volunteers, groups and branches for social media.
  • Support internal communications and updates.
  • Manage the volunteer inbox and responding to member queries as required.

 General

·       Act as an effective member of the Membership, Marketing and Communications team, contributing to team-wide campaigns and projects.

· Contribute to BDA office projects that support the organisation’s strategic and business plans.

· Travel as required to meet members, volunteers and other stakeholders.

· Undertake other duties as required.

· Comply with all relevant BDA policies and procedures.

Role Dimensions

Knowledge

This role requires specialist, advanced experience and knowledge, with a thorough understanding of volunteer management, governance and engagement, all of which are essential to the successful delivery of the role. It also requires advanced knowledge of BDA policies, governance and financial frameworks, alongside a strong understanding of the legal frameworks relating to volunteering.

Work Complexity and Judgement

This role supports the delivery of work across multiple business functions by communicating group and branch activity and initiatives. The work requires discretion, tact, strong interpersonal skills and effective stakeholder engagement. The role often involves managing complex situations and exercising sound judgement, frequently at short notice and in the presence of members, with issues and queries escalated to the Volunteer Manager as appropriate.

Impact on reputational risk

This role involves working closely with volunteers, members and internal stakeholders, representing the BDA in a professional manner. The postholder is expected to build and maintain appropriate internal relationships at all levels, managing the organisation’s reputation and exercising sound judgement in assessing and mitigating risk.

People management and leadership

This role is responsible for coordinating and supervising volunteers and plays a pivotal role in managing staff engagement with the volunteer network.

JOB TITLE Volunteer Support Officer - Recruitment (Job Share)

PART TIME 21 hours per week over 3 days – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

SALARY £17,400- £19,200 (FTE - £29,000 – 32,000) depending on experience

LOCATION Andover, Hybrid or home-based

Are you an experienced volunteer recruiter who would love to use your skills to help us Beat Macular Disease?

Macular disease is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, with around 300 people diagnosed every day. The Macular Society is the only charity determined to beat the fear and isolation of macular disease with world-class research, and the best advice and support.

To support people affected by macular disease now, the Macular Society provides a range of support, information and services. Our research programme is focused on finding new treatments and a cure to beat macular disease forever.

Key accountabilities of the role:

• Develop and implement a volunteer recruitment plan that assess the requirements for volunteers in each department and across various teams.

• Recruit new volunteers, through advertising and events

• Manage the end-to-end process for volunteers, including onboarding and offboarding, ensuring all processes are compliant with safeguarding and data protection requirements.

• Maintain the database and other records.

• Work with the Volunteer Communication and Learning Officer to develop and manage regular communication channels to all volunteers to ensure they have up to date information and are fully informed.

• Ensuring that volunteer applications to Macular Society are dealt with in a timely manner and followed up to ensure that they are being supported and given an appropriate role to suit their skills and needs.

• Work with others to demonstrate and communicate the impact that volunteering can have for volunteers and for those who the charity supports.

• Promote inclusive and accessible recruitment practices to ensure volunteering opportunities are open to a diverse range of people.

In return we provide a great working culture and offer flexible working options, 27 days annual leave, the ability to buy or sell annual leave, supportive family policies, and 6% pension contribution.

We are an equal opportunities employer, and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons.

Some occasional travel required.

For more information please visit our website, especially the careers page

Closing date: Monday 13 April 2026 at 09:00

Interviews: Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 April 2026 (online)

Summary of the role

Just Like Us is the LGBT+ young people’s charity and works with thousands of schools and young people across the UK through its programmes. This role is critical to the delivery of our mission and will support the Volunteering Programmes Manager to meet the needs of our community of 350+ volunteers so that we can reach even more LGBT+ young people across the UK. The role will be working across the Programmes Team, working on the Ambassador Programme and supporting the School Talks programme weekly. This role is an entry-level position and will provide the successful candidate with a strong foundation for a career in the voluntary sector. We are looking for someone who is eager to learn, with strong organisational and administrative skills, and good communication skills to join a friendly, driven Programmes Team. We are very keen to hear from underrepresented voices, particularly trans and non-binary, Black and/or PoC candidates.

About Just Like Us

Just Like Us is the LGBT+ young people’s charity. Founded in 2016, we work with primary schools, secondary schools and sixth form colleges across the UK to improve the lives of LGBT+ young people. To do that, we run several programmes:
● Ambassador Programme: We support our ambassadors to use their voice, develop skills and find community. They also deliver our School Talks programme to schools across the UK.
● School Talks programme: We train and support our LGBT+ 18 to 25 year olds to speak in secondary schools about growing up LGBT+ and allyship.
● Pride Groups: We help secondary schools set up and run lunchtime or after school clubs for LGBT+ pupils and their allies to meet, learn and get support, creating a safe space in every setting.
● Resource Library: We provide free resources to thousands of schools, making LGBT+ inclusive education accessible to all. This includes free e-learning for teachers to increase their confidence in creating LGBT+ inclusive educational settings.
● School Diversity Week: We run the UK-wide celebration of LGBT+ equality in primary and secondary schools. We provide free educational resources to thousands of schools, making LGBT+ inclusive education accessible to all.

Job Description

This role reports directly to the Volunteering Programmes Manager.

Programme delivery
● Support the Programmes Team to deliver our programmes
● Good regular communication and reporting to the Volunteering Programmes Manager
● Manage the administration of our Ambassador and School Talk programmes. Including the recruitment, training, opportunities and engagement of volunteers
● Deliver Ambassador volunteer training on the weekend, in-person at different locations across the UK and online
● Act as a first point of contact for ambassadors on our programmes, answering questions, sharing new resources and encouraging participation. This includes supporting ambassadors with their direct questions, managing the group chats on a daily basis and inboxes
● Support the School Talk programme, including organising bookings with schools, organising volunteers, supporting schools, supporting the whole delivery
● Represent the charity at conferences, events, prides and fairs
● Ensure volunteers to have a fulfilling and engaging experience when volunteering with Just Like Us, that they feel recognised and understand the impact of their contribution
● Work collaboratively across teams to manage logistics and ensure the smooth running of Just Like Us programmes throughout the academic year.
● Support with the creation and development of resources for volunteers
● Assist the monitoring and evaluation of volunteering programmes by distributing surveys, collecting case studies and providing analysis of data obtained to evidence our impact
● Support our marketing and communication initiatives, writing emails and monitoring open rates
● Assist with the maintenance of our online databases and systems for confidential data
● Support programme effectiveness by contributing to improving internal workflows and procedures
● Escalate any issues, monitor risks and ensure compliance with relevant regulations

Cross-team working
● Collaborate with colleagues in our Communications, Development and Education to deliver our charitable purpose
● Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives: Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the charity, promoting a culture that embraces and celebrates individual differences and ensures the organisation's programmes and workplace practices are inclusive and reflect the diverse communities it serves.

Safeguarding is a collective responsibility and all employees, volunteers, and stakeholders are expected to actively contribute to creating a safe and supportive environment for children, young people, staff, adults at risk and programme participants.

The listed role responsibilities are not exhaustive and employees may be required to take on additional tasks related to other organisational needs as and when necessary.

Person specification: experience, skills and attributes

The applicant must:
● Be passionate about LGBT+ inclusion and be highly motivated to support us to grow
● Have excellent interpersonal skills and be a relationship builder with our volunteers who are LGBT+ young people across the UK aged 18-25
● Have good written and verbal communication skills
● Have excellent organisational and administrative skills, with great attention to detail
● Have a willingness to learn and develop
● Be able to travel across the UK, working some evenings and weekends to deliver ambassador training and oversee skill workshops for our volunteers
● Be able to work effectively both independently, as part of a team and across the organisation
● Be highly computer literate, willing to learn and use our database Salesforce quickly and proficient in using email, Google Sheets and Google Docs (or equivalent)
● Be able to work very effectively under pressure and meet tight deadlines

Desirable but not essential 
● Experience of working with and/or managing volunteers
● Experience of working with LGBT+ young people

The application deadline is 23:00 on Monday 20th April 2026.
Interviews will be held on Thursday 7th May and Friday 8th May 2026.

We look forward to receiving your application!