Recruit & Manage Volunteers
Do you need volunteers for your organisation?
If your organisation involves volunteers in Islington, we encourage you to register with Volunteer Centre Islington. Registration is free and gives you access to a range of support designed to help you recruit and manage volunteers effectively.
Once registered, you can promote your volunteering opportunities through Volunteer Centre Islington Online Platform, where they can be easily found by local residents and potential volunteers. Please see our guidance notes for help using the platform.
Opportunities listed with us are also actively promoted by our team through our drop‑ins, outreach sessions and community engagement work, helping you reach a wider and more diverse audience.
VAI provided us with a straightforward way to recruit motivated and skilled volunteers. After speaking at their online fair and using their portal we had 10+ new people sign up within a few weeks.
Stephen Mawhinney, Islington Food Partnership Manager, Manor Gardens
We support your organisation with volunteering
Working with volunteers can be hugely rewarding, and a well‑supported volunteer team can bring real value to your organisation.
It’s important to remember that volunteers are not the same as paid staff, and they need to be managed in a way that reflects their motivations and responsibilities. Good volunteer management helps create a positive experience for everyone involved.
As a registered organisation, you’ll also have access to one‑to‑one support, regular invitations to volunteering fairs, volunteer‑manager forums and relevant training workshops.
Resources for volunteer management
Our Volunteer Centre team are specialists in volunteering and can offer practical advice, guidance and best practice to help you manage volunteers confidently. We also understand the common challenges organisations face and are here to support you in dealing with them effectively.
Explore our guidance on good practice, along with useful templates, policy examples and practical tools to help you build a safe, welcoming and well‑organised volunteering environment.
Useful templates for volunteer recruitment
Other resources for community organisations
For practical resources, templates and toolkits to support your organisation (governance, finance, policies, digital tools and more) visit our Resources for Community Organisations
Information about DBS Checks
A DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check is a process for gathering information about a person’s criminal history.
It helps organisations make safer recruitment decisions and prevents unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, like children or adults at risk.
- From 1 September 2026, the law about regulated activity with children is changing. The current rule about the supervision of paid staff and volunteers carrying out specific activities with children will be removed from the legal definition. This will apply if they do the work often enough, or overnight. Use the Government’s DBS tool to understand if your volunteer needs a DBS check, and which type.
- DBS Update Service rapid read guide.
- List of DBS providers on the government website.
Volunteer's Week
Volunteers’ Week is an annual UK-wide campaign held from the first Monday in June to celebrate and recognise the contributions of volunteers.
2027 Volunteers' Week Monday 7th - Sunday 13th June
We are Islington's accredited Volunteer Centre
VAI is proud to hold the Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation (VCQA), a national quality mark recognising excellence in the strategic development of volunteering, good practice, developing opportunities, brokerage and the voice of volunteering.
Volunteer Centre
Telephone: 073 5445 9113 / 020 7832 5826
Email: volunteer@vai.org.uk