Many charities and social enterprises rely on volunteers to be able to operate. During the pandemic, there was a surge in volunteer activity enabling organisations to rapidly scale in the face of rising demand for their services. With the peak of the pandemic crisis behind us, what legacy has been left in terms of the volunteer landscape? How many of those volunteers have remained? What can organisations do to best recruit, manage and retain their volunteers?

In this webinar, we will hear from Richard Kennell, chief executive of Didcot-based charity, SOFEA, which has more than 200 volunteers on its books. Some support every day, some much less frequently and particularly through the pandemic they were key to the increase in operations, distributing over 110,000 food parcels between March and August 2020.

We will also hear from Laura Price, chief executive of Oxfordshire Community & Voluntary Action (OCVA), which was established to support the diverse voluntary and community sector in Oxfordshire.

Who is this webinar for?
This webinar is for anyone working in an Oxfordshire charity or other impact organisation that already uses volunteers or is looking to introduce or expand its current volunteer activity.

The session will cover:

The value of volunteers/ volunteering to the organisation and to the volunteer
How to recruit volunteers (and how to recruit staff from the volunteer force)
Onboarding and induction (including compliance)
Working with volunteers: Roles of volunteers/ Deployment of volunteers/ Challenges of volunteers/ Interacting with volunteers form other organisations
The session will run via Zoom from 10 am – 11.30 a.m

About SOFEA

SOFEA has a dual social mission – educating disadvantaged young people and providing surplus food to other not for profit organisations.

Founded just over 5 years ago, it has grown to a revenue of £1.5m, employing 48 people on three sites.

About OCVA

OCVA provides advice, information and training, helping to build partnerships across the community and voluntary sectors in Oxfordshire.