After extensive planning, discussions, and research, we are thrilled to introduce Volunteer Cambs to Cambridgeshire’s voluntary and community sector. This new website allows voluntary organisations to showcase their volunteering roles, tasks, and one-off requests.

Volunteer Cambs enables members of the public to explore the different ways they can contribute to their community, providing a unified platform for non-profit groups to promote their initiatives and engage those around them.

We are delighted to join the ranks of Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Peterborough in creating our community engagement website. This endeavour is especially significant in light of recent reports, such as NCVO’s ‘Time Well Spent Report‘ highlighting declining volunteer numbers and increasing barriers to volunteering. We aspire to make Cambridgeshire the top destination for volunteering.

 

Mark Freeman, CEO at Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS), one of the organisations behind the development of this site, said :

“We’re excited to be working with Hunts Forum and Deedmob to bring you Volunteer Cambs. It is an exciting opportunity for the voluntary and community sector to communicate with those who want to be part of making things happen in their community. This website allows groups to recruit and manage volunteers and we are sure this will help them deliver even more in the communities where they operate. At the same time we hope it will encourage more people to find volunteering opportunities that fit with the time, skills and passion they have to offer.”

We encourage all non-profit groups to set up a profile and upload their volunteer roles to the site in the lead-up and during Christmas, ensuring they are ready for our exciting public launch in early 2024. Adding your organisation and roles is straightforward, and you can find helpful videos and guides here. Additionally, our Support Cambridgeshire partners are available to assist you in crafting compelling role descriptions.

Our choice of this portal over other volunteer recruitment websites is driven by its user-friendly layout, the ability to communicate with interested individuals, and the convenience of managing the entire recruitment process through your organisation profile. You can also share your roles over social media and access engaging tools for both groups and the public, including a volunteer pool, elements of gamification, and personalisation. There are also opportunities to view data and analytics so you can see everything to do with your volunteer recruitment process in one place. Further details about these tools will be discussed in workshops scheduled for the new year.

Those of you involved with Peterborough may already be aware of the new portal that PCVS will be launching – GoVip. This initiative collaborates with Volunteer Cambs, allowing you to upload roles on either site and promote opportunities within either authority. We aim to eliminate unnecessary boundaries and facilitate seamless connections.

We invite you to join us in early 2024 to promote this website to the people of Cambridgeshire. Stay tuned for more information!

So, what are you waiting for? Start uploading your roles today on Volunteer Cambs! Let’s make Cambridgeshire the ultimate destination for volunteering!

Support Cambridgeshire will be running several workshops looking at how to make the most of your community organisation profile. These can be found in the What’s On pages.