A Guide to Volunteers' Week 2025

The countdown is on to Volunteers' Week 2025! The national celebration takes places annually in the first week of June, to commend the amazing contributions volunteers make to their communities. Volunteers' Week is the perfect opportunity to recognise, celebrate, and pay thanks to our incredible volunteers!

In 2024, volunteering added £4.6 billion in productivity gains to the UK economy, and 25 million people in the UK volunteered informally at least once in the year*. Volunteering is a vital component of society and these figures highlight the remarkable contributions of volunteers across the UK. Volunteers' Week aims to continue growing the impact of of volunteering and create stronger, more connected communities.

Volunteers' Week has been running for over 40 years, helping to provide a platform for organisations and communities to thank volunteers for their amazing contributions, celebrate the spirit of volunteering and highlight its importance to inspire continued engagement.

At 3SG, we're passionate about volunteering and incredibly thankful to those who give their time to help their communities and local organisations in Bath & North East Somerset. We encourage our 250 member organisations to take this chance to collectively celebrate them. We know how busy you are doing incredible work in our local communities, so we’ve put together this guide with ideas and resources for celebrating Volunteers’ Week.

So, what can your voluntary organisation do to get involved? 

Celebrate your volunteers and raise awareness of their contributions:

• Sending Thank You cards or small Thank You gifts

  This could involve reaching out to local commercial connections to see if they have free products or gift cards they'd be happy to donate as volunteer gifts, exploring what volunteer incentive or reward programmes currently exist, utilising 3SG's free Komedia Tickets offer (3SG members only), or simply downloading Volunteers' Week templates for Thank You cards to share a simple token of gratitude.

  
  

• Organising a Volunteers' Social

  Arranging a get-together to socialise provides your volunteers with the opportunity to relax, make connections and meet friends in a fun and informal setting. This could be a celebratory event such as The Big Lunch (7 - 8 June), a picnic, or an activity outing.

  
  

• Spotlight Volunteer Efforts and Stories

  Share more about your volunteers on social media, in your newsletters, and maybe even reach out to a local radio or newspaper to shine a light and celebrate your volunteers hard work. Utilise this Volunteer Story Template for an easy way to get started.

  Remember that we host a weekly Radio Bath slot for our 3SG members, providing an opportunity for you to promote your organisation, and share stories from your volunteers, to local listeners (bookings for July & August will open and be announced in our weekly newsletter in mid-June).

  
  

• Celebrating Milestones

  Presenting certificates for length of service or other milestones reached can help your volunteers to feel appreciated and inspire others.

  
  

• Utilise official Volunteers' Week communications

  Make the most of the national conversation around volunteering to promote what your volunteers are doing, and what prospective volunteers can get involved in. Amplify your message by re-sharing official Volunteers' Week social media posts alongside your content. Utilise hashtags to reach wider audiences, and ask supporters and stakeholders to re-share.

Downloadable Volunteer Certificates and Thank You cards, Social Media Guide, graphics, and other resources and advice for hosting events : https://volunteersweek.org/resources

Develop your volunteer programme:

• Revamp your volunteer adverts to attract wider audiences

  Ensure that you're using inclusive language, clearly describing the roles and requirements, whilst also showcasing what you have to offer and why your organisation is a great place to volunteer.

  
  

• Organise 'taster' sessions or inductions days for prospective volunteers to dip their toe in the water and hear more at an informal setting

  
  

• Update your volunteer policies

  
  

• Advertise Far and Wide

  Including with the University of Bath Student's Union, and the Co-op. Make the most of local community Facebook groups to spread the word, and utilise industry specific platforms such as Technology Volunteers or Media Trust, if you're looking for certain skills.

  Everyone Health is the new provider of the B&NES Community Volunteer Service - who are responsible for managing a central advertising platform for local volunteer opportunities. They have advised us that their advertising platform should be live by the end of June.

Supporting and managing volunteers all year round

It's great to celebrate your volunteers during Volunteers' Week, but make sure your volunteer programme is delivering for your volunteers all year. Well supported and engaged volunteers are more likely to continue volunteering with your organisation.

• Flexible volunteering opportunities

• Regular communications and check-ins

• Understand the reasons your volunteers wish to volunteer and their motivations

• Offer further training and opportunities to develop skills of interest, for example, allowing a volunteer exposure to marketing tasks if they're interested in a marketing career

• Take advantage of training events, useful guides and webinars for volunteer coordinators.

If your organisation is hosting an event or launching a volunteering initiative during Volunteers' Week, please let us know so that we can help to promote. Email us via contact@3sg.org.uk

3SG Support

Volunteering Network

3SG hosts a Volunteering Network for anyone working with volunteers in Bath & North East Somerset. The Network was previously led by St Mungo’s and HCRG's Volunteer Service, until 3SG re-launched it in September 2024. We now run the Network independently, without funding, to offer this vital resource and support to the local Third Sector.

The Network meets quarterly (next meeting in mid-September). You can subscribe to Network updates and invites here.

Volunteer Coordinator Handbook

3SG Project Manager, Toni Green, has created a comprehensive Volunteer Coordinator Handbook filled with great advice and useful information for anyone managing or coordinating volunteers. 3SG members can access a free digital copy of this resource, with hard copies available to purchase. Non-members are also welcome to purchase a digital or hard copy: Find out more here and request your copy today.

Volunteer Fair

In 2023, 3SG hosted its first Volunteer Fair in central Bath. We invited 40+ local charities to exhibit and promote their volunteering opportunities to local residents. The pilot event was a success, and we brought the Fair back, bigger and better, in 2024, welcoming over 300 visitors!

The Fair will return on Friday 17th October 2025, 11am - 3pm at the Apex Hotel, Bath. In July, we will invite 3SG members to book stalls! Keep an eye on our weekly newsletter for the announcement (3SG members will be notified first).

We will also be hosting a series of workshops at the Fair on all things volunteering. If you have an idea for a workshop, or would like to collaborate on one, please get in touch via contact@3sg.org.uk

Other Events for Volunteers' Week

NCVO & Zurich

Developing and Embedding Effective Risk Assessments for Volunteers

Webinar, Monday 9th June 11:00 - 12:15

An essential, free webinar on creating and embedding effective risk assessments to protect your volunteers and those they support.

Find out more and sign up here.

NCVO also offer half-day 'Recruiting Volunteers' training sessions, priced on a sliding scale of affordability, starting at £57 for smaller non-member organisations. They're next training date is June 12th.

Ygam

A national charity helping to protect young people from the hidden risks of gambling and gaming, are hosting free training sessions for all volunteers who work with children and young people aged 7 - 25. The session is designed to upskill them with the tools to spot signs of gambling and gaming harm and know how to respond in a safe and supportive way.

The online training is available at various times throughout Volunteers' Week and is tailored to a variety of different organisational settings (e.g. Health & Social Care, for hospital volunteers, or Sports Organisations, for anyone volunteering in a youth sports setting, etc).

Find out more and sign up to a training session here.

*Statistics from Royal Voluntary Service and NCVO.