How to recruit volunteers during Volunteers’ Week

Like every year, this year's Volunteers' Week takes place on 1–7 June. This is an opportunity to thank all volunteers, but also gives us a chance to recruit new volunteers to areas in need.

You might have seen that we have been working hard with our Girlguiding volunteer recruitment campaign recently. We would love to welcome even more volunteers to join us by reaching out during Volunteers' Week to our local communities.

Speaking to potential new volunteers can be daunting, but this year we’ve thought about one small action you can take each day to help contribute to volunteer recruitment in your area. It doesn’t matter if you only manage one or two of these suggestions, or do some of them after Volunteers’ Week – the important thing is to spread the word and show potential volunteers what an amazing organisation Girlguiding is.

1. Day 1: we've developed a Facebook profile frame – your first action could be to add it to your Facebook account, so your friends and connections can see that Girlguiding is looking for new volunteers. Find out how to upload the Facebook frame.
2. Day 2: change your profile photo on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc to one of you in your uniform or a guiding photo to let everyone know you are a Girlguiding volunteer.
3. Day 3: your action for today could be to post on a community Facebook group that you are looking for volunteers in your local area. Explain to people why you volunteer and the difference they could make to girls lives. Remember to link to GO so people can sign up. You could also encourage your guiding friends to do the same.
4. Day 4: do you know someone who would make a great Girlguiding volunteer? Then why not tell them what you love about guiding. Meeting up for coffee? Explain to them what you get out of it, the friends you've made and the fun you have. Going for a walk? Then tell them how our amazing volunteers provide girls with adventure, friendship and fun. You might also want to mention we have a wide range of volunteer roles available so they can find the perfect role for them.
5. Day 5: using the online design centre, personalise a recruitment poster and take it to your local supermarket, post office, school or community centre and ask them to display it to encourage more volunteers to join.
6. Day 6: share your favourite memory of guiding on social media and get your guiding friends to do the same. You could also post one of our recruitment toolkit images or videos  on a local community Facebook group (often called noticeboards, community chat, spotted in, what’s on) and ask for volunteers in your area to sign up to GO.
7. Day 7: if you’re able to, you could wear your uniform to work (even if you’re working from home but attending online work meetings). Or perhaps when you’re picking the children up from school, or out and about doing errands or food shopping etc. If someone stops to chat, that’ll give you a great opportunity to tell them about Girlguiding.

If you can aim to recruit just one volunteer, even if they can only help occasionally, it'll have a huge benefit to our organisation.

If you'd like to further spread the word about our brilliant organisation, you could share our volunteer recruitment video on your local Girlguiding, or personal social media account.

And don’t forget to tell everyone about it on social media using #VolunteerWithGirlguiding

Recruitment doesn’t have to stop once Volunteers’ Week is over though, you can use these tips throughout the year to help recruit in your local area.

Good luck and thank you for taking up the challenge.

Did you enjoy taking part in our Volunteers’ Week recruitment challenge?

Find out more information about recruiting volunteers in your local area on our Growing our membership pages.