As the Volunteer Manager at Fight for Sight, Beth Evans is in charge of making sure all our volunteers have a meaningful experience through their role. And as more people realise that volunteering is an incredible way to meet people, as well as build skills and even a career, numbers of volunteers are growing. But what’s involved in a volunteering role at Fight for Sight and what’s attracting so many people to lend a hand? We spoke to Beth to find out…
What makes someone offer themselves as a volunteer?
People’s motivations for volunteering are all really different. So I’m here to make sure that regardless of what their motivation is, they are just going to have a fantastic experience. Often people’s motivation changes: they might start volunteering for social reasons – to make new friends – and then when they find out training is available they’ll start to focus on what new skills they can develop.
What are the benefits of volunteering with us?
Besides being incredibly sociable and personally rewarding, volunteering is fantastic for giving a CV standout. And the training opportunities offer a practical element too, our roles enable people to:
- Learn to process donations (invaluable to charity retail).
- Build customer service skills and experience.
- Train to use an EPOS system; till training is an incredibly transferable skill for people wanting to work in any retail capacity.
- Understand Gift Aid, which an increasing number of charities are signed up to.
- Train on safeguarding, which is really valuable for understanding how organizations look after each other.
- Benefit from online training in subjects like IT, retail and management skills, which we’re offering as part of our volunteering roles.
As our volunteer team grows, we’re also looking to run workshops on topics like CV honing and paths to employment. We want to make sure we’re helping people to flourish in whatever they choose to do. And we have quite a few examples of people who started out volunteering with us and now have paid employment within the charity.
As the Volunteer Manager at Fight for Sight, Beth Evans is in charge of making sure all our volunteers have a meaningful experience through their role. And as more people realise that volunteering is an incredible way to meet people, as well as build skills and even a career, numbers of volunteers are growing. But what’s involved in a volunteering role at Fight for Sight and what’s attracting so many people to lend a hand? We spoke to Beth to find out…
"At the end of the day, everyone wants to feel helpful and important in some way, and our volunteers couldn’t be more important to us."
What do our volunteers tend to do?
Retail is really where we need the majority of our volunteers help out; we currently have retail assistant opportunities, that incorporate till operations and visual merchandising. Then there are further creative roles in fashion and homeware photography for our social media and marketing, so supporting our e-commerce team.
Then you’ve got really niche roles, like Ron in our Hampton Hill shop, who’s this incredible book enthusiast and can sniff out real gems and rare editions amongst our donations, which then allows us to sell them for their maximum value, in-store and on our eBay shop!
And of course, there’s our donations hub, which is a great place to volunteer if you just love to rummage. People who can zero in on rare and collectible items, including fashion and homewares, are invaluable there. Basically I’m doing a shout out for treasure hunters right now!
What types of people volunteer with us?
All sorts! But perhaps there are three main groups:
Retirees, who've got time on their hands and are looking to socialise and enrich their lives while doing useful work.
Career builders, younger people who are looking to build experience and learn new skills to bolster their CV, to get a foot in the door for paid employment.
Young optimists, who look at the world and are genuinely interested in doing something that is feels responsible, ethical and useful.
Of course, these are generalisations - lots of people don’t fall into any of these groups or fall into more than one – but it gives you an idea of the breadth.
I tend to think of many of the volunteers we work with as ‘the invisibles’; perhaps they’re retired so suddenly they don't have that identity that comes with having a job, perhaps they’ve only worked on and off during their lives, or they've just finished university. It’s all about giving those people visibility, because at the end of the day everyone wants to feel helpful and important in some way and our volunteers couldn’t be more important to us.
Volunteer voices...
Angie, Hampton Hill volunteer: "After a long career in Special Education I wanted to engage in my local community. One day, I found myself in the shop and have never looked back! The time flies in the company of liked minded people, all giving their time to a very worthy cause.”
Izzy, West Norwood volunteer: “I have received great training and have gained valuable practical skills as well as learning about retail operations and warehouse logistics. I love working in the Charity Retail sector which advocataes sustainable retail, something which is really close to my heart."
George, Tulse Hill volunteer: “Volunteering changed my life and after a year I gained the confidence to apply for the van driver assistant role, working with Matt on the van doing deliveries. Shop Manager, Jacqui was a great help and support.”
Related content
