Understand your volunteer needs

This is step one in designing your recruitment strategy.

You can’t plan recruitment effectively without understanding what your team needs. In the same way you wouldn’t buy clothes without thinking about fit, purpose and how they work with what you already have, you shouldn’t recruit volunteers without thinking about how they will fit into and strengthen your existing team.

Before looking for new volunteers, think about where your team needs more support and what responsibilities need to be shared. In a team-based approach, this isn’t about filling fixed roles, but about identifying tasks and opportunities where people can contribute in flexible ways.

For example, do you need more support in:

• Delivering programme activities with young people?
• Planning or running a specific event?
• Supporting administration or finances?
• Helping occasionally rather than committing regularly?

The number of people you need—and the flexibility of those opportunities—will influence how and where you recruit.

The following sections will help you identify and prioritise your current team volunteering needs.

Designing opportunities that motivate volunteers
Research shows that organisations offering a variety of ways to get involved are the most successful at attracting and retaining volunteers. In Scouts, this means offering flexible, team-based opportunities rather than relying on a small number of fixed roles.

A useful exercise is to meet with members of your leadership and trustee teams and identify where people feel under pressure or would benefit from extra support. This isn’t about offloading whole roles, but about sharing tasks across more people.

A process to help identify new team volunteering opportunities
Keep a log of the tasks you (or your team) undertake over a week or month.

Mark each task in one of the following ways:

***  This could easily be shared with or picked up by someone new

**    This could be done together with someone else in the team

*     This needs to stay with you or a current team member (either because you don't want to, cannot, or it would be inappropriate to, delegate this to another volunteer(s)

You can leave some unmarked if you’re unsure, but make sure to revisit them.

Then think about the things you would like to do but don’t currently have time or capacity for. Could these become new opportunities for volunteers to get involved?

Using these tasks, you can shape flexible volunteering opportunities rather than fixed roles—making it easier for people to contribute in ways that suit them.

Another important consideration is virtual or remote volunteering. Many tasks can now be done from home, making them more accessible and appealing. Examples include:

• Managing social media
• Updating your website
• Supporting communications or newsletters
• Maintaining records or finances

These flexible options allow people to contribute in ways that fit around their other commitments, making it easier to grow and sustain a strong, diverse team.

Overall, the aim is to build a balanced, supportive team, where responsibilities are shared and volunteers can get involved in ways that work for them, helping to deliver great Scouting experiences without overloading individuals.