Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd

robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.comWho counts in your organisation?Does your organisation boast thousands of volunteers, or share that you just couldn’t do your work without volunteers?

Guest article now live on my blog from Tracey O’Neill: what does your strategic plan really say about volunteering? Usually not much, and what it does say reveals a lot. Go and read yours, then tell us what you find. robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/10/23/w... #LOVols #VolMgmt

An Uncomfortable Volunteering Lesson — a new #200WordTuesday thread #LOVols #VolMgmt

Second, somebody did a superb job of mobilising that many volunteers in Dover & co-ordinating their activities. It was not a spontaneous gathering (as the organisers claimed) but it was well organised. The Portsmouth protest was organised at very short notice yet still attracted dozens of people.

At a time when people apparently don’t want to volunteer, someone seems to be getting volunteer engagement right, mobilising and organising people effectively. What lessons should the rest of us be learning?

An Uncomfortable Volunteering Lesson — a new #200WordTuesday thread #LOVols #VolMgmt

The next day, another crowd of people gathered in Portsmouth in Hampshire to protest over the arrival of 140 people that had crossed the English Channel.

I want to make two observations. First, every one of the people taking part in those protests would likely meet the definition of a volunteer. I find their beliefs and actions abhorrent, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t volunteers.

An Uncomfortable Volunteering Lesson — a new #200WordTuesday thread #LOVols #VolMgmt

In early September, two events took place in the UK that made me deeply uncomfortable and angry.

bit.lyVolunteer Support and SupervisionA session for Volunteer Co-ordinators in Richmond, looking at the key issues and processes involved in supporting and supervising volunteers

On 5th of September, hundreds of people dressed all in black and wearing balaclavas marched through the roads of Dover, Kent. They disrupted traffic and intimidated members of the public, all in support of their anti-immigration beliefs.

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

Richmond CVS

@richmondcvs.bsky.social

DON'T FORGET TO BOOK! Volunteer Support & Supervision Thu 12 Nov 2026, 10am - 12:30pm (online) Join expert trainer @robjconsulting.bsky.social for this session - it's an essential topic for anyone who uses volunteers, or is considering using volunteers, in their VCS organisation bit.ly/4ytfRKB

Time for another #200WordTuesday thread. This time, some musings on volunteering infrastructure following the recent situation where we risked losing Reach Volunteering

Volunteering plays a vital role in combatting what former Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls the social recession across the UK.

With the rising tide of division and hatred in society, we need volunteering infrastructure now, more than ever. It’s time we saw it that way and funded & supported it properly. I sincerely hope lessons have been learnt from the situation with Reach. It must never happen again.

Time for another #200WordTuesday thread. This time, some musings on volunteering infrastructure following the recent situation where we risked losing Reach Volunteering

Thankfully in September, a lifeline. Reach secured two years of funding! Fantastic news, but we should never have been in the situation that Reach had to start shutting up shop. Volunteering infrastructure is important.

Volunteering infrastructure isn’t a building, an office or a snazzy new website. Volunteering infrastructure is people. It is connections. It is relationships. Volunteering infrastructure is a valuable investment in the underlying and enabling fabric of a thriving, vibrant local community.

Time for another #200WordTuesday thread. This time, some musings on volunteering infrastructure following the recent situation where we risked losing Reach Volunteering

Over the summer it was announced that Reach Volunteering would, at the end of November, close its doors after forty-five years.

Reach Volunteering is a vital supplier of trustees to our sector. It also bucked the trend post-pandemic and demonstrated that volunteering is thriving if only we change our thinking about how to engage and support people.

robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.comMore Than an Award: Reflections on Leadership, Community, and the Power of VolunteeringIf someone suggests nominating you for Volunteer Leader of the Year, or any other volunteer management award, don’t be shy. Say yes.

Offered a nomination for a volunteer management award? Say yes. New on my blog is a guest post from Michele Armstrong on what being named Heritage Volunteer Leader of the Year really did for volunteering. robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/10/09/m... #VolunteerEngagement #LOVols #VolMgmt

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

coyotebroad (Jayne Cravens)

@coyotebroad.bsky.social

Does your nonprofit, NGO, charity or other community programget an onslaught of requests for volunteering around the holidays? How do you handle it if so? Do you try to convert these folks into repeat volunteers &, if so, how? Come discussion on r/Volunteerism: www.reddit.com/r/Volunteeri...

reddit.comFrom the Volunteerism community on RedditExplore this post and more from the Volunteerism community

From “A Very Particular Set of Skills: 10 Things Volunteer Managers Do Differently” by Chris Pursell

International Volunteer Managers Day is on the horizon. My new #200WordTuesday article talks about this year's theme. #LOVols #VolMgmt #IVMDay2026

We face many challenges and opportunities in our ever-changing contemporary world. The global pandemic, new wars and conflicts, the climate crisis etc.

volunteermanagersday.orgHome | Ivmday

All are issues that require those who lead volunteers to step up like never before. IVMDay will allow us to recognise and celebrate all of them. Find out more about IVMDay at www.volunteermanagersday.org

International Volunteer Managers Day is on the horizon. My new #200WordTuesday article talks about this year's theme. #LOVols #VolMgmt #IVMDay2026

The theme this year is “Legacy and Leadership: Honouring the past, present, and future”. At a time of transition for IVMDay, this thing couldn't be more fitting.

It is an opportunity to look back at the progress we've made as a profession since the day was first marked in 1999, and to cast our gaze forward to where we may be in 2053. But also to pause and reflect on where we are today as volunteer engagement professionals.

International Volunteer Managers Day is on the horizon. My new #200WordTuesday article talks about this year's theme. #LOVols #VolMgmt #IVMDay2026

On the day this article goes live, we’ll be a little over five weeks away from International Volunteer Managers Day (IVMDay) on 5 November 2026.

This will be the first year that I have not been directly involved in helping to plan and organise IVMDay and I’ve been excited to see the way that its new hosts, CCVA, have been breathing new life into this important initiative.

Next week at NAVSM I'm asking: if AI takes over the admin, what's left for volunteer engagement professionals? My answer: the human work that always mattered most. Relationships, judgement, trust. Co-pilot, not autopilot. #Volunteering #AI

We volunteer engagement folk are lovely people. Kind, caring, supportive. And sometimes too nice for our own good. Next week at NAVSM I'll argue it's time to stop being so bloody nice and start influencing up, out and across. #Volunteering

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

civilsociety.co.ukRNLI confirms further action to protect volunteers

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has confirmed that it turned off the location trackers on two of its lifeboats earlier this week to protect volunteers from harassment.

robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.comCatalyst and the Funding Bid That Nearly Forgot VolunteeringWhat’s the gap here between what’s meaningful and what’s measured?

Catalyst (the volunteer engagement superhero) makes a return to the blog in the tale of the budget that nearly forgot volunteering. #LOVols #VolMgmt robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/09/25/c...

hopenothate.org.ukMeet Big Time Charlie: The Restore Britain activist harassing the progressive sector – HOPE not hateHOPE not hate exposes “Big Time Charlie”, the man behind a recent campaign of online harassment against progressive charities, campaigners and others he considers “traitors”....

22 Sept

Ever wonder why would target volunteers and charities like those in the RNLI for being 'traitors'? Wonder no more thanks to @hopenothate.org.uk hopenothate.org.uk/2026/09/22/m...

reachvolunteering.org.ukReach will remain open | Reach VolunteeringReach Volunteering will remain open after funders unite to secure its immediate future.

22 Sept

Breaking news! Reach Volunteering to remain open. reachvolunteering.org.uk/closure

19 Sept

Great day at the @peakdistrict.bsky.social all volunteer day today

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

civilsociety.co.ukRNLI sees ‘significant’ donations rise after volunteers targeted

RNLI has seen a “significant” increase in donations over the past week as its volunteers and staff have been targeted by anti-immigration protestors

It's September so it's time for my annual planning & budgeting cycle #200WordTuesday article. How are you making a strong argument for investment in volunteer engagement next year? #LOVols #VolMgmt

Accept that none of this gets won once You'll have this same conversation next autumn, and the one after. Submit the budget request anyway. Ask for the seat anyway. Say "not a programme" anyway.

Now is the time to fight your corner. Again. What will you ask for this year? I'd love to know.

It's September so it's time for my annual planning & budgeting cycle #200WordTuesday article. How are you making a strong argument for investment in volunteer engagement next year? #LOVols #VolMgmt

Budget for expenses Unreimbursed volunteers are volunteers who can afford to be out of pocket. That's not inclusion, it's exclusion dressed up as goodwill. If your organisation claims to champion diversity, reimbursing expenses isn't optional.

Earn a seat at the table The mythical table in volunteer engagement circles, the one where decisions get made, not just where they get announced. Getting that seat is a year-round effort.

It's September so it's time for my annual planning & budgeting cycle #200WordTuesday article. How are you making a strong argument for investment in volunteer engagement next year? #LOVols #VolMgmt

Around this time every year, UK Volunteer Engagement Professionals face the same battle: making the case for continued (maybe increased?) support and investment in volunteer engagement. Here are four things to consider as this process starts again.

bit.lyVolunteer Recruitment and SelectionA session for Volunteer Co-ordinators in Richmond, looking at the key issues and processes involved in recruiting the right volunteers.

Stop calling it a volunteer programme Programmes are subgroups within services: the reading programme, the gardening programme etc. Volunteering isn't a subgroup. It's a strategy for how your organisation delivers its mission. Language shapes budget decisions, so change the language first.

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

Richmond CVS

@richmondcvs.bsky.social

14 Sept

Volunteer Recruitment & Selection: 8 Oct 2026, 10am-12.30pm "A good session organising the knowledge I've had, adding new information, suggesting practical solutions" New to a volunteer coordinator's role or want to keep your skills fresh? Join this session with @robjconsulting.bsky.social now!

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

civilsociety.co.ukRNLI museum shuts doors due to verbal abuse of volunteers

11 Sept

RNLI’s lifeboat museum in Poole has closed temporarily after “several incidents” of anti-immigration protestors verbally abusing its volunteers www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/rnli-mu...

robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.comYour competition is the whole worldThe public aren’t too busy to see or respond to our recruitment messages. They just don’t find what we have to say relevant or interesting enough to warrant their attention.

11 Sept

”The lie every marketer tells themselves is that the audience is too busy to consume their content. It has nothing to do with how busy they are. If they aren’t consuming your content, it is because it simply isn’t relevant enough.” robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/c...

8 Sept

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

civilsociety.co.ukAndrew Purkis: Reach’s closure presents a challenge to our charitable fundersFoundations’ reasons for not funding infrastructure should be re-examined as the volunteering charity prepares to wind down, writes Andrew Purkis…

8 Sept

Foundations’ reasons for not funding infrastructure such as @reachvolunteering.org.uk should be re-examined as the volunteering charity prepares to wind down, writes @andrewpurkis.bsky.social

robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.comThree reasons why involving volunteers may not be a good ideaVolunteers don’t want to be told what to do all the time. They don’t want to be micromanaged.

28 Aug

"What if we argued against involving volunteers? What might such a proposition look like?" Those a re questions I explore in the latest article on the Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd blog. I'd love to know what you think. robjacksonconsulting.wordpress.com/2026/08/28/i... #LOVols #VolMgmt

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

civilsociety.co.ukBurnham pledges 15% of PM’s salary to homelessness causes

21 Aug

Andy Burnham has pledged to donate 15% of his prime minister’s salary to homelessness causes

Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd reposted

civilsociety.co.ukNCVO warns against Reform’s ‘forced’ charity working proposals

20 Aug

Sector umbrella body @ncvo.bsky.social has warned that Reform UK’s proposal to mandate welfare claimants to work for charities could create a “two-tier volunteering system”