Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) has launched an initiative to track down people that volunteered with the organisation between 1958 to the 1990s.
The charity, which was founded in 1958, wants former volunteers to share their experiences with others in what they are calling “volunteer reunions”.
It aims to engage at least 100 former volunteers for its first event.
Launched with WPNC, a digital agency, it will initially run in Surrey, Middlesex, and the south of England before potentially being rolled out across the rest of the UK.
A spokesperson for VSO told Civil Society News that the height of its volunteering activity was between 1958 to the 1990s, which is why those years have been chosen.
However, they said the aim of the campaign is not to get more people to volunteer for the charity.
‘Audience-led approach’
Gillian Claugher, head of public fundraising at VSO, said: “We’re taking a truly audience-led approach to re-engaging a key and valued group of volunteers. We want our past volunteers to feel proud of their time working alongside us on some groundbreaking projects from the past.
“It’s time to celebrate those achievements, but also to support once more the important international development work we do today. We’d like as many former volunteers as possible to get in touch.”
VSO has worked with more than 80,000 volunteers across 90 countries, according to its website.
Data segmentation is a process of dividing up datasets and using them to inform future decisions. Hannah Williams, client services director at WPNC, said this was central to the initiative.
“Our segmentation strategy pinpointed regions to target based on the volume of known former volunteers within those communities, with the insight that like-minded people will gravitate towards each other. VSO has a wonderful history of working with active, outgoing, can-do community members. This is their opportunity to reconnect, share their success stories, and get back involved.”
Declining income
According to VSO's latest accounts ending March 2022, the charity has seen its income halve in five years.
In its March 2018 accounts, its income was £73.6m and it has been steadily declining year-on-year.
Its 2022 accounts show its income to be £33.3m.
Related articles
