Charities can recruit volunteers at no charge through a volunteer recruitment website which has been launched by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Chartered Accountants' Benevolent Association (CABA).

The site icaewvolunteers.com went live on 4 June and currently has 44 opportunities listed (correct at time of writing).

Charities and volunteers can post roles and profiles for free, with unlimited posting for all not-for-profit organisations, including schools and social enterprises. Potential volunteers can search for roles by sector or location.

Aim is to be 'go-to volunteering site'

The website is being promoted to the ICAEW’s members – but Nick Brooks, chair of the Institute’s Charity and Voluntary Sector Group as well head of not-for-profit at Kingston Smith, told civilsociety.co.uk that he has plans to expand the platform’s reach beyond chartered accountants alone.

“I would like it to be the 'go-to' website if you want to volunteer – for anybody,” said Brooks.

“If you’re a charity looking for any kind of volunteers, not just financial expertise, you can put it on there. It isn’t limited to chartered accountants either; any role can be added and the website is free to use by anyone.”

Brooks also insisted that the nature of the volunteering roles need not be limited to accounting, either.

“Not all chartered accountants want to volunteer to do their day job,” he said. “They may – for instance – want to do some gardening or other physical work.”

Brooks admitted that the website was inspired by Lord Hodgson’s review of the Charities Act 2006, where Hodgson concluded that charities “struggle to find trustees with specialist skills” and “many also need the managerial skills business can provide.”

But he also insisted that the idea for such an initiative had been gestating for much longer.

“The catalyst behind it was actually quite slow-burning,” said Brooks. “It came from my knowledge of the sector as head of not-for-profit at Kingston Smith, coupled with my influence as chair of the special interest group, thinking we might be able to ‘square the circle’ and try to mobilise a lot more accountants to volunteer using their skill-base.”

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