Scouts and Girlguiding are working together to enable both organisations to reach more volunteers, through a new digital recruitment project.
Pears Foundation has donated more than £2m to support on the joint venture, which aims to streamline and digitally transform how the two charities engage and welcome new volunteers.
The project will look at the behind-the-scenes processes, and share learnings and best practice to benefit members of both organisations. It will be implemented in 2023.
Scouts and Girlguiding will work with volunteers to design and deliver the digital system, which aims to make the joining experience smoother, faster and more inclusive.
'Volunteers are the life-blood of our movements'
Angela Salt, chief executive of Girlguiding, said: “Volunteers are the life-blood of our movements and we want to make it easier for new volunteers to join so that young people can benefit from the wealth of talents and skills that a diversity of volunteers bring.
“We share similar challenges ‘onboarding’ new volunteers so collaborating through this digital transformation project seems like a good idea to us. We are very grateful to the Pears Foundation for their continued support of our organisations, including on this innovative approach.”
Both charities have been adversely impacted by the pandemic, and have faced challenges recruiting new adult volunteers without the possibility of face to face meetings.
Some virtual processes of onboarding new volunteers can be very time consuming and make it harder to get new volunteers to get engaged with their new roles.
Therefore, over the course of the pandemic Scouts and Girlguiding have been working closely to work out how they can solve some of these issues, and sharing learning to reduce duplication and increase innovation.
This project follows the collaboration on previous projects funded from the Pears #iWill Fund, a collaborative fund of Pears Foundation, the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’, helping to grow their movements and supporting the recovery of those worst hit by the pandemic.
Matt Hyde, chief executive of the Scouts, said: “We are committed to creating a more welcoming and inclusive experience for new volunteers. Having undertaken extensive consultation, this project will enable us to make transformational improvements to make the joining experience more positive and accessible.
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Girlguiding on such an important matter to both of us – recruiting volunteers. We are particularly grateful to Pears Foundation for their support in helping us both solve this important challenge. Together we want to make sure we meet the needs and expectations of people looking for simple ways to volunteer with charities like the Scouts and Guides”.
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