The Diary of an Aspiring Head of Volunteering

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On 6th October 2026

In News & Views, Volunteer Management

We were very proud to sponsor the Aspiring Heads of Volunteering programme, developed by Dr Helen Timbrell and Charlotte Witteridge. As part of our sponsorship, we were able to offer one lucky recipient a free place on the programme.

Our winner was Pippa Vidal Davies, Volunteering Manager at Culture Leicestershire (Leicestershire County Council). She’s been kind enough to supply us with her reflections after each session, you can read her Aspiring Heads of Volunteering programme diary below…

(Use the ← arrow → keys on the book to navigate!)


Using a screen reader or just prefer plain text? You can read the text-only version of her reflections on the next page of this blog by clicking here.

Final Reflections Q&A
(Monday 5th October)

Pippa also joined us for a final reflections call where we asked her a few questions about the overall programme, here are the highlights from our chat…

How did the Aspiring Heads of Volunteering programme align with your expectations going in? Was there anything that surprised you from the experience?

Charlotte and Helen hold so much expertise themselves, so anything that’s got their name on it, you’d know that it’s going to be good. The thing is, I wasn’t expecting it to be as good!

The fact that there were fidget toys available on the table for you, or the fact that they had postcards when it’s very difficult to describe how you’re feeling, you could just go to a postcard. They’d just considered every single little aspect of the course, which made it really, really wonderful.

What was your single biggest “aha!” moment?

There’s been quite a few! I think the biggest “aha!” moment was just that investment in reflection. Reflection does not come to me easily.

My previous roles have always been very operational and hands on. I went from [being] a volunteer coordinator, to now managing a team of volunteer coordinators.

I do think my preconception of a role in a managerial position, in a leadership position, is that you need to be an expert in your field and be shown to be an expert throughout by doing things and holding all the knowledge. But that “aha!” moment, that reflection, that investment in yourself of going “actually, let me think about this before I go straight into doing”.

In what ways has the programme shifted your perspective of what it means to be a head of volunteering as opposed to a volunteer manager/coordinator?

One came quite early on in terms of the breadth of the head of volunteering role. It’s no longer head of volunteering by itself. You can be an expert within volunteering. But that’s not the only thing that has been expected of you. It’s ‘Head of Volunteering and Marketing’, ‘Head of Volunteering and People’, ‘Head of Volunteering Communities’.

So it’s making sure that, if it is something I want to explore in future, I need to focus on other skills away from volunteering. Or skills that I can transfer over to volunteering, rather than just become a subject expert within volunteering.

It’s just made me realise how much in my infancy I am. It’s not from lack of confidence in myself, it’s just appreciating that I’m at the very start of a leadership position and wanting to build up through there. It doesn’t feel unattainable. I just appreciate all the things that you need to accomplish before you are even confident to apply for a head of volunteering role.

A key part of being a head of volunteering is shifting from the daily operations to the strategic and strategic vision. What do you think you got out the programme that best equipped you to do that?

Quite a few actually, there were so many frameworks! They talked about T shaped leadership, so making sure that it’s both operational and strategic.

They also gave us a leadership reflection wheel, so you can score yourself in terms of the skills that you’ve got and then know which areas that you need to focus on yourself. And then I kind of merged two models together that were incredibly useful – a stakeholder map alongside their circle of influence.

It made me realise some of the areas that I was putting the most amount of resources in terms of time, in terms of attention and brain space, were areas that I couldn’t control or influence. And in terms of the stakeholder group, sat very low versus all of the stakeholders. So that was incredibly powerful.

How confident do you feel now about advocating for volunteering at an executive or board level?

Oh, well, actually really confident. That’s where I would have said I’ve seen the most improvement.

Previously, I might have shied away from difficult conversations with my line manager or from my senior leadership team. So it’s given me a lot of visibility within the senior leadership team and also within regional networks.

Did the programme change how you approach stakeholder management and cross departmental buy in? If so, how?

Yes. I did it alongside my line manager, so it was touched upon with the Johari Window Model. It basically acknowledges that people only know what you tell them. It’s making sure that you appreciate what information you’re keeping about yourself and what you’re open to share. It’s pushed me towards being more open and more vulnerable about what I require and what I need.

By being able to be quite self aware with my line manager and also having more confidence in being open and vulnerable with them in terms of who I am and what I need, I was able to do that stakeholder mapping alongside her. So that’s framed my mind my way of working much better.

And she’s also been made aware of, you know, there are a lot of pressures towards focusing on areas that I don’t have much control over. So “how can I best support Pippa to address that?”.

What’s the first change or new initiative you plan to implement in your current role based on what you’ve learned?

The action learning sets!

You can designate some time within a group of people whereby each of you presents a challenge. As a group you decide what challenge you want to focus on, and then the presenter has got the ability to expand on that challenge whilst the rest of the group ask open questions to allow that person who’s presenting to come to the solutions that best suit them.

I think it’s a mindset that I’m most excited about. The fact that you don’t go in into problem solving mode or advice mode, you’re actually empowering the person to come to the solution.

What do you anticipate being the biggest challenge in applying the learning to your organisation?

Historical workings. So being able to overcome the “Oh, but we’ve always done it this way”. The bureaucracy and red tape within council settings specifically, that means that things have been done a certain way for decades and being able to have that culture change shift without exhausting yourself.

Where do you feel you may still have some skills gaps? And what ongoing support/resources do you think you might want/need from the alumni programme to become a head of volunteering?

So, actually, the first session [on the AHOV Alumni Programme] that Helen and Charlotte announced, in terms of what to do if you’re supposed to be motivating people that you don’t directly manage. That is definitely an area that I was very excited when Helen and Charlotte announced that. Because I think that’s a challenge that particularly applies to myself. So it’ll be good to hear the tips and tricks with that.

How will you measure the success of the new strategies that you’re going to implement?

The development plan. That was one of the things that they encouraged us from day one, is being able to have a development plan for oneself. And I think I just need to hold myself accountable.

They also made us do an exercise around values. So the Values Institute in terms of what values we’ve got, and practical ways that I can continue staying true to my values, or reflecting on how my values are being met week-by-week. I think that that’s definitely another tool that I’ll be using.

Out of the way the programme was structured, what did you get the most out of?

I think the face-to-face of having the start and the finish allowed to build relationships that, if we didn’t have that face-to-face at the start, it might have been a little bit harder, especially with the icebreakers that we had.

I think the pre-coursework was really well chosen and one that would directly was relevant to what Helen and Charlotte were presenting on the day. All the case studies and the pre-work that they gave us, I would say. And the fact that they gave us time to do it was the best bit.

If you had to summarise the experience overall, what would be your closing statement about it?

So it’s that reminder to invest in yourself, in your learning, in the networks that you have. Well, that can be made available to you through being part of this. And just the reminder that. You need to put that time and that effort to realise who you are as a leader, who you want to be as a leader and what you need to put in place to make sure that that happens.

The next steps for me really are just that commitment to doing that, using the alumni programme as a way to be held accountable through it, and the development plan.

And just… anybody should do it- Everybody should do it!

Want to find out more about the Aspiring Heads of Volunteering™ Programme?

Applications for the 2027 programme are open from Oct 12 – Nov 6 – visit their website via this link to find out more information and apply.

You can also get in touch with Pippa to talk through anything she’s mentioned in more detail. You can find her on LinkedIn by clicking here.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Email-Header-5.png
Read the text-only version of Pippa’s reflections here

TeamTalk October 2026

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On 5th October 2026

In Newsletter Roundup

Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s monthly Newsletter.

This roundup is designed to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at TeamKinetic, our partners, and across the third sector in general. So grab a brew and tuck into all the latest news.

We hope you find value in this TeamTalk. As always, we really appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave a comment, shoot over an email, or message via social media.

If you’d like to subscribe to the TeamTalk newsletter, please send an email over to me at alex@teamkinetic.co.uk, and we’ll get you on the list!

To read our roundup of stories we think you need to know about, click to go to the next page below, or choose a story from the list:

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Rethinking Festival Volunteering: Insights from the Field and the Future of Event Tech

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On 22nd September 2026

In News & Views

Over the last couple of years, we’ve jumped into the festival space, partnered with the Association of Independent Festivals, and gained a better insight into how the festival world operates. Naturally, we also wanted to explore the landscape of Festival Volunteering and see whether our digital approach fits into their world.

Since welcoming several new Music and Arts festivals as partners this year, I wanted to better support them by learning more about their day-to-day operations.

To do that, I decided to get involved myself.

Over the summer, I signed up for two very different festivals and joined their volunteer teams, connecting with other volunteers and learning more about why they love these events.

The UK Festival Scene

The UK festival scene is a special and sentimental space for many of us, with roots stretching back to the Jazz and Folk events of the 1950s and 60s. The launch of Glastonbury Festival in 1970, then known as ‘Pilton Festival’, pioneered our modern concept of a festival, a movement that influenced the live music and arts industry globally.

Today, most people have a tale of that one heroic event that shaped them. Regardless of age and despite debates over which event was “better” or how things “used to be,” everyone I spoke to returns year after year for the same reasons: pure joy, connection, escapism, and a sense of freedom rarely found in everyday life.

Before discussing volunteering, we simply wanted to hear how long people had been involved in festivals and what their ‘why’.

“I’ve been attending for about 20 years. It’s the hedonism, the escape, the freedom, touching grass and dancing, the connection with like-minded people. Initially it was the music, but over time it’s definitely the least important factor. Spending time with loved ones in a beautiful space for escapism.”

“9 years. I love the separation from normal day to day life where you can relax, wander and wear outfits you enjoy that you don’t have an excuse to wear anywhere else.” 

While I can’t compete with 20 years, I have 8 years of experience under my belt. For me, the main draw is complete immersion, an opportunity to disconnect from daily routine for 3 to 5 days while spending quality time with friends. The connections I’ve made while camping in fields have led to some of my longest-lasting friendships.

Why should we volunteer at festivals?

So why volunteer when you could just enjoy the music and all of the above?

Well, there’s one obvious reason: you often get a free ticket to the event, and with the cost of living rising, this prevents people from being priced out of the events they look forward to each year. It’s, of course, the most obvious reason from an outside perspective, since it’s easily measurable, but it was the immeasurable reasons people shared that felt the most genuine and impactful.

Volunteering became an extension of community and connection with volunteers prioritising the sense of belonging and the opportunity to meet new people, often forming long-lasting friendships with like-minded individuals and fellow crew members. One volunteer I spoke to had also used volunteering to open the door to countless new skills.

“I’ve helped build a bar from oak pieces, worked on that same bar, worked in kitchens, helped convince people to take their tents home and sort their rubbish for recycling, worked on decor, and helped run a workshop – all sorts!”

The reasons that people volunteer at festivals also vary by their age or life stage. On the final morning of Kendal Calling, I found myself sitting in the camp with some fellow volunteers whom I had recognised two weeks earlier at Beatherder. These guys knew the circuit and were part of the furniture as festival volunteers go, carrying nicknames people knew them by exclusively.

Their camp setup had been refined over the years, even including guitars and portable amplifiers to jam in the campsite; I couldn’t help but join in. One of them had retired and had met the other years earlier, while volunteering at another festival. Having reached the end of his career, what better way to spend time than travelling up and down the country meeting new people, sharing stories, and “having a right laugh” as he put it.

What I found most interesting personally was seeing the festival’s inner workings, the behind-the-scenes operations and different teams that bring it all to life. Combined with the staff campsite community, ‘Access most areas’ wristbands, and warm showers, it’s hard to go back to being a regular attendee.

The Dealbreakers

But it can’t all be positive, right? I also explored what holds people back from volunteering at festivals, and there’s a clear divide.

Some things are unavoidable, like missing parts of the show; there is a definite fear of missing out, which is why people often turn up a few hours early to claim favourable shifts. Another element that people reported holding them back in the past was the anxiety that stems from the fear of the unknown, but given that we spoke on the other side of that mental barrier, it’s clear it was worth it in the end.

On the flip side, some aspects felt avoidable. We explored the barriers to entry, i.e., financial requirements like deposits, complex application processes, and general hesitation about committing to an unknown experience. If you paired a festival with a modern system and some clear communication, could this be resolved? We’d like to think so. The above points are very volunteer-centric, and while we’re here to support volunteers, we also need to consider the challenges organisers face that contribute to these outcomes.

Volunteer management challenges

Quite by chance, I ended up chatting with a member of a management team who opened up about the hurdles organisers face. A major theme was the clunky, fragmented workflows and the weight of the admin. Without centralised digital tools ready to go, shift allocation and volunteer training often happened right on the ground. This created major bottlenecks and strained the accreditation and check-in process. Even though the events I joined were impressively managed, it became obvious how easily larger festivals, especially those with many new recruits, could quickly find themselves under serious pressure.

Collaborating to improve

For us, these challenges reinforce our need to support the sector. We believe that technology should not be an added burden, but the invisible thread that holds these operations together.

Through our partnership with the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), we aim to create a modern, accessible platform that connects festivals through a centralised network of reliable volunteers. This provides festival organisers and staffing providers with a trusted brokerage portal and offers volunteers a platform to discover new opportunities.

Organisations can access intuitive tools for recruiting, shift scheduling, and volunteer management at a reduced rate, fostering a connected community.

Volunteers can take charge of their experience, track their achievements, and leverage a unified network to discover their next role.

This helps address issues highlighted by volunteers by making roles more visible, simplifying application processes, and potentially waiving deposits for committed individuals.

We tested our ideas with a handful of real volunteers…

100%

of volunteers said it would be beneficial to have access to a variety of opportunities from different festivals via one portal.

100%

of respondents said only having to register once would make it easier to explore new volunteering opportunities.

We also discussed the currency of trust in volunteering and the potential to waive the deposit for trusted volunteers.

Many of the volunteers felt that removing the deposit requirement would significantly reduce a major barrier to participation, particularly for those with limited financial means, for whom current upfront costs are prohibitive.

“I’d love that! That is why I can’t go to some festivals this year, because deposits are super high, and I just can’t afford it, even though I have volunteered a couple of times already.”

There were also reservations about its implementation. “Defining a “trusted volunteer” could be subjective and potentially create a sense of division among staff.”

It’s definitely something to consider, and constructive feedback can be the most influential in shaping new ideas.

Ultimately, the future of festival volunteering requires digital efficiency paired with the human connection that makes these events so special. By simplifying the administrative burden for organisers and removing barriers for volunteers, we can foster a more inclusive and connected festival community.

We are excited to continue this journey, listening to your feedback and building the tools that support everyone involved in creating these unforgettable experiences.

If you’d like to get in touch about volunteer management for festivals, contact finn@teamkinetic.co.uk

Otherwise, you can visit the TeamKinetic website or find us on socials:

TeamKinetic 2.8.0 Major Release – Preview

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On 18th September 2026

In TeamKinetic Features, Technical Updates

Its time again already for a supercharged new release from TeamKinetic. This release focuses on the volunteer experience with a brand new, entirely revamped and nicer looking interface.

It combines all the great functionality that volunteers had access to in a familiar way but improves all aspects of the look, feel and experience. We have maintained our high standards of accessibility but at the same time upped the small and friction free interactions that make you go ahhhhhh.

We will have a proper write up for the new interface closer to release time and will also be providing some materials and guides for our admins to distribute to your volunteers so they don’t get a massive surprise logging in on the Monday morning of release.

In addition to the massive changes to the volunteer interface we’ll also have plenty of fixes, improvements and new stuff for the administrators.

We’ll have an automated way for you to upload/migrate volunteers, per-opp chat room options, new search filters, some options around what to do with FULL opportunities in the search for volunteers, changes to sharing and linking to improve the process and some extra reporting sauce. Stay tuned closer to November for more details of this release.

TeamTalk September 2026

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On 1st September 2026

In Newsletter Roundup

Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s monthly Newsletter.

This roundup is designed to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at TeamKinetic, our partners, and across the third sector in general. So grab a brew and tuck into all the latest news.

We hope you find value in this TeamTalk. As always, we really appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave a comment, shoot over an email, or message via social media.

If you’d like to subscribe to the TeamTalk newsletter, please send an email over to me at alex@teamkinetic.co.uk, and we’ll get you on the list!

To read our roundup of stories we think you need to know about, click to go to the next page below, or choose a story from the list:

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TeamTalk August 2026

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On 3rd August 2026

In Newsletter Roundup

Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s monthly Newsletter.

This roundup is designed to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at TeamKinetic, our partners, and across the third sector in general. So grab a brew and tuck into all the latest news.

We hope you find value in this TeamTalk. As always, we really appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave a comment, shoot over an email, or message via social media.

If you’d like to subscribe to the TeamTalk newsletter, please send an email over to me at alex@teamkinetic.co.uk, and we’ll get you on the list!

To read our roundup of stories we think you need to know about, click to go to the next page below, or choose a story from the list:

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Let your Volunteers Find a Friend within TeamKinetic

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On 9th July 2026

In News & Views

In April, we released a fantastic new update to the TeamKinetic volunteer management system that included three features we’re really excited about: Flows, Multi-Location Opportunities, and volunteer Find a Friend.

We’ve already covered the first two in other content, now it’s time for us to shine a light on the feature that we think will really boost community amongst your volunteers…

What is ‘Find a Friend’ in TeamKinetic?

Find a Friend does what it says on the tin – it allows volunteers to see other volunteers who have signed up to an opportunity. And now you’re probably thinking: “Hold on, what if I don’t want to share those details? What if my volunteers don’t want to share their details?”

Well don’t worry! There are plenty of settings to restrict this in a way that works for you, whether you turn it off completely or limit what is seen, and your volunteers have to opt-in too. You can also toggle sharing in every individual opportunity, so its very flexible.

Ultimately, Find a Friend aims to boost your volunteering community and build stronger bonds between your volunteers.

What are the restrictions?

If you’re a Super Admin user, you can head on over to Settings – Options – Opportunities and scroll all the way to the bottom. There, you’ll see a set of options around this feature, and you can control it to fit your organisation.

A screenshot of the options within TeamKinetic settings that can alter the Volunteer Find a Friend feature.

You can choose:

  • whether it’s on at all and showing the volunteer photo and name
  • whether to enable messaging between volunteers
  • whether to share volunteers’ mobile numbers
  • when volunteers can see this information

Once the overall setting has been turned on, the usage is decided on an opportunity-by-opportunity basis. When creating an opportunity, you can choose whether it is switched on or off.

A screenshot of the options related to Volunteer Find a Friend seen while creating an opportunity within TeamKinetic.

By default, all volunteers are opted out of allowing their details to be shared. When a volunteer joins an opportunity that has this feature enabled, they’ll receive an email asking them to opt in.

Volunteers can update their choice at any time from their dashboard in the Notifications and Permissions section.

A screenshot of volunteer notification and permission settings within TeamKinetic, one of which alters whether they share their details for the Volunteer Find a Friend feature.

Why use Find a Friend?

Using this feature can encourage group volunteering and foster a greater sense of community amongst your volunteers.

Many people new to volunteering may want to volunteer alongside their friends to begin with. This enables them to find out which sessions their friends are on and book onto the same sessions.

Alternatively, a volunteer may make friends while volunteering for you and want to stay connected with these friends, continuing to volunteer alongside them.

We understand that not everyone will want to share data, and that some organisations will want to share more data than others. That’s why we’ve developed a variety of settings in relation to the Find a Friend feature.

However, if you think there’s still room for improvement, please let us know. This is a new feature after all, and we’re always looking for ways to keep developing TeamKinetic! You can send feedback directly to our development team via Support Tickets. Or you can send an email to any of the team, or pop into the live chat to let us know your thoughts.

We’re also hosting a masterclass all about the volunteer Find a Friend feature for all TeamKinetic users. You can book onto that now for free via Help & Support → Masterclasses & Training.

An image promoting the next TeamKinetic masterclass on the Volunteer Find a Friend feature. Taking place on Wednesday 5th August at 10am.


To find out more about other new features, you can check out our blog on Flows and Multiple Location Opportunities.

Find TeamKinetic on socials:

HVG Volunteer Leader of the Year Award 2026

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On 3rd July 2026

In Heritage & Culture, Press Releases

We are delighted to announce that nominations are now open for the HVG Volunteer Leader of the Year Award, proudly supported by TeamKinetic.

Press release shared on behalf of the Heritage Volunteering Group.

The annual award celebrates the achievements of those who have made a difference and recognises innovative and outstanding examples of volunteering leadership and management within the heritage sector.

Last year’s winner, Michelle Armstrong at the Auckland Project, said on receiving the award:

“To be nominated was an award in itself, especially alongside such inspiring people from organisations across our community. Receiving Volunteer Leader of the Year 2025 was beyond expectation and truly humbling. I’m thrilled that not only my work, but that of all volunteer leads at The Auckland Project, was recognised.” 

Whether paid or unpaid, Volunteer Coordinator, Supervisor or Manager, if you know someone who has made a real difference to their volunteers, community or their organisation then we want to know about it. This year, the winner will receive a £100 gift card including an hour’s consultation with Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd and the runner-up will receive a £25 gift card.

The winner will be announced at our annual conference, Heritage Volunteering 2026: From Passion to Purpose, which is taking place online on 24-25 November. This year’s theme explores what effective volunteer engagement looks like today and how we deepen the impact volunteers make. It will feature a range of keynote speakers, workshops, and panel discussions. Tickets are on sale now at an early bird price of £30. 

Applications are welcome from all areas of the heritage sector. The nomination form can be downloaded from the home page at heritagevolunteeringgroup.org.uk and should be returned to heritagevolunteeringgroup@gmail.com by 31st August 2026.

For further information visit:

TeamTalk July 2026

By

On 1st July 2026

In Newsletter Roundup

Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s monthly Newsletter.

This roundup is designed to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at TeamKinetic, our partners, and across the third sector in general. So grab a brew and tuck into all the latest news.

We hope you find value in this TeamTalk. As always, we really appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave a comment, shoot over an email, or message via social media.

If you’d like to subscribe to the TeamTalk newsletter, please send an email over to me at alex@teamkinetic.co.uk, and we’ll get you on the list!

To read our roundup of stories we think you need to know about, click to go to the next page below, or choose a story from the list:

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TeamTalk June 2026

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On 1st June 2026

In Newsletter Roundup

Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s monthly Newsletter. In between keeping tabs on local elections and enjoying the end of the football season, we’ve still been busy at work on the system and in the wider sector. Not to mention… Happy Volunteers Week! We hope you’re recognising all your lovely volunteers this week!

This roundup is designed to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on at TeamKinetic, our partners, and across the third sector in general. So grab a brew and tuck into all the latest news.

We hope you find value in this TeamTalk. As always, we really appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave a comment, shoot over an email, or message via social media.

If you’d like to subscribe to the TeamTalk newsletter, please send an email over to me at alex@teamkinetic.co.uk, and we’ll get you on the list!

To read our roundup of stories we think you need to know about, click to go to the next page below, or choose a story from the list:

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