This month marks one year since the launch of the Digital in Volunteering initiative – a sector-wide effort to understand how digital tools are transforming volunteering. It also serves to help volunteer managers build the confidence, capability, and connections they need to thrive.
From recruitment platforms and online training tools to CRM systems and new ways of keeping volunteers engaged, one thing is clear: digital isn’t just an add-on anymore. It’s central to how volunteering works today.
Over the past year, the initiative has grown rapidly across the UK voluntary sector. While digital in volunteering continues to evolve, we’re already seeing real innovation, shared learning, and a growing appetite to build on this progress.
What’s been achieved so far
The vision behind Digital in Volunteering is simple. To empower volunteer managers with the tools, knowledge, and peer support they need to use digital confidently and purposefully.
The Digital in Volunteering Toolkit
A practical resource designed to help volunteer managers adopt digital approaches with confidence. Whether you’re starting small or scaling up. From assessing your organisation’s digital maturity to embedding inclusive practice, the Toolkit has already supported hundreds of people across the sector.
Now more than 300 volunteer managers strong, the Community is a space for sharing ideas, learning together, and supporting one another on the digital journey. Built by volunteer managers, for volunteer managers, it’s a collaborative network that’s only just getting started.
Through webinars, discussions, and case studies, one clear message has emerged: the future of digital in volunteering will be shaped by practice, not platforms.
As the initiative looks ahead to 2026, the team wants to understand what volunteer managers need most. What’s working? What’s missing? And where is more support needed?
You can help by completing the 2025 Digital in Volunteering Survey. It takes just a few minutes, and your insights will directly shape the support, learning, and resources offered next year.
Thank you to everyone who’s contributed so far and to those joining the journey now. Together, we can continue to unlock digital’s potential for volunteering, one practical step at a time.
In order to get the best out of the reporting and engagement data TeamKinetic can offer its important to stay on top of logging hours.
We know this can be a laborious process, so we’ve got a bunch of ways to log hours, all the way from a single button press to log everything, everywhere, to logging different hours for individual volunteers and sessions.
This masterclass will explain the difference between a volunteer and a provider/administrator logged hours, why that is important and every method of logging hours in TeamKinetic.
By the end of this Masterclass you will be confident in bulk logging and individual logging, understand the effect of bulk logging hours and what rules it follows and the importance of trying to accurately log flexible hours.
Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s TeamTalk November newsletter in blog form!
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.
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:
Involving volunteers is all about building relationships. This is where meaningful change happens. On International Volunteer Managers’ Day, we celebrate those who make volunteering possible – the people who develop these relationships which enable others to create real impact in their communities. Being bold isn’t always about grand gestures; sometimes it’s about the small, intentional steps that create powerful ripples of change.
Volunteer Involvement is not about filling gaps or completing tasks; it’s about connecting people to purpose and possibility. Volunteers bring their skills, passions, and lived experiences – and when we create space for that, communities thrive. Yet, volunteer numbers across the UK appear to be declining. Is this in part because we respond by marketing volunteer opportunities as products to be consumed? For me, volunteering isn’t about transaction; it’s about agency – and creation.
As I’ve said before: “People-powered services should be exactly that – powered by people, not by systems or processes.”
This shift begins with small, everyday actions: listening to volunteers’ motivations, being flexible with roles, and recognising their contributions. Relationships drive retention, satisfaction, and impact. When volunteers feel heard, valued, and trusted, they don’t just stay longer – they become catalysts for community-led change.
The boldest step we can take is to move from managing to connecting. Instead of asking, “how do we fill this role?” what happens when we ask, “what matters to this person, and how can we create space for it?” This approach not only strengthens relationships but also unlocks creativity and inclusion. Volunteering thrives when we stop telling and start facilitating.
Bold change doesn’t have to be big. Every “thank you,” every conversation, every moment of recognition builds a sense of mattering – that what someone does is valued, and that they are valued. Too often, we measure volunteering in hours and outputs, but the true value lies in connections and shared purpose. When volunteers see the difference their contribution makes, that’s when they feel most fulfilled.
To enable volunteering to thrive, we must also support those who involve them. Confidence comes from understanding, community, and self-reflection. Volunteer management is both a skill and a profession – one that requires empathy, creativity, and resilience. As England’s Vision for Volunteering looks towards, “people supporting volunteers work alongside them as equals, channelling their interests and passions to make change.”
So, this International Volunteer Managers’ Day, ask yourself: What bold step will you take to strengthen relationships to make change in volunteering?
Bold doesn’t mean big – it means intentional. It means choosing to act differently, trusting that small steps can lead to transformative change.
To quote Margaret Wheatley, “very great change starts from very small conversations, held among people who care.”
Let’s keep those conversations going – and together, let’s be bold and make change.
If you’re a TeamKinetic user, you can come along to Ruth’s Masterclass on Wednesday 5th November at 10am. Just go to Help & Support → Masterclasses & Training within your system to book for free.
Volunteers bring so much to organisations. They strengthen communities, boost well-being, and often change lives. Including their own!
However, capturing that impact can feel daunting. Especially when funders want neat numbers, but volunteers deserve recognition that goes deeper than statistics.
The good news? There isn’t just one way to measure impact. At our 2025 Conference, we heard from Joanne Irvine and Will Watt. They’re two leading voices in this area who are approaching volunteer impact from slightly different angles.
Joanne’s work shows how involving volunteers in the process of collecting qualitative data can uncover stories that statistics alone can’t capture. Whereas Will is well-experienced in turning the social and economic value of volunteering into hard data.
By combining storytelling methods with economic evaluation, volunteer managers can build reports that tick boxes for stakeholders while showing the human side too. Here’s how…
Go Beyond Hours Logged
Traditional measures, like the number of hours given or the cost of replacing volunteers with paid staff, are a useful starting point. But they only capture one part of the picture.
Economic value: Tools like social value calculators can estimate the financial worth of volunteering in terms of improved well-being, health, and community services supported.
Will Watt’s company, State of Life, has developed a simple guide to social impact to help you start thinking about calculating your programme’s social value.
Social impact: Data shows that weekly volunteering boosts life satisfaction, reduces loneliness, and builds trust in communities.
Joanne’s work supports highlighting the human impact behind the numbers. It brings meaning, emotion, and context to outcomes. And by doing so, it supports fairer policies, stronger funding cases, and a shift toward valuing social, environmental, and community well-being alongside economic measures.
Think of hours logged as the foundation, layering in well-being and social impact creates a full story around the data.
Capture Stories and Lived Experiences
Numbers impress funders, but stories move people. Volunteers often describe benefits like:
Increased confidence
New friendships
A stronger sense of purpose
Better physical and mental health
Simple methods like open-ended questions in feedback forms, sticker voting at events, or even casual conversations can reveal these outcomes. Sharing them alongside statistics creates a fuller, more relatable picture.
Recognition: simple thanks and public appreciation
Social connection: friendships, networks, and reduced loneliness
Designing your evaluation around these motivators ensures you’re measuring (and delivering) what matters most.
Build Reports That Speak to Everyone
Different stakeholders care about different things. A strong impact report should combine:
Statistics for funders and policymakers: such as the economic value of well-being improvements or the cost saved to public services.
Stories for communities and volunteers: quotes, case studies, and personal accounts that show the human side of volunteering.
Practical context: explaining what those numbers and stories mean in real-world terms (e.g. “One volunteer enables nine others to play sport”).
Make your reporting credible, relatable, and actionable with this blended approach.
Final Thoughts
Measuring the impact of volunteers doesn’t have to be a choice between numbers and stories. By blending economic evaluation with qualitative, participatory methods, you can create reports that satisfy funders, inspire communities, and, most importantly, show volunteers how much they matter.
Because the true value of volunteering isn’t just in what people give, it’s also in what they gain.
At this year’s TK Conference, Gethyn Williams shared his insights into five big trends shaping the future of volunteering and what they mean for volunteer managers on the ground.
From AI to inclusivity, his message was clear: volunteering doesn’t exist in a bubble. The way people volunteer is changing, just as fast as the world around them. The good news? With the right approach, these changes bring more opportunities than challenges.
Let’s dig into the five trends and how you can make them work for your organisation.
1. Reaching the Next Generation
First, Gethyn explored reaching the next generation through micro volunteering. Micro-volunteering, remote roles, and flexible shifts can open your organisation to new volunteers.
I’m sure you’re all aware what micro volunteering is by now. If you’re not, it basically refers to small, manageable tasks that volunteers can do. These are often online and sometimes available as one-off opportunities or tasks.
So what sort of opportunities can you offer to entice the next generation into volunteering?
Younger volunteers often want to make a meaningful impact and see a clear link between their time and the difference it makes. They’re drawn to opportunities that align with their values. Whether that’s social, environmental, or community-focused.
However, they also have less time and prefer short-form content – the TikTok generation! That’s where micro volunteering comes in. One-off tasks, or flexible roles that can be done remotely, fit this need perfectly.
Micro-volunteering doesn’t replace longer-term commitment, and you don’t have to solely rely on these short tasks. But it opens doors for people who might not otherwise volunteer. And, when done well, can lead to longer-term commitment.
2. AI and Volunteering
AI is the ‘big one’ right now. It’s dominating conversations everywhere. Like other digital trends, it started outside the volunteering world, but it feels time for volunteer managers to find useful, ethical ways to apply it to their work.
Gethyn shared how he’s been using AI to analyse survey responses, especially long, open-ended ones that can take days to review. AI tools can sort feedback, detect patterns, and even analyse sentiment. All faster and more objectively than we might manage manually.
The real discussion, Gethyn said, is whether AI should be our co-pilot or our replacement. He asked us to imagine a system that could do it all…
Imagine an AI tool that could automatically screen volunteer applications, predict a candidate’s likelihood of long-term retention with 85% accuracy, and schedule their first shift – all without human input.
Gethyn Williams
Sounds efficient, right? But it also raises big ethical questions: What happens to personal connection? How do we handle bias or fairness?
The session poll captured this tension perfectly. Attendees saw both opportunities (less admin, faster onboarding, freeing up time for engagement) and dilemmas (loss of human warmth, accuracy issues, and even the environmental impact of AI’s energy use).
So what now?
We say start small and stay human. Try AI where it genuinely helps, like cutting down on repetitive admin, but keep people at the heart of every decision. AI should be your co-pilot, not your replacement.
3. National Recruitment Platforms
National online recruitment platforms are another hot topic in volunteering right now. With tools like The Big Help Out, GoVo (the new RVS platform), and Reach Volunteering’s relaunch, there’s no shortage of innovation in how people find opportunities.
Gethyn suggested that strong recruitment strategies will use a mix of local and national platforms. Local ones for community connections, and national ones for reaching those who’ve never volunteered before.
But there’s a tension: are these platforms delivering the right volunteers, or simply ready volunteers who want to get started now? Both have value, but they serve different needs.
“Do national platforms work for our convenience, or for the volunteer’s? Maybe the trick is finding the balance.”
Advice for you…
Experiment, share what works, and don’t expect one platform to do it all. Volunteers, like everyone else, have their preferred brands and channels. Meeting them where they are is part of the challenge… and the opportunity!
4. Open Data
Open data might sound dry, but it can be exciting when you look at what it can do.
Gethyn compared it to the open banking revolution, where shared data standards transformed how financial systems talk to each other. Imagine the same for volunteering platforms. Data flowing freely between systems to make recruitment, reporting, and collaboration smoother for everyone.
There’s already work underway to create open data standards for volunteering, supported by the Digital in Volunteering Community of Practice. It’s a great place for volunteer managers to get involved and help shape what that looks like.
He also raised an intriguing idea: a national volunteering data hub. While the UK already has solid research, we still lack certain insights. What’s the average conversion rate from enquiry to placement? How long do volunteers typically stay involved? Which groups aren’t volunteering and why?
Shared data could also help answer these questions and lead to smarter decisions across the sector. As Gethyn put it:
“Maybe it’s time we talked more seriously about open data in volunteering and what it could make possible.”
5. Rise of the Digital Volunteer
This “bonus round” from Gethyn looked at the growing rise of digital and skilled volunteering. Moving beyond quick micro-tasks to harness professional expertise for good.
These volunteers often lead with their skills rather than a specific cause. As Gethyn put it, their “professional skills” fader is turned right up, and that opens up exciting new possibilities. They don’t need to live nearby or even know your charity. These volunteers are motivated by the chance to use what they know to make a difference.
He invited us to imagine charities as “gigs for good”, where small, time-limited digital projects tap into professional talent. Think of tasks like improving SEO, designing templates, revamping a website, or creating social media videos. The kind of digital wish-list items that could be done in under 10 hours by a skilled volunteer.
Platforms like Reach Volunteering are seeing growth here, especially since COVID. Professionals are looking for flexible, meaningful ways to contribute online.
Gethyn encouraged everyone to take a fresh look at their digital to-do list and see what could be turned into a short, contained project. Give volunteers a simple way to build skills, confidence, and capacity across the sector.
Key Takeaways for You
Digital is here to stay: the question isn’t if you go digital, but how.
Experience is everything: volunteers expect the same ease and care they get from any modern service.
Learn from outside the sector: marketing, UX, and data principles aren’t just for businesses; they work brilliantly in volunteer management too.
Start small, learn fast: test, and tweak. You’ll learn more by doing than by waiting for the ‘perfect’ system.
So, now’s the time for you to think about how you can take these emerging trends and apply them to your own work. Perhaps you’d like help with taking on the points raised in Gethyn’s session?
The Digital in Volunteering Community of Practice is a place for anyone involved in volunteering to come together, share ideas, access key resources, and join regular workshops on using digital in volunteering. Not to mention, it’s the only place you can access the Digital in Volunteering Toolkit! Best of all, it’s completely free. You can join now via this link.
If you want to contact Gethyn for further advice, you can find him at gethynwilliams.net
As always, you can find TeamKinetic via our links below:
What does volunteer management have in common with gardening? According to experts Tobi Johnson and Ruth Leonard, when it comes to creating a thriving volunteer culture, quite a lot!
In their session at our latest conference, they invited everyone to rethink how they nurture volunteers, drawing powerful parallels between cultivating healthy soil and building supportive environments where people can thrive.
Together, they explore how thoughtful planning, experimentation, and care can transform a volunteer programme into a living, self-sustaining ecosystem.
Planting the Right Seeds
Every garden begins with planting. For volunteer managers, that means thinking carefully about how you bring new people into your organisation. Just like seeds, each volunteer holds unique potential. With the right support at the right time, they can grow in unexpected and valuable directions.
Key takeaway: Recruitment isn’t only about filling gaps. It’s about creating the right conditions for volunteers to thrive in ways that support both their own motivations and your organisation’s mission.
Nurturing Growth with Care and Consistency
A healthy garden needs consistent watering and care. And so do your volunteers! Tobi and Ruth highlighted the importance of communication, recognition, and trust as the “nutrients” that sustain long-term engagement. Volunteers who feel valued and supported are far more likely to stay and contribute meaningfully.
Key takeaway: Build regular check-ins and feedback into your volunteer programme. Even simple recognition, like saying thank you and sharing achievements, keeps your volunteer culture resilient.
Embracing Experimentation
Not every plant grows where you expect it to. The same applies to volunteering. Given the space to experiment, volunteers often uncover strengths or skills they didn’t even know they had.
Key takeaway: Flexibility is powerful. Allow volunteers to try different roles or projects, and be open to evolving opportunities. This can bring fresh energy and reveal hidden talents.
Diversity Builds Strength
Just as biodiversity makes a garden more resilient, diversity enriches volunteer culture. Different perspectives, experiences, and skills create stronger, more adaptable teams.
Key takeaway: Actively nurture diversity and inclusivity. A broad mix of volunteers doesn’t just reflect your community, it strengthens your organisation’s ability to grow and respond to new challenges.
Protecting and Celebrating the Harvest
Gardeners know the importance of protecting their crops and celebrating the harvest. Volunteer managers should do the same. Protecting your culture means ensuring contributions remain meaningful and aligned with your purpose, while celebration reinforces a sense of shared achievement.
Key takeaway: Don’t only measure outputs, celebrate outcomes. Share stories, recognise milestones, and show volunteers the bigger picture they’re helping to create.
Final Thoughts
Tobi and Ruth’s session was a great reminder that volunteer management isn’t just a process, it’s something you nurture. With a bit of planning, care, creativity, and a focus on diversity, volunteer managers can grow a vibrant culture that keeps thriving year after year. Like a garden!
At TeamKinetic, we know how important your role is, and we’re here to give you the tools and support you need to grow your own flourishing ‘garden’ of volunteers.
Hello and welcome to TeamKinetic’s TeamTalk October newsletter in blog form! We hope Storm Amy hasn’t blown you all away, and you can settle down with a brew to give this a read!
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.
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:
We know we have been talking about this new feature for many months but now we are thrilled to share a sneak peek at one of the most requested updates we’ve built: Granular Admin Permissions.
Managing your volunteers, opportunities, and providers is about to become more powerful and flexible than ever. Our new permissions system gives you total control over who can do what within your TeamKinetic platform – from creating opportunities and editing volunteers, to managing providers, background checks, and system settings.
You’ll be able to: ✅ Assign tailored access levels to match every role in your organisation ✅ Mix and match permissions to suit your workflows for every user ✅ Confidently delegate tasks without compromising data security ✅ Scale your admin team with precision and peace of mind
This update marks a huge step forward in making TeamKinetic even more adaptable for organisations of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re a national network or a local volunteer hub, you’ll soon have the tools to customise admin access with unprecedented detail.
Take a look at this clip from our conference where we introduce this feature, along with Flows:
We’re putting the finishing touches on this release and we can’t wait for you to try it out.
Stay tuned for the full rollout announcement, feature deep dive, and training resources soon.
Here at TeamKinetic, we love what we do: helping you make volunteer management simple. So you can focus on building stronger communities. It’s a partnership we truly value, and part of a great partnership is open and honest communication, especially when it comes to our pricing.
You might be wondering why our prices increase each year. It’s a great question, and the simple answer is that the cost of providing our service also increases. To ensure we can continue to deliver the quality and innovation you expect, we have to make some small, necessary adjustments.
Keeping it in Line with Inflation
We believe in transparency. That’s why we make it a priority to keep our annual price increases at or below the UK’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation. This approach isn’t about generating a larger profit; it’s about ensuring our business can sustainably cover its own rising costs, from the servers that run our software to the tools our team uses daily.
We’re proud to say that we have a no-nasty-surprises policy. Our pricing is straightforward, and we communicate any changes well in advance so you always know what to expect.
The Real Costs of a SaaS Business
Running a modern software platform comes with its own set of challenges. The costs of everything from cloud hosting to software licensing and security have increased significantly over the past few years. These are the behind-the-scenes expenses that allow us to:
Innovate and Improve: Invest in new features and platform enhancements that make your job even easier.
Keep Your Data Safe: Maintain a state-of-the-art security system to protect your data and the information of your volunteers.
Provide Top-Tier Support: Ensure our dedicated support team is always there to help you when you need it.
These annual adjustments enable us to continue providing the reliable, secure, and continually improving platform you rely on. They ensure that we can continue to do what we do best: providing you with the tools you need to connect with your volunteers.
Thank you for being part of the TeamKinetic family. We look forward to another year of supporting your incredible work.
