Reach – The skilled volunteering charity

Reach helps voluntary organisations fulfil their potential by finding volunteers with the right management, professional, technical or business expertise.

Reach helps skilled volunteers to use their experience to make a difference.

The value of skilled volunteers

Reach offers voluntary organisations access to a wide range of skilled volunteers in areas such as finance, IT, training, accountancy, marketing, project management, business planning, strategic management and more.

Skilled volunteers can transform an organisation’s ability to deliver its services, whether they are working on a short-term project, a long-term commitment or a fixed board appointment.

Most of our volunteers have at least three years experience and they are spread throughout the UK.

The rewards of skilled volunteering

Skilled volunteering brings variety and stimulation, allowing volunteers to take on new challenges to suit their abilities, motivations and passions.

Skilled volunteering provides the opportunity to apply skills and experience gained to a totally new environment and context. It can be both fulfilling and great fun.

The unique Reach service

For organisations

Our personalised service offers organisations guidance in defining the role, making it attractive to potential candidates and helping with an understanding of what skills would best benefit the organisation.

Once the role has been defined we search our register of skilled volunteers and identify those with the right skills and experience. We will contact them on behalf of the organisation to find out if they are interested in the role. We pass on the details of those who are keen to get involved with the organisation.

For volunteers

Our personalised service allows a volunteer to chose for themselves what kind of organisation they would like to get involved with, whether it be a local group or a big charity. It may be that they are interested in a particular area such as child welfare, the environment or the arts, Reach allows them to select their own criteria.

A volunteer may want to chose a one-off project, a longer-term placement or to join the board of a voluntary organisation. They may have many hours to spare during the week or an hour or two in the evening, whatever time a volunteer has available, we will work with them to find a role that perfectly suits their individual requirements.

The Reach expertise

Reach has been finding boosting the resources of the voluntary sector for 30 years. We work with over 10,000 voluntary organisations across the UK. There are over 6,000 volunteers working on any given day. Each year Reach volunteers contribute £31million of expertise to the organisations they assist.

For more information see www.reachskills.org.uk or to meet the team click here.

Reach places skilled volunteers with organisations ranging from some of the largest UK charities through to local community organisations.

Quiet Cup Cafe

Staff and volunteers run the Quiet Cup Café, a project of the Grampian Racial Equality Council (GREC), committed to combating racism in the North East of Scotland. At the Café people looking to improve their English and to integrate with the local community can volunteer as waiters and waitresses and in food preparation to learn skills that will improve their employability. Reach volunteer Rocio Moreno is researching and developing policies in food handling and hygiene, stock purchases and delivery for the community café.

Tideway56

Bound by a common love of sailing, able-bodied and visually or otherwise disabled sailors learn together and sail together at the Tideway Sailability club at the Surrey Docks Water Centre in outh London. For more than 20 years the Club has provided the opportunity for hundreds of members to sail throughout the year. Reach volunteer Kevin Abbott helps with the funding and the Club Commodore ‘s administrative tasks.

Knights Youth Centre

Knights Youth Centre provides activities and learning opportunities for young people in South London. Reach found Este van der walt to become the staff and development officer for their management committee. She undertook a project to assess and identify the training needs of the charity. Senior Youth Worker, Stu Thomson has been impressed with her contribution. “She fits the bill exactly, with her passion for the project and her ability to get the best out of the staff and volunteers”.

Pathways

Outside in Pathways is a project offering art-based workshops in London’s museums and galleries for people with learning disabilities. Deborah Evans-Stickland, the programme co-ordinator was delighted with the strategic support given by Heather Honour, the Reach volunteer. “She restructured the steering group and gave us fundraising advice, found us an excellent treasurer and secured interviews with the disability and community care press”.