How to keep volunteers when everyone’s pushed for time

Volunteering is part of the UK’s social fabric. Whether it’s helping out in shops, working with service users, or providing fundraising or back-office support, volunteers are there to help your organisation do more.  

As with any team member, the longer volunteers stay with you, the more value you get from their recruitment. But the argument isn’t just financial. In a world of shrinking resources, the more committed and experienced volunteers you have on the books, the more resilient your organisation - and its services - will be. 

Volunteering isn't dead, it's changing

When you look at the downward trend in volunteer numbers, it’s easy to lose heart. But the UK has always been a nation of givers, and it’s important not to see these numbers as a lack of will. 

NCVO’s Time Well Spent report shows that most people don’t stop volunteering because they’ve lost interest, but because their circumstances change and they no longer have time. The latest Community Life Survey echoes this, showing that the biggest barriers to volunteering are work, childcare, and competing priorities that make it hard for people to commit their time, even when they want to.

Figuring out how to keep volunteers in a world where everyone is busy doesn’t have to mean big changes. But it does mean getting a little creative and finding ways to add flexibility, reduce friction, and step up your volunteer experience.

Here are a few tried-and-tested methods to help get you started:

Offer flexible opportunities

Not every volunteer can commit to giving one or two shifts a week. Offering flexible roles that fit around work and family commitments makes volunteering feel much less daunting. 

Of course, when you’re delivering services to people in need, it’s helps to know you can rely on regular volunteers. The key here is balance. Don’t stop advertising roles with fixed hours - add opportunities that allow for flexible working patterns too. That way, you can appeal to a wider pool of volunteers without compromising on the support your organisation depends on.

Meet people where they are

Any discussion about how to keep volunteers engaged should involve digital solutions, including your website, volunteer management software and a mobile app.  

Imagine it. Instead of taking time out to sit at a desk, work through emails and fight with a printer, volunteers can: 

• Complete their applications and onboarding online
• Use a dedicated app that sends updates and notifications straight to their phone
• Quickly access a central hub and download all the information they need
• Log in and schedule their own shifts or sign up for tasks online
• Message their manager or fellow volunteers instantly. 

By putting the power of volunteering in people's hands, you make it easier, quicker and more appealing for them to stay involved.

Encourage volunteers to manager their own time

Self-service rotas are a logical extension of this. Gone are the days of coordinating schedules through email chains and attachments. With self-service rotas, volunteers can log in, sign up for shifts, view open opportunities, and put themselves forward for tasks.

This makes it easy for them to organise their volunteer work around other commitments. It also saves you and your team a whole bunch of time and admin. 

Be clear about your expectations

When service demand is high and budgets are tight, it’s only natural that organisations increasingly look to volunteers. But be careful. In addition to practical constraints, the last few years have seen a small but noticeable rise in the number of volunteers leaving their roles because they start to feel “too much like paid work”. 

Volunteers are not staff, and many will be balancing their time with work, caring and other responsibilities. A detailed job description with clear tasks and responsibilities can help manage expectations on both sides - keeping workloads fair and sustainable, and making sure everyone gets what they need.  

Recognise the value of volunteer contributions

When thinking about how to keep volunteers engaged, it’s important to make sure they feel valued. Time is a gift like any other, and small gestures - such as an email, card, or certificate when a volunteer reaches a milestone - can go a long way. 

You can also take it one step further and spotlight volunteers on your website, newsletter, and social media. Some organisations even hold volunteer get-togethers or an end-of-year party. These moments aren’t just fun. They show volunteers they’re valued, create connections, and make everyone feel part of something special.

Make it social, make it fun

People volunteer because they want to, not because they have to. Don’t underestimate the role community and social connections play in this. 

By creating space for conversations and friendships to grow, you give volunteers a double incentive. Not only is their work making a difference, they get to meet new people, build networks, and spend time with friends along the way.

Lean into people's skills, motivations and interests

Volunteers don’t just give their time, they also bring energy, passion, skills and more than little life experience. Part of learning how to keep volunteers engaged is understanding your volunteers - their interests and motivations - so you can share news opportunities they genuinely care about.

If you can, it’s also worth creating opportunities to support volunteer development, especially if they’re looking to gain practical work experience or professional skills. When you play to people’s strengths and passions it doesn’t just benefit you - it gives volunteers something meaningful in return, and that’s what keeps them with you for the long term.

Communicate clearly

As with any relationship, clear communication with your volunteers is key. If people don’t hear from you, they may feel unappreciated or detached. This doesn’t mean you should bombard them with updates. It means you share thoughtful, tailored communications and updates that speak to the needs and interests of individuals and groups alike.

It sounds great in theory, but with hundreds - or even thousands - of volunteers on the books, managing flexible roles, tailored updates, and individual needs in an eight-hour working day doesn’t sound very realistic. 

If you try to do everything manually, it won’t be. But with a volunteer management system like Assemble by your side, it’s easy to:

• Digitalise key processes, from recruitment to onboarding and training
• Create a central hub where people can access news and information
• Offer self-service rota tools so volunteers can schedule their own shifts
• Enable direct one-to-one messaging with individuals and groups of volunteers
• Set up automatic notifications when volunteers reach key milestones
• Track volunteer activities so you can clearly see and share their impact.

Offering both desktop and mobile-ready applications, your VMS helps your team work smarter, not harder — the perfect tool to help solve the challenge of how to keep volunteers engaged.  

Click to find more about the features of Access Assemble

Customer success story: the road to success

On a mission to make it easier for people to walk and cycle, Sustrans cares for over 12,000 miles of walking, wheeling, and cycling paths. Behind the scenes, a community of 3,500+ volunteers are working hard to help make this happen. 

Before going digital, Volunteer Implementation Lead, Adam Jukes and his team used a combination of systems, processes and spreadsheets to manage volunteer activities. Not only did it make it hard for them to grow and scale their programme, it also cost them valuable hours.  

The level of engagement with Assemble is really high with new volunteers. They’re having a really positive experience through the recruitment portal and they’re staying on Assemble afterwards - visiting the document hub, looking at the news features, reporting their activities.

Assemble has helped the team change gears - streamlining manual systems and processes and enabling them to offer more, flexible opportunities that fit around people’s lives. 

Read success story

Ready to transform volunteer retention?

If you’re wondering how to keep volunteers in a world that’s demanding more and more from everyone, we'd love to talk. Get in touch with our experts today.