From local foodbanks and arts organisations to environmental groups, community projects and national charities, volunteers are the lifeblood of much of the charity, third and public sectors.
Many of the organisations we work with simply couldn’t deliver the impact they do without the time, expertise, enthusiasm and generosity of volunteers. Whether they’re serving on boards and committees, helping at events, supporting service delivery, fundraising, mentoring, campaigning, or offering specialist skills, volunteers help good causes achieve extraordinary things.
That’s why we’re delighted to celebrate Volunteers’ Week 2026.
Held annually across the UK, Volunteers’ Week runs from Monday 1st June to Sunday 7th June. Established in 1984, the campaign provides an opportunity for organisations and communities to recognise, celebrate and thank volunteers for everything they contribute.
For more than 40 years, Volunteers’ Week has shone a spotlight on the incredible diversity of volunteering and the positive difference it makes to communities across the country.
And while volunteers often give their time freely, supporting volunteers well takes time, planning and resources from organisations too.
The Often Invisible Challenge of Volunteer Management
Recruiting volunteers is only the beginning. Once someone expresses an interest in getting involved, there is often a whole journey that follows:
- Managing applications and enquiries
- Conducting interviews or informal conversations
- Carrying out reference checks and screening
- Organising training and inductions
- Matching people to appropriate roles
- Communicating opportunities and updates
- Tracking participation and hours
- Gathering feedback and monitoring experiences
- Measuring impact
- Recognising and celebrating contributions
- Keeping volunteers engaged over time.
For many organisations, these tasks are managed through a combination of spreadsheets, inboxes, paper forms, and the collective memory of a very busy member of staff.
That can work for a while.
But as volunteer programmes grow, systems that once felt manageable can quickly become time-consuming, fragmented and difficult to report on.
Why We Like CiviCRM for Volunteer Management
At Pooka, we’re big believers in using technology to solve real organisational challenges.
One of the reasons we’re such strong advocates of CiviCRM is that it allows organisations to manage relationships in a way that reflects how people actually engage with them.
Volunteers are rarely “just volunteers”.
They might also be donors, event attendees, campaign supporters, members, trustees, beneficiaries, partners or advocates.
Rather than storing information across multiple disconnected systems, with plugins like CiviVolunteer, CiviCRM creates a single picture of every relationship someone has with an organisation.
For volunteer management, that means organisations can:
- Record volunteer interests, skills and experience
- Manage applications and onboarding processes
- Track training and compliance requirements
- Log volunteer activities and hours
- Communicate with specific volunteer groups
- Gather feedback and measure impact
- Generate meaningful reports for funders and boards.
Because CiviCRM is open source, organisations also have the flexibility to adapt and grow their systems over time without being tied to expensive licensing models.
Most importantly, it helps organisations focus on people rather than paperwork.
A Thank You to Volunteers Everywhere
This Volunteers’ Week, we want to say thank you to every volunteer supporting communities, causes and organisations across the UK.
Your contribution matters.
And to the teams responsible for recruiting, coordinating and supporting volunteers: we know how much work happens behind the scenes to make volunteering successful.
If better systems could help your organisation spend less time on administration and more time supporting people, we’d love to have a conversation.
Because volunteers deserve great experiences too.
