Charity Shop Volunteer Roles

Our ambassadors are a network of volunteers, based across England – organising fundraising activities, representing the charity in their local area and helping to engage people with the work of the charity.

Ways to get involved
As an ambassador you can get involved by:
•  Inspiring family, friends, colleagues and your networks to support the charity
•  Attending cheque presentations in your local area and thanking our donors face-to-face
•  Setting up a fundraising group with friends, family or colleagues
•  Getting people involved in our latest fundraising appeals and campaigns
•  Promoting sign-ups to our UK and overseas challenge events to friends, family and your networks 
•  Making introductions to your contacts who may support the charity
•  Placing, emptying and banking coin collection tins in cafes, restaurants, shops and your community

What we ask of you
This role would suit you if you:
•  Are looking for a long term volunteering role
•  You would like to get involved with various volunteering opportunities
•  Enjoy fundraising and would like to connect with like minded people

What we offer in return
We are committed to supporting our volunteers and offer the following:
•  A monthly e-newsletter giving you ways to get involved
•  Bi-annual meetings and the opportunity to meet other members of the team
•  Resources to help you fund raise 
•  Ongoing support from the ICC UK team
•  Regular updates about the children and the difference you are making
•  Reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses

Volunteer with us!
Acorns have a network of shops across the West Midlands and Gloucestershire that generate a substantial level of income to enable us to care for children and their families. 

Our empowered Till Volunteers support by greeting customers with a smile, taking payment for purchases, issuing change and receipts. You will also accept any donations that are made to the charity and support with signing donators for Gift Aid.

Am I right for the job?

• Be welcoming and friendly
• Be able to use a till
• Have good attention to detail
• Be a team player that thinks of others 

For this role, you'll need to:

• Thankfully accept donated goods
• Be sensitive to the needs of our customers/donators
   

How much time will it take?
Our Ledbury shop is open Monday to Sunday  (Sunday -10am to 4pm). You can volunteer the hours that suit you, but ideally, we’ll need you to be available for at least 3 hours per week.

Why volunteer at Acorns?

• To help a local charity
• To make a difference in your local community
• To connect with like minded people and make new friends
• Boost your CV
• Opportunities to progress to other roles

Full training will be provided

Help us to save the Children's Hospice Grant: Click here to find out more

Volunteer with us!
Acorns have a network of shops across the West Midlands and Gloucestershire that generate a substantial level of income to enable us to care for children and their families. 

Our empowered Till Volunteers support by greeting customers with a smile, taking payment for purchases, issuing change and receipts. You will also accept any donations that are made to the charity and support with signing donators for Gift Aid.

Am I right for the job?

• Be welcoming and friendly
• Be able to use a till
• Have good attention to detail
• Be a team player that thinks of others 

For this role, you'll need to:

• Thankfully accept donated goods
• Be sensitive to the needs of our customers/donators
   

How much time will it take?
Our Pershore shop is open Monday to Sunday (Sunday -10am to 4pm). You can volunteer the hours that suit you, but ideally, we’ll need you to be available for at least 3 hours per week.

Why volunteer at Acorns?

• To help a local charity
• To make a difference in your local community
• To connect with like minded people and make new friends
• Boost your CV
• Opportunities to progress to other roles

Full training will be provided

Help us to save the Children's Hospice Grant: Click here to find out more

Great! How do I sign up?

About you:
Are you passionate about supporting young people and families? Do you have a desire to see people flourish and empower change in your community? Have you experienced the care of a friend in difficulties or overcome some hardships and want to give back? If so, being a Family Friend could be the next adventure you embark on this year.

Volunteering activities and commitment:
Our Family Friend volunteers work directly with families by coming alongside parents and children when they need it most, making sure they feel less isolated. This can involve sharing a hot drink to hear about their day; helping a single dad or mum to get out of their home to a local park; or doing an activity with their children that would brighten up their day.

Every family support is unique to you and the family to help them achieve their goals, and always with your agreement. Practically speaking, being a Family Friend is a flexible role that can be fitted in with your other commitments and doesn't have to take up much of your time. 

You will be trained and supported by a local Engagement and Support Coordinator and Family Support Manager who will support you throughout your volunteer recruitment journey and whilst you are volunteering.

Our vision:
Safe Families believes that no one should feel alone. We work with local councils to come alongside isolated and overwhelmed families to create relationship and connection because everyone deserves to belong.

As a Christian Charity, we also believe in the power of the Church community. Does your church have a passion to support, love and welcome newcomers? If so, you can help to be a bridge between your church community and the people you volunteer with. We know this is especially needed at a time when loneliness is an endemic in the UK. 27%
of adults report feeling lonely ‘always, often, or sometimes’, and this can be as impacting on a person’s life as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.  Loneliness steals joy, destroys self-confidence, and limits potential. The cure is community and a sense of belonging. Being a Family Friend is a great way to showcase care and compassion to others.

We look forward to welcoming you as our new Family Friend and celebrating and honouring the milestones in your journey.
 

Volunteer with us!

At Acorns we provide care and support for life limited or life threatened children and their families. We are a charity, so most of the care that we provide is funded through fundraising and through our shops.

We are looking for volunteers to join our Christmas Fayre in Wylde Green Church to help with the sales of craft items and running of the tombola.

Event date Saturday 29th November.

Volunteer opportunities on the day;

• Tombola
• Craft Stall Sales.

Volunteers will be covering the hours of 10.00-16.00 (any hours between these times is fine and times are role dependent)

Why Volunteer at Acorns?

• To help a local charity and make a difference in your local community
• Connect with likeminded people and make new friends
• Enhance your CV by learning new skills and gaining experience
• Opportunities to progress to other roles
• Access to free online courses
• Invites to social events and participation in our volunteer recognition schemes and rewards
• Please apply if you'd like to be apart of this fun filled event! - Refreshments will be provided.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT PAID WORK

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 600 shops. Our stores sell lots of great donated & new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

Our retail stores are the face of our charity on the high-street and in local communities. We have loads of amazing stock donated to us every week, and this all needs to be sorted, tagged and put on the shop-floor for sale!

Making sure our shops look fantastic is another task you can get involved with. You may also be required to help out on the till too, but we will show you how that works during your time volunteering with us. We value the contribution of everyone who supports Barnardo’s.

You will be a friendly face of Barnardo’s by volunteering in one of our shops. It would be great if you could volunteer one shift a week (or even more if you want) but we’re always happy to be flexible to work around your availability.

Why we want you

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 700 stores. Our stores sell lots of great donated and new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

What you will be doing

• Work on the till processing sales and returns
• Prepare stock, including sorting, steaming and pricing
• Create stylish window displays
• Replenish stock on the shop floor
• Stock-take and other administrative tasks

The skills you need

• Friendly and helpful
• Happy to be part of an amazing team of staff and volunteers
• Enthusiastic about the work of Barnardo’s
• Flexible and willing to do a variety of the shop tasks

What's in it for you

• Have fun and meet new people
• Develop skills for your CV including confidence, teamwork and problem solving
• Make a difference to the lives of children, young people and their families
• Learning and development opportunities through our Volunteer Academy which includes access to Level 2 Qualifications and other accredited courses
• Full training and experience of working in retail as a volunteer

Location:

Unit 1A, Highpoint Retail Park, Hartlepool, TS24 0RN, United Kingdom

Minimum age: 14 years

Please note: we only accept applications from those residing in the UK

Replenishment and Merchandising Volunteer -  New Volunteer Oppportunity in Acorn's Children's Hospice Superstore - Recently Opened 

The Role 

Acorns have a network of shops across the West Midlands that generate a substantial level of income to enable us to care for children and their families. Our empowered Replenishment and Merchandising Volunteers support the team by replenishing stock on the shop floor and by merchandising it in an eye catching and engaging fashion.

How much time will it take? 

Our shops are open Monday to Saturday (some open on Sundays too), 9am to 5pm. You can volunteer the hours that suit you, but ideally we’ll need you to be available for at least 3 hours per week. 

Why volunteer at Acorns? 

• To help a local charity 
• To make a difference in your local community
•  To connect with like minded people and make new friends
•  Boost your CV 
• Opportunities to progress to other roles 
• All training will be provided

Am I right for the job? 

For this role, you'll need to:

• Have a good eye for merchandising 
• Be a team player that thinks 
• Be welcoming and friendly of others 
• Be sensitive to the needs of our customers/donators

Help us to save the Children's Hospice Grant: Click here to find out more

Wiltshire Community Foundation is recruiting new members to join our board of trustees and would particularly love to hear from people with a background in either accountancy or audit or within the voluntary sector.

About Us

Wiltshire Community Foundation is an independent charity. We exist to tackle disadvantage and strengthen local communities by inspiring philanthropy and supporting the voluntary sector. Our mission is to maximise the impact of charitable activity by connecting people, information and resources.

2025 is an exciting year for us. It marks our 50th birthday, a significant milestone celebrating five decades of connecting people who care with causes that matter. We are also reaching the end of our 2020-2025 organisational strategy, which has seen significant change, development and achievement within our organisation. We are now entering our new five-year strategy, and as we enter this new chapter, we are looking to appoint some new trustees to our board, to help us continue to inspire philanthropy and enable our local voluntary sector to help people in our communities to thrive.

About You

We want to reflect the communities we support by bringing a range of diverse voices, skills, backgrounds and experiences to our board. Candidates do not have to have previous experience of sitting on a board. You don’t need a charity background or a university degree to be a trustee, or to have reached any particular stage in your career.

What’s important to us is a keen interest in Wiltshire and Swindon, a commitment to creating positive change for our local communities, and a willingness to contribute time, attention and passion to the role, to our thinking and to the future success of our organisation.

Anyone applying with an accountancy or audit background will be expected to join our Audit, Finance & Risk committee and anyone applying with a voluntary sector background will be expected to join our Programme Delivery committee. Please be sure to include reference to these skills in your application. If your skills don’t match this, but are interested please get in touch as other vacancies for trustees may arise in the future.

To Apply

If you would like to apply to be a trustee at Wiltshire Community Foundation please send us:

• A short, written statement (maximum two sides A4) or a video or audio (of no more than 5 minutes) supporting your application. Please include: why you would like to join the board; what skills you would bring to the organisation; a bit about yourself; any previous experience.
• A CV setting out your education/training background and career history. 

Please send this to the email address outlined in the 'How to Apply' page in the recruitment pack.

The deadline for applications is 31 March, and interviews will be held by the end of April 2025.

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 600 shops. Our stores sell lots of great donated & new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

Our retail stores are the face of our charity on the high-street and in local communities. We have loads of amazing stock donated to us every week, and this all needs to be sorted, tagged and put on the shop-floor for sale!

Making sure our shops look fantastic is another task you can get involved with. You may also be required to help out on the till too, but we will show you how that works during your time volunteering with us. We value the contribution of everyone who supports Barnardo’s.

You will be a friendly face of Barnardo’s by volunteering in one of our shops. It would be great if you could volunteer one shift a week (or even more if you want) but we’re always happy to be flexible to work around your availability.

Why we want you

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 700 stores. Our stores sell lots of great donated and new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

What you will be doing

• Work on the till processing sales and returns
• Prepare stock, including sorting, steaming and pricing
• Create stylish window displays
• Replenish stock on the shop floor
• Stock-take and other administrative tasks

The skills you need

• Friendly and helpful
• Happy to be part of an amazing team of staff and volunteers
• Enthusiastic about the work of Barnardo’s
• Flexible and willing to do a variety of the shop tasks

What's in it for you

• Have fun and meet new people
• Develop skills for your CV including confidence, teamwork and problem solving
• Make a difference to the lives of children, young people and their families
• Learning and development opportunities through our Volunteer Academy which includes access to Level 2 Qualifications and other accredited courses
• Full training and experience of working in retail as a volunteer

Disclaimer

We look to recruit a diverse range of volunteers. If your skills don't fit the above, please do not let this put you off as we are able to be flexible with most of our roles. If you are unable to apply online through the link on this page, please visit your local store for a paper application form or contact the Barnardo's Volunteering Team on our website.

Location:

Unit 3 & 4, 1111 Edinburgh Road, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, G33 3QE, United Kingdom

Minimum age: 14 years

Please note: we only accept applications from those residing in the UK

Acorns have a network of shops across the West Midlands that generate a substantial level of income to enable us to care for children and their families. Our Furniture Assembly Volunteers support by constructing and taking apart flat pack furniture, beds and other large items of furniture. Full training will be provided for this hands-on position. 

How much time will it take? 

Our shops are open Monday to Saturday (some open on Sundays too), 9am to 5pm. You can volunteer the hours that suit you, but ideally we’ll need you to volunteer for at least 3 hours per week.

Why volunteer at Acorns? 

• To help a local charity
•  To make a difference in your local community 
• To connect with likeminded people and make new friends
•  Boost your CV Opportunities to progress to other roles 

Am I right for the job?

• Able to build flat pack furniture 
• Be organised and methodical 
• Able to work within timeframes for customer assembly requests 
• Willing to flag any defects or spare parts needed when constructing furniture
•  Able to carry out minor repairs on donated goods

Full training will be provided

Help us to save the Children's Hospice Grant: Click here to find out more

We seek a Chair and two new Trustees to join our Board at Thames Hospice who will help guide our strategic direction in our provision of specialist palliative and end-of-life care services.

Location: Maidenhead

Applications close at 9 a.m. Wednesday 23rd April.

For over 38 years, Thames Hospice has provided specialist palliative and end-of-life care to the community of East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire.

We are looking for a new Chair who understands the absolute importance of the increasing demand for our services and putting people with complex needs who also need our support at the centre of what we do. We would look to our new Chair to build trust and engagement in our community; to value the importance of volunteering, the vital role of fundraising and the key role our portfolio of 23 shops brings to our organisation.

The new Trustees will bring both medical and commercial skills, which are key given the core of our work and the income generation needed.

About the roles:

Chair –

As Chair, you’ll lead our charity with ambition, using your skills to the fullest alongside a talented management team and diverse Board. This rewarding role carries ultimate legal responsibility for ensuring financial sustainability, strong governance, and the delivery of our strategic outcomes.

We seek a senior leader with vision, dedication, and a passion for making a real impact on patients, families and the wider community. With a strong local reputation, we aim to grow nationally as a Centre of Excellence, embracing research, education, digital innovation and sustainability. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds—no medical experience required.

You’ll champion our values of compassion, ambition, respect, and excellence, advocating for our work with donors, fundraisers, and the wider sector to help us raise vital funds and drive our mission forward.

Trustees  –

We are interested in hearing from people who are concerned about palliative and end of life care and who can bring the following skills to the Charity:

• Retail/commercial skills – online/digital and shops
• Clinical skills – palliative/end of life care

We will be senior leaders with a dedication to making a meaningful impact on patients, families and the wider community. With a strong local reputation, we aim to grow nationally as a Centre of Excellence, advancing research, education, digital innovation and sustainability. We value diversity and encourage applicants from all backgrounds, career paths and life experiences.

You’ll embody our values—compassion, ambition, respect, and excellence—while championing our work within the community and among our staff.

Please click 'Apply via website’ to be redirected to the Peridot Partners website, where you can find full details of the candidate profile and register your interest to apply.

Applications for this role close at 9 a.m. Wednesday 23rd April.

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 600 shops. Our stores sell lots of great donated & new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

Our retail stores are the face of our charity on the high-street and in local communities. We have loads of amazing stock donated to us every week, and this all needs to be sorted, tagged and put on the shop-floor for sale!

Making sure our shops look fantastic is another task you can get involved with. You may also be required to help out on the till too, but we will show you how that works during your time volunteering with us. We value the contribution of everyone who supports Barnardo’s.

You will be a friendly face of Barnardo’s by volunteering in one of our shops. It would be great if you could volunteer one shift a week (or even more if you want) but we’re always happy to be flexible to work around your availability.

Why we want you

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 700 stores. Our stores sell lots of great donated and new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

What you will be doing

• Work on the till processing sales and returns
• Prepare stock, including sorting, steaming and pricing
• Create stylish window displays
• Replenish stock on the shop floor
• Stock-take and other administrative tasks

The skills you need

• Friendly and helpful
• Happy to be part of an amazing team of staff and volunteers
• Enthusiastic about the work of Barnardo’s
• Flexible and willing to do a variety of the shop tasks

What's in it for you

• Have fun and meet new people
• Develop skills for your CV including confidence, teamwork and problem solving
• Make a difference to the lives of children, young people and their families
• Learning and development opportunities through our Volunteer Academy which includes access to Level 2 Qualifications and other accredited courses
• Full training and experience of working in retail as a volunteer

Disclaimer

We look to recruit a diverse range of volunteers. If your skills don't fit the above, please do not let this put you off as we are able to be flexible with most of our roles. If you are unable to apply online through the link on this page, please visit your local store for a paper application form or contact the Barnardo's Volunteering Team on our website.

Location:

Unit 3, Centrepoint Retail Park, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, AB25 3SQ, United Kingdom

Minimum age: 14 years

Please note: we only accept applications from those residing in the UK

Role context

Hi there, we’re a charity called Local Welcome. We support local people in joining together as a team of Leaders in order to run Local Welcome meals in their local area on weekends.

Local Welcome meals are open to all - they’re the sort of places where strangers become friends! Some group members will have been born in your local area, some new, some seeking sanctuary, or refugees. 

As a member of the Leader team, you’ll be supporting your group in cooking and eating a delicious meal from scratch. No cooking skills are required - our simple recipe steps have that covered!

The commitment

Location

In-person.

Voluntary

This is an unpaid role.

Time commitment

4-6 hours per month - this includes 4 hours leading on the day of the meal, and a couple of hours of prep and organising which is split between leaders before and after the meal. Depending on your leader team’s capacity, it’s possible for a very busy leader to arrive on the day and lead with only a small amount of involvement before and after.

Responsibilities

With the support of our small staff team, and the Local Welcome leader handbook, you would be working with your fellow leaders to:

1. Organising and facilitating monthly meals in your local area
2. Coordinating practical elements of running meals as a team - e.g. deciding what to cook and organising the grocery shop before the meal, ensuring the meal runs smoothly on the day, and sharing feedback with our staff team afterwards
3. Completing your own safeguarding training and a disclosure check. This includes committing to keeping everyone in your group safe by reporting any concerns accordingly on an ongoing basis
4. Keeping in touch with your fellow leaders and the Local Welcome team between meals - e.g. to share your availability for the next meal
5. Creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for your group members and fellow leaders

Support from Local Welcome

1. Safeguarding training tailored to Local Welcome meals
2. Regular check-ins, support and guidance from the Local Welcome team - including an on-call staff member available for any support during meals
3. Access to our leader handbook, which contains resources and materials for setting up, running and growing your group
4. A Whatsapp group to connect with the Local Welcome team and fellow leaders
5. Opportunity to connect with a network of Local Welcome Leaders across the UK

Membership

Membership is for everyone who takes part in Local Welcome meals, whatever role you play on the day!

Everyone has the option of attending their first meal as a newcomer (for free). Afterwards, we’ll invite you to sign up as a member of your local group.

We ask our members to donate what they can afford to help us cover the costs of running monthly meals. Donations also help us keep free spaces available for group members who can’t afford to pay, and helps us become more financially resilient as an organisation. 

Learn more about membership on our website.

Experience and skills

We’re looking for leaders who believe in our mission, vision and values and are committed to helping us live up to them. 

Broadly speaking, our leaders are ‘help to organise things’ type people who can commit 4-6 hours monthly, and enjoy working in a team.

We believe our groups are at their best when our Leaders have a mixture of identities, skills, personality types and life experiences, so everyone can play to their strengths and bring something unique to the table. Unlike other traditional ‘leadership’ settings, the leader role isn’t simply for those who can speak the loudest!

In particular, we’re keen to find Leaders who have lived experience of forced migrations, who are people of colour, people who are LGBTQ+, people who have a disability and people from working class backgrounds.

Most importantly, all leaders must respect and value people’s differences and be committed to helping Local Welcome to be an inclusive organisation.

Values

Our values are not just a set of nice words we stick up on the wall, they are very important to us and we gently hold ourselves and each other accountable to them every day.

• Build open, honest and diverse relationships
• Deliver joy through service
• Think big and act long-term
• Be creative and take risks
• Grow and learn
• Have compassion and fun
• Build diverse supportive teams
• Eat together
• Tell the truth
• Be humble

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 600 shops. Our stores sell lots of great donated & new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

Our retail stores are the face of our charity on the high-street and in local communities. We have loads of amazing stock donated to us every week, and this all needs to be sorted, tagged and put on the shop-floor for sale!

Making sure our shops look fantastic is another task you can get involved with. You may also be required to help out on the till too, but we will show you how that works during your time volunteering with us. We value the contribution of everyone who supports Barnardo’s.

You will be a friendly face of Barnardo’s by volunteering in one of our shops. It would be great if you could volunteer one shift a week (or even more if you want) but we’re always happy to be flexible to work around your availability.

Why we want you

Our amazing team of vibrant & diverse volunteers helps us run over 700 stores. Our stores sell lots of great donated and new goods to help raise vital funds to make a real difference to disadvantaged children, young people and families across the UK.

What you will be doing

• Work on the till processing sales and returns
• Prepare stock, including sorting, steaming and pricing
• Create stylish window displays
• Replenish stock on the shop floor
• Stock-take and other administrative tasks

The skills you need

• Friendly and helpful
• Happy to be part of an amazing team of staff and volunteers
• Enthusiastic about the work of Barnardo’s
• Flexible and willing to do a variety of the shop tasks

What's in it for you

• Have fun and meet new people
• Develop skills for your CV including confidence, teamwork and problem solving
• Make a difference to the lives of children, young people and their families
• Learning and development opportunities through our Volunteer Academy which includes access to Level 2 Qualifications and other accredited courses
• Full training and experience of working in retail as a volunteer

Disclaimer

We look to recruit a diverse range of volunteers. If your skills don't fit the above, please do not let this put you off as we are able to be flexible with most of our roles. If you are unable to apply online through the link on this page, please visit your local store for a paper application form or contact the Barnardo's Volunteering Team on our website.

Location:

4 Bell Street, St. Andrews, KY16 9UX, United Kingdom

Minimum age: 14 years

Please note: we only accept applications from those residing in the UK