AVM Conference 2026 – Programme sessions

Martha is CEO of JMB and curator of Uncharitable Political Education. Further details of Martha’s Keynote are coming soon.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work – The Power and Potential of Volunteers Who Lead

When provided with the proper structure, support and independence, multi-talented volunteer teams can maximize limited organizational resources and scale your impact beyond what you’ve ever imagined. But teams need the right environment to thrive.

In this keynote, Tobi will explore what can happen when volunteers lead and what needs to be in place to tap the true potential of volunteer leadership. You will learn how to build a pipeline to prepare volunteers for service, as well as a framework for fostering teamwork from the inside out.

Tobi’s keynote will cover:

• What it means to be a truly volunteer-driven organization and what can happen when volunteers lead the way.
• How you can build a purposeful pipeline to attract volunteers with “high potential” to leadership roles.
• How to prepare, support, and empower volunteer leaders to be successful (even if they have no experience).

Most volunteers don’t leave because of the work – they leave because they don’t feel seen, supported, or valued. In this workshop, you’ll learn simple, low-cost strategies to build loyalty, reduce turnover, and turn first-time helpers into long-term leaders. Walk away with a 90-day retention plan you can use immediately.

This workshop will cover:

• Identifying the three most common reasons volunteers leave, and conducting a simple retention audit for your own team
• Designing a 4-step onboarding experience that reduces first-30-day dropoff and helps volunteers feel prepared and welcomed
• Applying low-cost, high-impact recognition strategies that match different volunteer motivations and personalities
• Using a 15-minute check-in framework to catch early signs of disengagement and address concerns before a volunteer quits
• Building a 90-day volunteer retention action plan tailored to your specific organization, role, and team challenges.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.

Workshop facilitator:
Asma Iqbal – NCVS

Lived experience is at the heart of the work of many charities. It informs, supports, influences and shapes an organisations’ strategic aims along with what and how support interventions are delivered. Lived experience volunteers are increasingly important in optimising the reach and impact of the charities they support as well as enabling a charity’s ability to influence key agendas.

However, to harness the power of peer support, meet the needs and expectations of the volunteers, and achieve project and organisational outcomes, there are challenges to be mitigated. Deborah Bent from Limbless Association will be sharing the organisation’s experience of developing a user led peer mentoring volunteering programme, and recruiting, training and developing over 100 amputee volunteers.

By developing an enhanced the volunteering experience they’ve realised onward and broader development pathways and maintained strong volunteer retention. You will gain insight into these developments as well as hear first hand from some of Limbless Association’s volunteers.

This workshop will cover:

• Understanding the needs of lived experience volunteers
• Insight into how the needs of lived experience volunteers can be better supported
• Improved understanding of involving lived experience volunteers
• Improved understanding of the opportunities and benefits of lived experience volunteering
• Identifying the key components and positive impact of developing enhanced volunteering experiences.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role: 

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.

Workshop facilitator:
Deborah Bent – Limbless Association

Volunteer managers are under increasing pressure to do more with fewer resources – from recruiting and onboarding volunteers to keeping them engaged and delivering impact.

In this session, you’ll explore how technology and AI can transform volunteer management in practice, helping charities reduce admin, improve visibility and create better experiences for volunteers at every stage of their journey.

It will look at how connected systems can support the full volunteer lifecycle – from recruitment through to retention – while giving teams the tools to work more efficiently and make more informed decisions.

You’ll also see how modern solutions, including mobile-first volunteer tools and AI-powered functionality, can help charities:

• streamline onboarding and communication
• simplify scheduling and coordination
• improve engagement and retention
• gain clearer insights into volunteer impact.

Whether you’re looking to modernise your current approach or understand what’s possible with the latest technology, this session will give you actionable ideas to take back to your organisation.

This workshop will cover:

• The key challenges in managing volunteers with fragmented or manual systems.
• How connected technology supports the full volunteer lifecycle — from recruitment to retention.
• Practical ways to reduce admin and improve efficiency using digital tools and automation.
• Where AI can add value in volunteer management (e.g. insights, communication, workflow support).
• How adopting connected systems can deliver better outcomes for both volunteers and teams.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.
• Director or Senior Leadership – setting the vision, strategy, and policy for volunteering across the entire organisation.

Workshop facilitator:
Penny Humphries – The Access Group

This workshop will bring together a panel of organisations from North Yorkshire and the Humber who are part of the funded partnership within the Volunteering for Health programme — a £10 million programme dedicated to supporting and building volunteering infrastructure within the health and care system.

Each panelling organisation has developed their own youth volunteering toolkit, and they will walk you through the journey of creating it — from identifying the need, to building the infrastructure required to support it, to the finished product.

The session will explore what robust volunteering infrastructure looks like in practice, what it takes to establish it, and why having a dedicated toolkit is a vital asset for any organisation working with young volunteers.

Following the presentation, you will have the opportunity to dive deeper into the topics that matter most to you through a series of interactive breakout rooms, each hosted by one of the panelling organisations. Whether your interest lies in the practical steps of toolkit development, the infrastructure and resources needed to sustain youth volunteering, or the lessons learned along the way, these sessions offer you a chance to ask questions directly, share experiences, and take away actionable insights.

The workshop is ideal for anyone looking to strengthen their approach to youth volunteering and develop the foundations needed to make it thrive.

This workshop will cover:

• What an effective toolkit looks like and why it is an essential resource for organisations looking to develop and strengthen their offer to young volunteers.
• The foundations, systems, and resources that must be in place to develop and sustain meaningful volunteering opportunities for young people.
• The experiences of funded partnership organisations from North Yorkshire and the Humber, which will help inform your own approach to toolkit development and volunteering infrastructure.
• Insight into the practical process, challenges, and decisions that organisations navigate when building a toolkit from the ground up.
• Using the breakout room sessions to ask questions, share experiences, and identify actionable next steps for strengthening youth volunteering within your own organisations or communities.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.
• Director or Senior Leadership – setting the vision, strategy, and policy for volunteering across the entire organisation.

Workshop facilitators: 
Alex Hatherly – NHS Charities Together
Sam Caldwell (he/him) – NHS Charities Together

You can strengthen volunteer management capability by turning survey insights into practical, role-relevant development actions that support continuous improvement.

Following organisational changes at Open University, volunteer managers shared their confidence levels across key areas such as recruitment, inclusion, safeguarding, and impact measurement. This session will bring those insights to life and share the impact of creating space for managers to reflect on their day-to-day experiences and validate what the data is telling us.

This is particularly important for volunteer managers who play a critical role in delivering consistent, high-quality volunteer experiences. By identifying priority capability areas and co-designing solutions, you can ensure that future support, such as training, is directly shaped by your needs, giving you increased confidence to approach the training and development of your team.

This workshop will cover:

• Understanding the current capability landscape using a skills and confidence survey.
• How to reflect on personal and team capability and assess how the identified capability gaps show up in your own role and team context, and recognise areas for individual and collective development.
• How to prioritise the most critical capability areas that, if strengthened, would have the greatest impact on volunteer experience and delivery.
• Generating and evaluating practical ideas for support (e.g. training, tools, peer learning) that would improve confidence and effectiveness in key areas.

Who this workshop is suitable for:

• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.

Workshop facilitator:
Danielle Cafearo – Open University Students’ Union 

Volunteer managers often find themselves juggling competing priorities, working behind the scenes, and struggling to articulate the true value of their role. This interactive workshop creates space to step back, reflect, and reconnect with what you uniquely bring as a leader of volunteers. Through a mix of guided reflection, small group discussion and practical exercises, you will explore your strengths, values and motivations, and consider how these shape both your leadership style and how you are perceived by others.

Moving beyond insight into action, you will experiment with shaping a clear and authentic personal brand – including developing a simple “brand statement” that captures your contribution and impact. The session will also explore how small, intentional shifts in communication and behaviour can increase visibility and influence within organisations. Designed to be engaging, supportive and thought-provoking, this workshop will leave you with renewed confidence, a stronger sense of professional identity, and practical steps you can apply immediately in your role.

This workshop will cover:

• Identifying your core strengths, values and motivations and understanding how these shape your leadership approach in volunteer management
• Recognising how you are currently perceived within your organisation and where there may be gaps between intention and impact
• Developing a clear personal brand statement (slogan) that articulates your value and leadership contribution
• Applying practical strategies to increase your visibility and influence in day-to-day interactions with colleagues and stakeholders.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.
• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.

Workshop facilitator:
Rachel Stewart (she/her) – FRS Consultancy

Volunteers are often at the heart of a volunteer involving organisation, and their experiences can shape the quality, consistency, and culture. This workshop explores how Waythrough redesigned the volunteer journey using an experience-led model, from Expectations to Entry, Engagement, and Exit/Change. By listening to volunteer feedback and acting on it, they created a pathway where people can grow.

Through real stories and practical examples, they’ll show you how design, co-production, and continuous learning can transform the volunteer experience and strengthen outcomes. The session is relevant to anyone who wants to build supportive, inclusive, and progression-focused environments where volunteers feel valued and empowered.

This workshop will cover:

• How an experience-based model can improve the volunteer journey from recruitment to retention.
• Practical ways to gather and act on volunteer feedback to drive meaningful change.
• Mapping your own volunteer pathways using the four stages: Expectations, Entry, Engagement, and Exit/Change.
• How to apply strategies that create a more supportive, consistent, and growth-focused volunteer culture.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.
• Director or Senior Leadership – setting the vision, strategy, and policy for volunteering across the entire organisation.

Workshop facilitators:
Ann Denton – Waythrough
Abbie Taylor – Waythrough

The period between a volunteer accepting a role and completing their first shift is notoriously fragile; it is the exact window where enthusiasm often collides with administrative friction, leading to frustrating drop-outs. This interactive session will unpack the anatomy of a truly effective onboarding experience. Rather than treating induction as a mere checklist of policies and forms, you will explore how to design a journey that feels welcoming, culturally immersive, and highly motivating. Through shared problem-solving, you will identify the common hurdles that cause new recruits to disengage and share practical, human-centred solutions to smooth their path.

For volunteer managers, mastering this crucial phase is fundamentally about working smarter, not harder. By reimagining your onboarding processes, you will not only create a powerful first impression that cements a volunteer’s commitment, but you will also significantly reduce the time and energy wasted chasing paperwork or replacing early leavers. You will leave this workshop with ideas and tools to transform your onboarding process into a robust foundation for long-term retention.

This workshop will cover:

• How to identify and eliminate ‘friction points’ in your current onboarding processes.
• Designing a human-centred induction experience.
• Developing practical strategies for rapid assimilation, ensuring volunteers feel comfortable, confident, included and culturally connected to their new teams from day one.
• Streamlining administrative workflows to reduce the burden on volunteer managers, balancing essential compliance with a welcoming, accessible user journey.
• Applying peer-tested and actionable ideas gathered during the session to your own programmes.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.
• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.

Workshop facilitators:
Chris Wade – Time for Impact
Olivia Rawnsley – Papyrus

Many organisations are committed to inclusive volunteering but struggle to translate good intentions into sustainable, everyday practice. This interactive workshop will focus on how volunteer managers and leaders can strengthen inclusive volunteering by learning from shared experience, lived expertise, and sector‑wide insight, supported by the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group (NIVG).

The session will create space for you to explore the real and often complex barriers that prevent people from engaging in volunteering, particularly those from underrepresented communities. Drawing on insight informed by NIVG, the workshop will support you to reflect critically on your own volunteering models, language, systems, and assumptions, and consider what genuinely inclusive practice looks like in different organisational contexts.

This workshop will cover:

• Common structural and cultural barriers to inclusive volunteering.
• Insight informed by the National Inclusion in Volunteering Group and lived experience
• How organisational practices, language, and systems affect inclusion.
• Hearing from peers facing similar challenges in engaging diverse communities.
• How to identify at least one practical action to improve inclusion within your own volunteering programme.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.
• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.

Workshop facilitator:
Margaret Starkie – Volunteer Scotland

Volunteer management doesn’t start when the first volunteer is recruited – it starts with how organisations recruit, train and support staff to work with volunteers. 

In this interactive workshop, Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) will take you through how they redesigned the volunteer manager journey across CHAS, from language and culture change, through recruitment and onboarding, to training, systems and senior leadership engagement. 

They’ll share what worked, what looked different across teams, and what they’re still learning. You’ll also be invited to reflect on how volunteer management shows up (or doesn’t) in your own staff journeys and will leave with practical ideas that you can adapt to your own context, and a clearer sense of where to focus next.

This workshop will cover:

• The key stages of a volunteer manager journey, from recruitment to ongoing support.
• Practical ways to embed volunteer management expectations into staff roles, language and processes.
• How devolution and ownership look different across teams, and why a ‘one size fits all’ approach rarely works.
• Reflection on your own organisation’s volunteer manager journey.
• Identifying one change you could make to better support volunteer managers in your organisation.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.
• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.
• Director or Senior Leadership – setting the vision, strategy, and policy for volunteering across the entire organisation.

Workshop facilitators:
Fiona Harvey – Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)
Shirlie Geddes – Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)

Volunteer managers often find themselves navigating situations where volunteers resist changes, challenge decisions, or act in ways that feel unhelpful or disruptive. These moments are usually framed as ‘difficult behaviours’ – but they often signal something deeper about identity, belonging, and how volunteers understand the purpose of the organisation.

This workshop will offer a fresh, practical way to understand and respond to volunteer pushback. Instead of focusing on how to ‘manage’ volunteers back into alignment, we explore how to recognise what volunteers may be trying to protect, express, or make visible. You will learn how to distinguish between behaviour that needs boundaries and behaviour that reveals important information about culture, communication, and change.

Through real world examples, discussion, and simple frameworks, you’ll look at how volunteer resistance can become a source of insight rather than conflict – and how volunteer managers can respond in ways that reduce tension, strengthen relationships, and support smoother organisational change.

This workshop will cover:

• What volunteer resistance often signals beneath the surface.
• How to respond in ways that reduce defensiveness and increase understanding.
• The difference between behaviour that needs boundaries and behaviour that needs listening.
• Supporting volunteers through change without losing organisational direction.
• Protecting your own wellbeing when caught between volunteers and leadership.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Operational – focused on the day-to-day execution of the volunteer programme, managing the immediate needs of volunteers.
• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.

Workshop facilitators
Stephen Moreton – Attend
David Wood – Attend

Gathering information on your organisation’s needs and constraints is an essential step when designing a volunteering programme. Running a Discovery Phase is an effective way to gather information on who your users are (previous employees, volunteers, partners), what they need and the barriers they face. This information can then provide a deeper understanding of the organisation’s context and opportunities to improve things to help ensure you’re designing the right volunteering programme.

At this workshop Andreia Bianchi from The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields will share how she planned and delivered the Discovery Phase when designing a new volunteering programme. Andreia will explain how she engaged the stakeholders in co-design activities, what worked well and what she’d do differently in the future. She’ll also share a helpful framework to help you structure and plan your own Discovery Phase regardless of the financial and capacity constraints that you might have at your organisation.

This workshop will cover:

• What a Discovery Phase is 
• Who you need to engage with during the discovery process
• Different types of research activities
• How to develop a research plan with clear goals and outcomes
• Different ways to present the insights to key stakeholders.

Who this workshop is suitable for:
This workshop is suitable for anyone working in the following types of role:

• Management or Strategic – overseeing multiple programmes, managing staff (paid or unpaid), and having budgetary and strategic input into the program’s direction.
• Director or Senior Leadership – setting the vision, strategy, and policy for volunteering across the entire organisation.

Workshop facilitator:
Andreia Bianchi – The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields

Join us for a powerful, youth‑led conversation featuring volunteers aged 18–25 who will share their honest experiences of getting involved in causes they care about. Expect real stories about what inspires young people to volunteer, the barriers they face, and what makes an opportunity meaningful, accessible, and enjoyable.

This panel offers a chance to hear directly from young volunteers about what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to engaging and supporting their generation. You’ll gain fresh insights into how organisations can design youth‑friendly opportunities, create more inclusive environments, and adapt to shifting expectations around flexibility and support.

Whether you’re a volunteer manager, programme lead, organisational leader, or simply curious about the future of youth volunteering, this is an essential session that will challenge assumptions, spark new ideas, and inspire meaningful change.

This session will explore how technology, creativity, and new volunteering formats are reshaping the way people get involved. While volunteering has traditionally relied on fixed schedules and in-person roles, our changing lifestyles and modern challenges are prompting organisations to rethink how and when people can give their time and skills.

This panel is ideal for anyone who wants to explore new ways of involving volunteers or is simply curious about how volunteering is evolving. You will hear practical tips on using technology and creative thinking to make opportunities more accessible, flexible, and relevant to today’s volunteers.

Panellists will share how organisations are using technology, new formats, and creative approaches to offer more flexible and modern volunteering experiences. The discussion will highlight ways to make volunteering more accessible, inclusive, and engaging for a wide range of people.