About GoldStar 
Understanding the needs and
motivations of volunteers
It is important to gather information on the needs and motivations of individual volunteers in order to ensure they are suited to the volunteering opportunities that are available. This information can also be useful in order to identify new projects and volunteering opportunities.
Below are a few examples of how other organisations have accoplished this: |
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Volunteer Centre Kensington & Chelsea works closely with volunteer and placement to ensure a good match is made |
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The Renewal, Refugee and Migrant Project set out factors to ensure that mentors and mentees are matched correctly. |
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Volunteer Centre Kensington & Chelsea
The Volunteer Centre Kensington & Chelsea encourages and supports disabled people and people with mental and physical health needs to have a positive volunteering experience in their local community. Their project A+ works closely with both the volunteer and the chosen placement to ensure that a good match is made.
All new volunteers have an initial one to one meeting with the A+ Volunteering staff to establish their interests, current skills and experiences, availability, and who support the volunteer would like from either the Volunteer Centre or a placement project in order to volunteer successfully.
The aims of the meeting are to:
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Make the prospective volunteer feel welcome and comfortable with the Volunteer Centre;
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Ensure the prospective volunteer understands what A+ Volunteering does and offers
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Discuss what kind of volunteering the prospective volunteer is interested in;
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Discuss volunteer support needs and what they think they would need and from whom they would like this support;
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Agree a plan of action.
When the potential volunteer is referred to the project from social or Health Services or a voluntary sector organisation, a key worker (or equivalent) is often involved with this initial process, if this is helpful to the individual volunteer.
Renewal, Refugee and Migrant Project
The Renewal, Refugee and Migrant Project (RAMP) highlights how recruiting mentors and mentees is a balancing act of obtaining the right people at the right time and for the right match. It needs adequate planning before reaching out to people. RAMP Volunteering Mentoring Handbook sets out how one to one matching of mentors and mentees is carried out in practice, with the following factors looked carefully:
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Proximity – locations of both the mentor and mentee;
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Age – the mentor should be a bit older than the mentee;
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Gender – Generally female mentees are matched with female mentors unless they want to be matched with a male mentor;
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Profession – pairs people with similar professions as much as possible;
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Interests/hobbies – pairs people with similar interests/hobbies;
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Preference of both mentors and mentees are considered based on their application forms and interviews.
