Impact & Learning

Key achievements:

Across the four Volunteering Cities projects several themes emerged:

• Strong volunteer engagement: All four locations were able to successfully recruit a cohort of volunteers and identify effective approaches for this, learning along the way from what wasn’t working well. Bradford registered 1,827 volunteers within the first quarter of 2025. Cultural Connections surpassed 600 volunteers by the end of their grant, far exceeding their original target of 240. Medway Change Makers experienced a surge of engagement later in the project, with 70% growth in total volunteers during the second year.
• Diversity and inclusion: Each programme successfully engaged underrepresented groups. 52% of volunteers with Amdani! Conwy identified as d/Deaf or disabled. 48% of Medway Change Makers volunteers came from areas with the highest level of deprivation, with 20% of them having a health condition where they might normally face barriers to volunteering. Bradford achieved 53% participation from Global Majority backgrounds and 25% of their volunteers identified as disabled.
• Improved wellbeing and confidence: All programmes reported significant improvements in wellbeing, social connection, and confidence among volunteers. Amdani! Conwy had 89% of volunteers report an increase in wellbeing. Volunteers in Medway engaged through a local mental health support charity reported that taking part in volunteering activity with Change Makers improved their wellbeing.

• Flexibility and accessibility: Low commitment, flexible roles were offered. In-person or low-tech onboarding removed digital barriers. Micro-grants, reward schemes and tailored onboarding helped sustain engagement.

• Capacity building: Support and training was provided to host organisations to ensure inclusive practices were followed. This provided a better experience for volunteers and promoted greater long-term sustainability for the volunteering programmes. Change Makers collaborated on a training programme with Square Pegs, a Medway-based theatre company that work with learning disabled and neurodiverse young adults. A learning resource was produced, with hopes that a training package can eventually be developed for host organisations to understand how they can best support event volunteers with learning disabilities.

• Progression pathways: Volunteers frequently transitioned into further learning, employment, or continued volunteering. Bradford 2025 tracked 104 such outcomes and had high engagement from unemployed individuals and first-time volunteers. 44% of volunteers gained qualifications or progressed on to other volunteering or learning opportunities outside of Amdani! Conwy. Cultural Connections similarly saw volunteers gaining qualifications or roles outside of the programme. The team worked with colleges to offer students with additional needs long-term volunteering opportunities as part of a pathway course.

Key learning

Valuable learning was gained through each of the funded projects and can be read in more detail in the project reports. Challenges included ambitious bidding without the necessary local infrastructure, unclear definitions of ‘infrastructure’ and under-developed partnerships. Collectively, Neighbourly Lab outlined lessons from the Volunteering Cities projects in their final report, summarised below.

Partnerships:

• Sustainable collaboration took time, careful planning and trust building with local, often small, organisations and partners.

• Council involvement was often impacted by external pressures such as from COVID-19 and cost-of-living.
• Many cultural organisations lacked capacity or understanding to take advantage of volunteer support and sometimes needed coaching and support on volunteer management.
• Tensions existed with larger volunteer organisations wary of competition. Focusing on hyper-local groups often proved more effective.

Accessibility:

• Prioritising inclusion from the beginning, through allocated staff and resources, led to wider reach and a more consistent experience for volunteers.
• Incorporating social and in-person activities (such as coffee mornings, buddy systems) helped make participation more inclusive and was valued by volunteers.

Diversifying Volunteers:

• Creative outreach strategies increased the diversity and retention of volunteers, but measuring outcomes was challenging. Collecting demographic data proved complex and raised concerns over intrusiveness.

Delivery, set-up and legacy:

• Delivery teams faced the realities of building infrastructure from scratch. Hiring, outreach, training, policy development, and coordination were more time-consuming than anticipated and targets in the bids were often over-ambitious.
• While projects all demonstrated strong groundwork, sustaining infrastructure post-grant remained a challenge. Transition planning and external funding are essential to sustain gains beyond the Spirit grant period.
• Funders supporting projects of this nature should support honesty about limitations at the application stage and encourage transparent reflection of challenges.