Community-Centred Volunteering

There’s been a fair bit of talk recently about community-centred volunteering. It focuses on the challenges, priorities and solutions that are defined by the community itself, rather than what an organisation believes are the challenges. It’s a long over-due concept! But what exactly does it look like from the point of view of a leader of volunteers?

“ABC” was a youth organisation that ran after-school programs. Their volunteer tutors were passionate, knowledgeable, and reliable. Yet it wasn’t working. Attendance was inconsistent, and families didn’t stay engaged. It wasn’t until the leader of volunteers sat down with a group of parents that it came clear: the kids didn’t really need more academic tutoring. What they needed was real life knowledge, mentorship, and the chance to explore different career options.

That conversation changed things. Instead of only focusing on homework help, volunteers began offering workshops on budgeting, and health, presentations by people in different careers, and the chance to build a network outside their usual community. Attendance grew, but more importantly, the youth gained skills and experiences they couldn’t get elsewhere. That’s the heart of community-centred volunteering: ensuring the work volunteers do responds directly to what the community values.

For leaders of volunteers, this doesn’t necessarily mean policy changes. Because, let’s face it, that’s rarely under our control! Often, it’s about reshaping systems and practices that are already in place. Here are some ideas.

1. Co-design roles with the community in mind.

In community-centred volunteering, the first step in creating a new role is to talk to the community about what they see their needs to be. If you’re running a tutoring program, for example, talk to parents,  or the youth themselves. They may say that confidence-building matters more than test scores. That would completely change how you design and train for the role.

2. Add a focus on dignity into volunteer training.

Efficiency is often the goal of volunteer systems; how quickly can meals be served, how many clients can be checked in, how many flyers can be distributed. But community-centred volunteering puts dignity ahead of speed. Imagine a food bank where volunteers are encouraged to chat with families rather than just hand over a box. Those extra minutes may slow things down, but they show a culture of respect and caring that can often mean as much as the food itself.

Adjust your volunteer training so that values like dignity, empathy, and respect are front and centre. And, instead of only measuring hours logged or tasks completed, ask your clients for feedback on how they felt treated.

3. Open pathways to community leadership.

You know as well as I do that community members themselves carry the deepest knowledge of what will make a program effective. Lived knowledge. Inviting them into leadership positions — even small, informal leadership — strengthens both trust and relevance. For example, a health clinic that recruits volunteers from the very neighbourhoods it serves is more likely to connect with residents than one staffed entirely by outsiders. And if those volunteers have a say in the programs offered, even better.

What barriers can you reduce to make it easier for community members who may want to volunteer? Provide childcare? Transit passes? Or shorter, more flexible shifts? Ask them what they need. And, when they’re ready, create opportunities for them to mentor newer volunteers or contribute ideas to program planning.

4. Recruit with the community’s identity in mind.

Volunteers who share lived experiences with the people being served often create stronger connections. In an immigrant support program, for instance, volunteers who speak the same languages or understand the cultural nuances of settlement challenges can provide far more comfort than someone without that background. Instead of casting the widest possible net when recruiting, consider targeted outreach through community associations, cultural centres, or faith groups. Recruitment doesn’t always mean more volunteers — sometimes it means the right volunteers.

5. Measure what matters to the community.

Leaders of volunteers are usually expected to report on numbers: hours contributed, tasks completed, clients supported. But those metrics often don’t reflect what truly matters to the community itself. A meal delivery program may boast about “200 meals delivered”, but the bright spot in the recipients’ wasn’t the food but the few minutes of social interaction in their home-bound day.

Ask participants, “What difference did this make in your life?” When one or two impact stories are presented, alongside the numbers, to Boards and funders it can redefine success.

Small system changes can have a dramatic impact.

We rarely have the power to rewrite organisational strategy, but we do have control over the day-to-day systems that shape the volunteer experience.

Ever steered a ship? You may not control the weather, the tide, or even the final destination set by the captain, but a small shift in the rudder changes how the ship moves through the water. We leaders of volunteers, through the systems we manage, control that rudder, helping our organisations move closer to genuinely serving our communities.