Volunteering FAQs

Volunteering with us is a great way to make a difference, meet new people, gain experience, utilise existing skills and develop new ones – all while knowing that you’re making a valuable contribution to the lives of those affected by brain tumours!

We offer a variety of roles – including Event Support, Community Fundraising Volunteers, Support Team Volunteers, Volunteer Counsellors, Photographers, Podcast Volunteers, Research Team Volunteers, Office Administration Volunteers and Involvement roles for those with lived experience of brain tumours – plus much more! You can view all the opportunities that are currently available here.

We recruit for different roles at different times of year, but we will work with volunteers to try to match them to the most suitable role available where they can utilise their skills and experience most effectively to have the greatest impact.

Simply complete the relevant application form for the role you wish to apply for – you can find the application form link on the relevant role description. Once submitted, our team will review your application and contact you about next steps.

If you cannot find a suitable role and would like to make a general enquiry, please email [email protected].

We want as many people as possible to be able to get involved in volunteering with The Charity. We welcome anyone over the age of 18 to apply for our volunteer roles. We try to make our recruitment processes as transparent and inclusive as we can – find out more in our Volunteer Recruitment Policy.

If you aren’t yet 18 but would still like to make a difference, we have other opportunities for you to get involved in, so please take a look at our ideas generator for some inspiration.

No prior experience is required for most roles – we provide all necessary training. However, some specialist roles may require particular qualifications or experience.

Each role is different, but how much time you choose to give is entirely up to you and your availability. We appreciate that all volunteers have other priorities and demands on their time, so we try to be as flexible as possible when developing opportunities to get involved. 

We will provide an expected time commitment for each volunteer role, to help you decide if it’s right for you. Some of our roles ask for a regular commitment, whether it be an hour a week or a day a week, but many are more flexible and can fit in around other commitments.

Many of our volunteering roles are home-based or in and around your local community which means that, wherever you are in the UK, you can get involved in volunteering with us. We often have roles available at our Head Office in Fleet, Hampshire so, if you are local to the area, there may be an opportunity to come in to the office to volunteer.

For applicants who will be volunteering on a regular basis, many of our roles will involve an initial interview. This is a chance to get to know you better, understand your skills and motivations for volunteering with us and gives you an opportunity to get to know the team better, as well as to ask any questions you may have. The majority of these interviews take place over video call, to enable applicants to join from a location that suits them. If a volunteer role will be based at our Head Office in Fleet, this meeting may take place in our office.

We typically take up two references for everyone who applies to one of our regular volunteering roles. At least one should be a person who knows you through a professional capacity such as an employer, teacher etc. Personal references, such as friends, are accepted but they must not be a direct family member. We will not contact these references unless your initial application is successful and will advise you before we get in touch.

If you are unable to provide a professional reference but are keen to apply for a role, let one of our volunteering team know by emailing [email protected] and we will be happy to help. 

All new volunteers are given an induction to The Charity, which contains lots of useful information about The Charity and joining the team. Volunteers are provided with sufficient training that is specific to the role they will be are carrying out.

All volunteers will also be assigned a Volunteer Coordinator as a key point of contact, who is there to support and to answer any queries or concerns throughout your time volunteering with us.

The Brain Tumour Charity will reimburse reasonable out of pocket expenses for volunteers’ travel and food where appropriate. Expenses paid must be with prior agreement. Find out more in our Volunteer Expenses Policy.

Having a criminal record doesn’t automatically mean that you won’t be able to volunteer with us, so please do not let this put you off applying. 
The Charity works on the assumption that people apply for voluntary positions do so for positive reasons (i.e. to meet new people, to develop new skills, to make a difference) and that they have no ulterior motive in seeking such work. The Charity will wherever possible provide opportunities for people, and do so in ways that will not put volunteers or our service users at risk. Find out more in our Volunteer Recruitment Policy. 

Volunteero is an app-based system which helps us streamline our volunteer recruitment and onboarding processes and transform the way that volunteers are able to manage their own volunteering and communicate directly with their Volunteer Coordinator, via the app, helping us to provide the best possible volunteer experience. It enables The Charity to capture vital data about the impact that volunteers have in helping us to achieve our strategic goals.

We understand that life gets busy and this may affect your ability to volunteer. Just let your Volunteer Coordinator know if you need to take time off or step down from your role.