The National Volunteering Lead / Coordinator provides overall leadership for volunteering across the National Society. The role ensures that volunteering is treated as a strategic organisational capability, not only an operational resource. It translates volunteering policy into practical systems, guidance, and support; helps the National Society balance enabling community-led volunteering with managing higher-risk or specialist roles; and ensures that volunteering remains aligned with the organisation’s mandate, principles, legal obligations, and strategic priorities.
The role is responsible for shaping the overall volunteering framework, supporting branches and programmes to apply it in practice, and strengthening the conditions that allow volunteers to contribute safely, effectively, and meaningfully. This includes guiding volunteer policy implementation; supporting volunteer pathways, data systems, and quality standards; promoting volunteer participation in decision-making; strengthening duty of care, safeguarding, wellbeing, and inclusion; and helping the National Society learn from experience and adapt over time. The role also works across departments so that volunteering is integrated into programme design, emergency response, branch development, youth engagement, governance, and resource mobilisation.
In practice, the National Volunteering Lead / Coordinator acts as both a strategist and an enabler. They help leadership make informed decisions about the place of volunteering in the organisation, while also helping branches, volunteer leaders, and programme teams apply practical tools, processes, and support models that fit different contexts. They promote coherence across the National Society while allowing flexibility for local initiative, new forms of volunteering, and branch-led action.