What makes a great volunteer? Jane Pound, Chief People Officer, takes a moment to reflect.

Volunteers are the lifeforce of RE:ACT. Without them, we couldn’t provide rapid humanitarian action for the hardest-to-reach and most vulnerable. So, when legal firm Sidley Austin offered me the chance to speak with Senior Associates from across their London and EU offices about community leadership and volunteering, I jumped at the chance.

I joined a panel alongside fellow charities Safe Passage and the YMCA to discuss why businesses and individuals with specific skills sets should give back to the charitable sector. From trustee and pro bono roles, to being on-the-ground after a disaster, we talked about the unique skills and qualities needed for varied volunteer opportunities. 

The panel members were naturally asked what makes a great volunteer and, recognising that this particular group might be too time-poor to complete RE:ACT’s intensive training and deployments, I focused on what being a trustee or specialist might look like.

My top tips for the group were...
• Volunteer for a cause that you feel impassioned about and bring your enthusiasm to the role.
• Be realistic about how much time you can dedicate to a volunteering role, and once you’ve made that commitment give it your full attention during your volunteering time.
• Focus on your strengths and specialisms and think about how you can make the most impact in a role with your knowledge, skills and experience.
• Be an ambassador for the cause and use your platform and your network to raise awareness about your chosen charity. The value of this profile-raising activity can be really underestimated

Beyond trustee roles, these are great tips for all kinds of volunteering, including those considering joining RE:ACT as a humanitarian Responder. Many RE:ACT Responders come from military and emergency services backgrounds, with years of experience operating under extreme and challenging conditions, but others are professionals like lawyers, engineers, electricians, and financiers, who have a burning desire to make a meaningful difference. Whatever their background, all our volunteers are humanitarians, united by their motivation, compassion and resilience to operate in demanding and high-tempo environments in support of others.

We put our volunteer Responders through rigorous humanitarian training to produce some of the finest crisis response teams in the world, and we ask them to be able to commit a minimum of 14 days of volunteering time per year. We know this is a big ask, so it’s important that people starting out on their volunteering journey think about how passionate they are about RE:ACT’s work, whether they’re being realistic about their availability and the strengths they’d bring to the role.

Although volunteering with RE:ACT isn’t for everybody, for those to do become a Responder it offers some great rewards. As well as supporting vulnerable people experiencing disaster, volunteering can also provide a chance to meet new, like-minded people and to develop valuable skills. Many of our volunteers also report increased confidence and boosted mental well-being arising from the sense of purpose, community and identity they experience with RE:ACT.

If you think you might have the passion, time and skills to become a RE:ACT Responder visit the RE:ACT website at www.re-act.org.uk to learn more about our work, or click here to start your volunteer journey. We’d love to hear from you!