Volunteer Recruitment Project: a January – March round up
Our Volunteer Recruitment Project is here to support Our volunteer recruitment officers, Ali, Ana and Lavinia, and lead volunteers, Stacey and Susan are supporting areas to develop recruitment and welcome plans and helping them turn these plans into actions.
Here’s what they have been up to since January:
Ali
“I’m currently supporting recruitment work in North Lanarkshire, Angus, Highlands and Islands, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Lanarkshire, Ayrshire South and Kincardine and Deeside.
Some of this work started in 2025, and it’s been so lovely to see volunteer teams grow in confidence with recruitment and start to see enquires coming specifically because of their hard work with activities like leafleting and attending local events.
Since the start of the year, I’ve been meeting these areas both in person and on Zoom and have worked on connection-building and awareness-raising. Together we’ve contacted local organisations, put up recruitment posters in shops, businesses, and libraries, and found venues to hold new units in!
I’m excited to be taking on new areas for the rest of the year and building on work with those already involved.”
Ali on a Zoom meeting with volunteers from Paisley
Ana
“The counties I am supporting are Dunbartonshire, Scottish Borders, City of Edinburgh , East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and City of Glasgow.
I’ve been out and about visiting a wide range of areas engaged in the project, taking real inspiration from our volunteers who bring Girlguiding to life every week, both in-person and behind the scenes. Through the project I’ve also been delivering 1‑to‑1 support sessions for volunteers interested in using the new Volunteer Recruitment Tool. The feedback in using the tool has been really positive!
I’ve been raising awareness of volunteering with Girlguiding Scotland by highlighting the wide range of opportunities available across local areas. This includes sharing and tailoring recruitment resources to meet local needs, helping to strengthen and support recruitment activity. Working together, we are increasing our reach by advertising opportunities through local Third Sector Interfaces (TSI’s) and other platforms like GoVo. I’ve provided easy to share WhatsApp templates for local communities to share within their networks, and with local insights from our work together, I’ve also been creating display kits for use at upcoming community events.
I’m really looking forward to keeping this positive momentum going with the areas I’m currently working with, and to welcoming and supporting new areas in the future too.
In February, I also attended the Royal Bank of Scotland Public Sector, Education and Charities Conference with our Lead Volunteer, Susan Brown. This was an exciting opportunity to meet with potential corporate partners and explore opportunities around workplace volunteering. A highlight was speaking with different businesses who were interesting in sharing our opportunities with their employees. This event sparked a lot of enthusiasm for growing our corporate partnerships and being a part of these events in the future.”
Lavinia
“The first 3 months of 2026 have been an exciting time for me and the volunteer recruitment project. In March I moved to Aberdeenshire so I am now able to help my areas on the ground. I was excited to have my first in-person meeting with Aberdeen and Shetland county, and I’m looking forward to many more with other areas in the North of Scotland!
Lavinia presenting at a county commissioner day
I’m working with Aberdeen and Shetland, Banff and Buchan, Gordon, and Highlands and Islands counties, and also the districts of Elgin and Corrennie. We are still in the early stages of learning what each area’s needs are and agreeing what support could best help them to achieve their recruitment goals. This includes gathering and passing on lots of feedback around GO, volunteer roles and the new volunteer recruitment tool.
To get the ball rolling with support, I made a self-assessment tool to help county coordinators encourage their local commissioners to think about their needs and strengths. One area asked for GO training for unit leaders this is currently being organised. Another area has a lot of units that are struggling financially and so I’ve shared information on grants and offered further help to access funding.
I have also been taking part in some wider work, including a piece of research into employer-supported volunteering. I sent out a survey to our volunteers and passed on my findings to Volunteer Scotland who are developing resources to support volunteer-involving organisations like ours to build better connections with businesses across Scotland. Keep your eyes peeled for more on this on our website soon.
Volunteer Recruitment Project team
As a team, we’ve been busy delivering 5 Getting Started With Girlguiding Scotland sessions for new volunteers already this year. The feedback for these sessions has been really positive, and we’d encourage every new enquirer to come along.
(Ana, Ali and Lavinia with lead volunteers Susan and Stacey)
We also delivered 2 sessions at the first County Commissioner day of 2026. It was great to meet volunteers in-person, and to explore each area’s strengths and barriers in volunteer recruitment. Volunteers from across Scotland spoke openly and honestly about their areas’ needs and worked together to share learning and ideas. This has helped us to shape support and future resources that will be created through the project.
Keep your eyes open for our upcoming Facebook Live series! Our volunteer recruitment officers will be in conversation with our lead volunteers, discussing their local areas -sharing our successes and learning of the Volunteer Recruitment Project.
