After many months of reassessing my priorities and establishing what work needs to look like as a mum of two and with mental health to protect, I made a change. In July I left my full-time leadership role at Pilotlight and September saw me set up as a freelancer offering facilitation and charity consultancy.  

When figuring out how to do this thing I did what I know best, I wrote a plan. I was acutely aware that my new working style time meant money, yet volunteering made it firmly onto the list of actions, but why?

For me there were three reasons that had me wanting to give my time for free and they were not one is about doing good.

1. To build local connections and a sense of belonging
2. To build confidence in my capabilities
3. To learn more about start ups and those in the environmental sustainability space.  

Building local connections and a sense of belonging

I am lucky to live in the wonderful town of Letchworth Garden City, in North Hertfordshire, that has a whole host of inspiring locals and organisations to engage with. A quick search and the Charity Commission tells me it has 73 organisations registered in Letchworth. The full extent of the activity across this North Herts town is so much greater than that, probably nearing 200 active groups.

But this was passing me by, having commuted into London for seven of the nine years we have called Letchworth home, I knew very little of what was happening locally and had very few connections.

Volunteering seemingly offered me the chance to build connections and I hoped a sense of belonging (something I knew I needed having taken the ‘belonging’ you get from a place of work for granted).

There are thriving organisations, groups and Community Interest Companies across the town and it is with one of those where my volunteering journey has begun.

A scroll through Instagram led me to Letchworth Garden Shed. A quick email and coffee in a local café later and I am hooked. This start-up Community Interest Company is everything I was looking for. It is dynamic, friendly, aspirational, and grounded in the community. When I pinged off my email, I hoped I had some useful skills to offer but this was never just about doing good, I had lots to gain.

Angela is the driving force and founder of Letchworth Garden Shed, Letchworth’s very own Library of Things. A place where you can borrow things not books. Anything from ladders to popcorn makers, those things you don’t use often but do need from time to time. The philosophy is a simple one, why buy when you can borrow. All aimed at helping reduce consumption and help local people get access to the things they need at a reasonable price.

I am now volunteering as the Shed’s Big Fix Event Manager. If you have ever watched the repair café, you will get the idea. On a mission to reduce items ending up in landfill and encourage repair we will run quarterly repair events. These events will be powered by volunteer repairers, giving their time and skills to fix things.

So far the role has had me connecting with awesome local people – the CIC board are an inspiring bunch (from local business owners to local councillors), The Heritage Foundation, the Business Improvement District team, the folks at Hitchin repair café and those at Royston, some incredible repairers (some new and some experienced) and those behind Letchworth Festival.  

My hunch was right and I already feel far better connected and that I really belong to my community.

To build confidence in my capabilities

I know I am not alone when I say the pandemic played havoc with my metal health. I returned from mat leave the week after we went into lockdown, there was a change in leadership, and I already hadn’t seen my colleagues in the flesh for nine months. With not much ‘life’ outside of work my boundaries went to pot and I never really regained a healthy work/life combo which was huge catalyst for my leap into freelance. Something had to change!

Thanks to some coaching and counselling I am much stronger but in the mix the confidence in my capabilities took a bit of a dive. Add in pitching yourself to strangers as a freelancer and imagine the internal dialogue I was having!

Weirdly, volunteering didn’t create the same fear, it felt like a safe way to test myself in a new context. Angela is a key to this, she is kind, honest, thoughtful, and instantly made me comfortable to be myself.

So far, my volunteering journey has had me:

• Compiling safety policies, volunteer handbooks, induction plans and writing risk assessments.
• Creating Google forms for volunteer sign up and repair bookings.
• Recruiting volunteers (repairers, PAT testers and first aiders).
• Researching the local repair businesses so we can inform and collaborate on making repair a go to option.
• Learning far more about electrical safety and qualifications than my brain can take.

And you know what? I do have skills, experience, and knowledge to bring and what I don’t know I am happy to figure out. It has made me realise problem solving and willingness to learn are my superpowers and they can be applied to almost any situation.

To learn

Finally, I wanted to learn. I have worked in the charitable sector my whole career but done very little with start-ups and organisations in the environmental sustainability space. Volunteering was my opportunity to change that.

This first-hand exposure to a startup CIC has highlighted that tenacity and brilliant people skills are key to making things happen. Angela is the ultimate connector, is tenacious and is ever skilful in ensuring tasks get done (not easy when everyone is volunteering). She asks is a thoughtful way and isn’t afraid to pitch in when you get stuck which was greatly needed when knee deep in electrical requirements.

I have discovered a whole global repair café movement Repair Café – Fix Your Broken Items (repaircafe.org) and have volunteered at one in Hitchin to get a sense of how it all works. Deepening my understanding of the small steps we can take to reduce our impact on the environment.

Probably more than any of this I have an even greater appreciation for the role volunteers play in creating impact and making my community thrive, I had no idea what a vibrant voluntary sector was on my doorstep.

So, does your motivation to volunteer always need to be ‘to do good’?  

No, not for me. I think if you are planning to volunteer it is wise to consider why and is that enough of a motivator for you to do a good job. My motivation for starting my volunteering journey was way beyond, ‘to do good’ and I think it makes me better at it. This wasn’t a heart strings motivator for me either, it was pretty selfish but it means I have lots to gain from doing a good job.

I think the same applies for trustee recruitment, let’s not be put off by those wanting to be a trustee to further their career. It could be that motivation that make them work twice as hard for your cause and if this isn’t the case ensure your processes enable a solid review of their contribution.

So, what’s next?

Well, we are planning a September event so I will be brushing off those volunteer recruitment skills and getting organised. There is still lots to learn and I look forward to doing good, even if it wasn’t the driver for my involvement.