Helping Out: recruiting and supporting LGBTQ+ volunteers

At Stonewall, we stand for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) people everywhere.

We work with organisations both globally and across the UK to support LGBTQ+ people to feel safe and free to be themselves.  

At the heart of creating an inclusive workplace is ensuring that all members of your organisation are considered - including volunteers. 

Volunteers play a vital role in many organisations, supporting them to deliver their core work, to develop new initiatives and to increase their reach. Working alongside staff and often engaging with service users directly, they play a key role in setting the workplace culture. Because of this, it’s important that their needs are considered when developing an inclusive workplace environment. By supporting LGBTQ+ volunteers specifically, and communicating this support, you can strengthen your commitment to developing an environment where everyone can thrive. 

To recognise National Volunteers’ Week, we’ve pulled together a bitesized guide to help third sector organisations recruit and support LGBTQ+ volunteers.   

Recruiting LGBTQ+ volunteers and allies 

Let potential volunteers know about your commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion through your volunteering adverts and recruitment materials. People outside of your organisation might not be aware of the good work you’ve done, so it’s crucial to let them know. This is a great way to encourage LGBTQ+ people and allies to apply to volunteer at your organisation and help set the expectation that LGBTQ+ volunteers will be valued and respected.

Here are a few ways to communicate your commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion to potential volunteers:  

• Use LGBTQ-specific recruitment materials, such as leaflets or LGBTQ-inclusive signage at events where you recruit volunteers.  
• Share a statement of commitment to LGBTQ+ staff and volunteers on volunteer recruitment materials, such as role packs and pages. It’s particularly effective when these are part of a wider statement on equality, diversity and inclusion.  
• Share information about your staff network groups or wider equality, diversity and inclusion work and how volunteers can get involved. For example, let volunteers know what events your LGBTQ+ employee network group are running, and how they can attend. 

These are simple but effective ways to demonstrate your ongoing commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion, and to let people know what it would be like to volunteer with your organisation.  

Supporting volunteers, their managers and their colleagues 

Once they’ve joined your organisation, volunteers should know they’ve joined an organisation that welcomes and values them. 

With just a few key steps, you can help create a more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ volunteers. Here are a few of our top tips:  

• Share information about how your commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion relates to your organisational values. This can be particularly effective when shared as part of your Volunteer Policy or on intranet pages for volunteers, as this makes it clear that you expect volunteers to uphold your commitments to LGBTQ+ inclusion.
• Support volunteers to upskill themselves on LGBTQ+ inclusion. This might include sharing allyship resources or ensuring that all volunteers take part in your Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training. 
• Share your key HR policies with volunteers and explain how these apply to them. This might include Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination policies; Equality Diversity and Inclusion policies, Trans Inclusion policies, and Transitioning at Work policies. Sharing these key policies can help everyone understand their rights and responsibilities when interacting with your organisation. 
• Consider whether you can include volunteers in the mental health and wellbeing support you offer your employees. This might include access to a mental health first aider, or your employee assistance programme. 
• Include volunteers in your employee network group. Network groups can transform the experiences of LGBTQ+ people at work and provide spaces for peer-to-peer support.  
• Provide guidance for managers, to help empower them to support volunteers regardless of who they are. You might want to consider what career development opportunities managers can offer volunteers, and whether managers can allocate time slots to volunteers for queries or further support. 
• Use a volunteer portal or newsletter to keep your volunteers up to date with organisational work, opportunities, and social events. 

By taking these steps, you’ll help LGBTQ+ volunteers thrive in your organisation, and support managers and non-LGBTQ+ volunteers to play their role in creating a great place to volunteer.

Want to take your work even further? 

Since 2001, our Diversity Champions Programme has provided thousands of employers with the confidence and tools they need to become LGBTQ+ inclusive leaders. By joining our Diversity Champions Programme, you can transform your workplace culture into one that can attract, retain and nurture the top LGBTQ+ employees.

We’d also recommend checking out the following resources: 

• Volunteer Now’s Managing and Motivating Volunteers Workbook 
• Volunteer Now’s Promoting Equality and Diversity in Volunteering
• Stonewall’s guide on embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion throughout the employee lifecycle