Are you feeling the pressure to offer more flexible volunteering options? You’re certainly not alone! As part of our recent Volunteer Leaders’ Digital Survey, we identified that a massive 46% of you were facing growing demands for greater flexibility.

That’s exactly why we decided to centre our July 2026 event entirely around flexible volunteering strategies and how we can all use digital innovation to boost volunteer engagement.

Our Guests

We had an absolutely fantastic lineup of speakers for this session, packed with practical insights and big-picture thinking. Here is a quick taste of what we covered:

• Rob Jackson
  Rob dived straight into the fascinating data behind volunteering, challenging us to rethink what flexibility actually means. He highlighted that it doesn’t always have to mean chopping those massive, ‘chunky’ roles down into bite-sized pieces. Ultimately, achieving true flexibility requires a full organisational mindset shift toward curating genuinely meaningful experiences.
  
• Paul King (Enjoy Development / Impactful)
  We shared a brilliant two-part recorded interview with Paul King, who offered a fresh critique of current volunteer management systems. Paul made a compelling case for a fundamental design shift: moving away from rigid roles and focusing instead on behaviours, particularly if we want to reach the 80% of people who aren’t currently engaged in formal volunteering.
  
• Jenny Murphy (Museum of the Home)
  Jenny treated us to a brilliantly practical look into exactly how she built automated workflows to manage micro-volunteering at scale at the Museum of the Home. Using accessible tools like Microsoft Forms, Microsoft Lists, and Calendly, she proved that automation absolutely doesn’t have to replace the human element. And no, you definitely don’t need a computer science degree to make it work!
  
• Panel Discussion
  We wrapped things up with a fantastic panel featuring Rob, Jenny, and our lovely CoP member Michelle Hordern. The group touched on the necessity of baking flexibility in from the start, and Chris threw an interesting thought into the mix: perhaps the sector’s ultimate goal shouldn’t just be flexibility, but true personalisation.

Want to read the full summary and catch up on the session?

To read the complete event summary, including all the brilliant quotes from our speakers, and to watch the full YouTube recording, head over to our Community of Practice (CoP) members-only page!

If you aren’t a member yet, don’t worry! CoP membership is completely free. Joining gives you first access to event summaries, recordings, and a supportive, vendor-neutral space to swap ideas and tackle digital volunteer management challenges with your peers across the sector.

Stay tuned for our next session in October, ‘Building Digital That Doesn’t Exclude’ – tickets are available now via our Eventbrite. We can’t wait to see you there!