Diversifying volunteers

The National Trust (NT) is a charity, completely independent from Government funding and could not operate the way it does without its loyal team of volunteers. The Trust has more than 3.8 million members and 56,000 volunteers. However fewer than one per cent of them are from a Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) background. An action research project called ‘Whose Story?’ was launched in 2005 to try and change this. Further funding was secured for a four year programme of work from 2007 to 2011, which looked at different ways of working. The work has focused on increasing volunteers, staff and members through outreach projects, events and bringing organisational change at two urban and two rural Trust sites – the Back to Backs in Birmingham and Wightwick Manor and Gardens in Wolverhampton, and Charlecote Park in Warwickshire; and Croome Park in Worcestershire.

We have been using various methods to test out different ways of working and sharing these findings across the organisation to establish best practice. Outreach officers engaged people at grass roots level and helped to enthuse them by raising awareness about the opportunities that exist within the NT. The outreach officers also created non-traditional volunteering roles such as refreshment co-ordinators, data capturers, etc. Informal ‘meet and greets’ were set up at varying locations away from the properties, providing a neutral environment where a deeper level of engagement took place. Smaller group discussions and conversations also took place about the benefits of volunteering and how people could get involved.
We also trialled a community ambassador initiative modelled on the idea of promoting a product through word of mouth. Individuals were recruited who are very well connected within our target audiences. One of the community ambassadors, Anita Shervington, is based at the Birmingham Back to Backs very close to the city centre. Anita actively worked with a network of supporters to spread the word about volunteer taster sessions to encourage more people to discover what is involved. She also set up a pilot Whose Story? Community Panel which has already advised on the design of the marketing collateral used to attract new volunteers.
An award-winning Caribbean Herb Garden at Wightwick Manor and Gardens has successfully recruited BME volunteers who continue to attend on a regular basis. It has become embedded into the day-to-day visitor operation at Wightwick by inspiring various taster tours. The project has resulted in produce from the garden being used by Wightwick’s tea-room and incorporating new volunteers alongside existing ones. There is also an accompanying Caribbean Herbal booklet, with recipe ideas and medicinal facts. The garden project has helped to challenge and breakdown previously held preconceptions of the Trust by attracting new volunteers and new audiences as well as offering an interesting twist on a traditional garden visit.
We have made great inroads at promoting the opportunities we have to offer but we still have a long way to go. Being audience-led, flexible and relevant in what we offer through the projects has been successful and we can learn a lot from building mutually beneficial relationships. Despite the project ending in August 2011, the work will continue in a number of different ways. The sites have started to change culturally and are building in strategic measures to increase the diversity of our volunteers, to look at messages that are given within our promotional materials, and ensure that we actively promote the variety of volunteer roles and encourage local people to get involved.