Volunteers are involved in all activity at CFA UK. Volunteer groups include, but are not limited to the board, executive committees, steering committees, panels, working groups, special interest group leaders, next generation network leaders and Ambassadors. Click on each link to find out what each of these groups do. A full overview of our volunteer structure can be found here.

CFA UK recognises volunteers as an integral part of the organisation, the contribution of whom supports CFA UK to achieve its mission and strategic aims.  All volunteers are supported by the staffed office to create positive impact within their role and develop themselves both personally and professionally. In order to provide this vital support, CFA UK is committed to delivering an organised and efficient volunteer experience that best uses the time of volunteers and CFA UK staff supporting them. 

A volunteer role is primarily based on trust, mutual understanding, and a presumption of joint support and reliability.  There is no enforceable obligation, contractual or otherwise, for volunteers to attend to or undertake particular tasks. Nor is CFA UK obliged to provide continuing opportunities for voluntary involvement, provision of training or benefits. 

The volunteer team develops and co-ordinates all volunteer activity within the organisation, including procedures, recruitment and management of volunteers. 

The Volunteer Steering Committee is responsible for oversight of the governance of the volunteer experience. They are tasked with ensuring that volunteers have a meaningful and rewarding experience at CFA UK.

Every volunteer group is led by an appointed lead volunteer. Their role is to ensure the volunteer group carries out its duties to its best ability by supporting and motivating the other volunteers in the group. Some groups may also have an appointed staff representative as well as a volunteer lead.

Volunteer leads will be connected with a staff representative for guidance, support and general supervision. 

For a volunteering role to be successful, we understand that the needs of the organisation and the volunteer must match. We aim to ensure this through our recruitment and selection procedures and through monitoring and evaluating our volunteer programme.  Preference for recruitment is given to CFA UK members applying for volunteering, unless a particular skill/technical knowledge is not available from members.

We have a clear recruitment process that makes it easy for people to find the right role for them:

• Written role descriptions – we will clearly explain the volunteer role, including the role title, its purpose, responsibilities, tasks involved, essential skills required, time commitment, duration, and the benefits for the volunteer.
• Advertising – opportunities will be advertised according to the role. We will use a variety of communication channels to ensure advertised roles reach as many members as possible.
• Application form – all applicants will be asked to complete an application form and submit a CV.  Our application form asks volunteers for consent to share their information for the purposes of volunteering.
• Informal telephone call with the volunteer team and, if applicable, staff and/or volunteer lead
• Volunteer agreement form – volunteers will be asked to sign an agreement form.  The agreement is, by definition, mutual and sets out what we will provide to the volunteer and, in turn, what the organisation expects from the volunteer.  Agreements are not legally binding but demonstrate the intention of good practice.
• Consent from employer (for certain volunteer roles, this consent must be given)
• Feedback – we will notify those who are not accepted for a role, including the reasons why. Where possible, unsuccessful candidates will be offered other more suitable roles
• Board members follow a different recruitment process - Each year in May, regular society members are formally invited to nominate individuals for the CFA UK Board.  A nominations committee considers all applications and will conduct extensive interviews with each nominee, after which they will make their final recommendations to the incumbent Board in September. The final recommendations are then are put to the membership at the November AGM. The appointment of officers is formally decided by the Board immediately following the AGM. 

Induction – this will include familiarising yourself with our policies and procedures* and, if in a working group, a short workshop in your first meeting to help you understand your role.

Resources and training - all volunteers will have access to a range of resources (training, videos, documentation) to ensure they have the confidence and correct information to carry out their volunteer role.

Ongoing support - the volunteer team will provide advice and guidance to volunteers about their volunteer journey and will provide support as and when a volunteer requires it.  

* Please note this document will be available shortly. For any enquiries regarding this please email volunteer@cfauk.org

All appointed volunteers receive the bi-monthly Volunteer Voice bulletin and are kept abreast of volunteer specific news, successes and new volunteer opportunities. 

All potential and any volunteers recently stepped down from a role are offered the option of joining a volunteer mailing list to receive updates about new volunteer opportunities.

There is a dedicated section of the CFA UK website for volunteers.

Many roles run for a specified period; please refer to your volunteer role description. A short role might run for a few weeks and many roles run for a year. Some roles then renew at their conclusion and you may consider applying to stay in the role depending on how long you have been in it.

With the exception of certain committees and the Board, we suggest that each volunteer serves in a particular role for up to two years before moving on to another role. We would particularly recommend this for leadership roles to ensure this experience reaches as many volunteers as possible. Where a volunteer seeks to stay in the same role for a longer period, there would be a consultation with staff and volunteer leads.  

At the conclusion of the role, we ask exiting volunteers for feedback about their experience and any suggestions for improvement of the general volunteer experience. 

We understand that volunteers may need to change the way they volunteer from time to time, and we aim to provide a choice of ways they can contribute. We will provide support if volunteers need to make a change. This can include agreeing to leave a volunteering role if it’s no longer possible to fulfil a particular commitment.

A volunteer role is not contractual and there is no formal obligation on the volunteer to give CFA UK notice that the arrangement is ended.  However, as a courtesy we would ask volunteers to give us two weeks’ notice if they wish to stop volunteering with us by emailing volunteer@cfauk.org and, likewise, we will give two weeks’ notice when ending the arrangement. 

People decide to end their volunteer experience for a number of reasons including:

• changing jobs
• moving overseas
• changing time commitments
• realising the role isn’t right for them
• looking for a new challenge 

If a volunteer decides it is time to end their current volunteering role with us, they must notify their group lead or staff representative. We ask that volunteers give us two weeks’ notice where possible.

At the conclusion of the role, we ask exiting volunteers for feedback about their experience and any suggestions for improvement of the general volunteer experience. 

If a volunteering role is terminated because of unacceptable or improper behaviour, as outlined in the Volunteer Policy and Procedures*, then the volunteer will be asked to leave the role with immediate effect. 

Volunteers will be asked to stop volunteering with CFA UK if they do not or refuse to work within the Volunteer Policy and Procedures*.

* Please note this document will be available shortly. For any enquiries regarding this please email volunteer@cfauk.org

There are many points throughout the year for volunteers to feedback on their volunteer experience through the following channels:

• Annual volunteer survey
• Volunteer focus groups
• End of membership year email feedback
• Exit interview with Volunteer Development Manager
• Informal catch ups with the volunteer team throughout the year

The volunteer team actively ask volunteers to feedback. We are happy to receive feedback via email, telephone or in person, which ever is more convenient for volunteers.

It is our goal to ensure all volunteers are recognised and rewarded for the contribution they make to CFA UK. We deliver rewards and recognition in a variety of ways so that volunteers’ preferences are met. Attendance at events and contribution to communications is voluntary.

Personal development
All volunteers will have access to an exclusive programme of personal development training, offered throughout the membership year. Details of available training will be communicated through the Volunteer Voice bulletin or via targeted emails.

Recognition events

• Annual event to recognise the contribution of volunteers and thank them personally
• Volunteers are invited to attend drinks with the board once or twice per year 

Recognition in our volunteer communications

• Volunteer Voice newsletter: A bi-monthly newsletter including the contribution of volunteer groups/individuals. We encourage groups to write about their work and submit it.
• Volunteer testimonials: We encourage volunteers to submit a testimonial on their volunteer experience.  From time to time we may ask volunteers permission to film them giving a verbal testimonial.
• Volunteer Section on website: Volunteer stories will be stored centrally on the website for public viewing.
• Social media: Regular posting of volunteer testimonials and stories
• Focus groups: An opportunity for volunteers to talk about their experience in order to help us improve our volunteer experience

Personal recognition

If volunteers would like their managers/firms to be made aware of their contribution to CFA UK, we are happy to provide personal emails from the senior leadership team in the staffed office to the appropriate person. Please contact the Volunteer Development Manager if you wish for this type of personal recognition.

Other rewards

• Volunteers are regularly offered free tickets to external events where CFA UK have received complimentary tickets
• Volunteers are given opportunities to win free tickets to paid CFA UK events
• There is a small budget for an informal social per group each year.  Each volunteer lead will be given details of how to use this budget