Skip to main content

Volunteer Website

XR-Header-v4-(with-text)-small.jpg

This website is a volunteering roles board for Extinction Rebellion UK

volunteer.extinctionrebellion.uk

The website aims to help volunteers find roles and groups to find volunteers. (We've used the term 'volunteer' throughout rather than 'rebel' as it is better understood by people completely new to XR.)

This is the page for teams looking for volunteers. You can see the page for volunteers looking for a role here

Set up an account

New rebels are the lifeblood of every team! We need the energy and fresh perspective they give us to keep growing and learning so please do use the website to help you. To get started you will need a group account. Here's how to get one:

  1. Go to volunteer.extinctionrebellion.uk/integrator
  2. Watch the short (7 min) video which explains how the site works
  3. Scroll down and click 'create group account'
  4. Use your XR group's email to set up an account - this needs to be an email that is checked regularly (please note we can't take personal email addresses)
  5. The application comes to the Rebel Pathway team for approval
  6. Once approved you will receive an email with a link to click on to complete the registration
  7. You are up and running and ready to post roles!

Any group is welcome to apply for an account and advertise roles but because, in practice, most people wanting to volunteer locally will get in touch with their local group directly, the site mainly carries UK-wide, national or regional roles.

Write an appealing role

  1. De-jargon! Try to look through the eyes of someone who knows nothing about XR. You can explain the ‘correct’ terms for things later if needed but for now communication is key e.g:

☹ Internal coordinator, external coordinator, integrator, regen, rebel

😊 Team builder, team representative, recruiter (or newbie support person), wellbeing, volunteer

  1. Make it accessible Volunteers rarely have both good skills and lots of time. Asking for lots of time excludes certain groups of people and makes us less diverse as a movement. Can you break down the role? e.g. Internal Coordinators often get asked to do everything!

☹ Internal coordinator (hours: full time)

😊 Team builder (hours: 10-15/week) Recruiter (hours: 2-4/week) New joiner support person (hours: 5-9/week) Wellbeing champion (hours: 2-4/week) Secretary (hours: 2-4/week) Admin helper (hours: 2/week) Facilitator (hours: 2/week) Team tech support (hours: 2-4/week)

  1. Be clear what you want someone to do, especially in the job title. The more specific you are the more likely you are to get what you are looking for. However if you just need more team members and plan to find out what they want to do later that's fine too! If you do this try to have a few tasks your newbie can help with right away.

  1. Include key words in your description. Ask yourself which search words people are most likely to use if they want a role like yours.

Manage your applications

Keeping up with your account shouldn't be too much of a chore! The website is easy to use and you just need to remember a couple of key things to make things run smoothly and bring new people into your team:

  1. Make sure you regularly check the email address you used to set up the account. If you get any applications a notification will be sent to this email address.

  1. Use the 'action' column to let volunteers know what is going on after they apply. Clicking here sends an automatic email. Try to use the first 'thumbs up' when you get their application to tell people you've received it and know they are waiting

  1. Contact your volunteers! This is super important; no one wants to offer their time for free and hear nothing.

  1. Don't be scared to say 'no'. Not everyone is suitable for every role; it has to work out for both the volunteer and the team. Of course you can still say 'no' nicely! If after chatting to your 'applicant' you don't think they are suitable for your role maybe you can suggest some other ways they can get involved in XR. You may not get a new team member but you can still help to grow the movement.

  1. Make sure you delete or hide any roles you've filled or don't need anymore. This stops the site clogging up with unavailable roles and saves you time contacting people who might apply for them. (NB roles time-out after two months and then are hidden automatically)

Search for volunteers on the database

NB This option is currently only open to UK-wide teams due to data protection. Also you will usually get a more enthusiatic and committed rebel from letting people apply for your roles, however if you are struggling to find people and need a search please email user support at volunteer@extinctionrebellion.org.uk

If you are in a UK-wide team and are not getting suitable applications for your role, the first step is to do a quick sense-check: is it obvious what your role is and who it is for? If yes, then maybe you want to try a search of the database. Log in to your account and go to 'Volunteer Database' in the lefthand menu. You can search for volunteers by hours offered, prefered type of work, prefered location of work and by any search term you enter (this searches the volunteer's whole profile.)

Data Protection

It is of course important to be aware that you are handling people's personal data and to treat it with respect. The data on the site is protected by website security and should not be copied elsewhere unless strictly necessary, in which case it should be deleted as soon as possible. All integrators should read and understand our Data Protection Policy

Site support is available by emailing volunteer@extinctionrebellion.org.uk

This website has been set up by the UK Rebel Pathway team and is maintained by the UK Rebel Pathway and UK Digital teams.

Information updated Jan 2021 by @hazelg

Back to top