Charity shops rely on volunteers, but with recruitment not always easy, Shaf Mansour, product manager at Access Group's not-for-profit division explains how Dorothy House Hospice Care makes the most of its volunteers
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Charity shops are having a moment. With consumers increasingly looking for bargains and vintage finds, as well as ever-rising demands for sustainable and re-used items, charity shops are seeing record sales and playing a vital role in the health of the high street.

Research from the Charity Retail Association shows that charity shops brought in record profits of £387m for organisations in 2022/23. In the first quarter of this year there was also a further 0.8% increase in income compared to the same period last year, showing that the upward trajectory for charity retail is not slowing down just yet.

A crucial component to the success of these charity shops is the team of volunteers who keep them running. However, while the demand for volunteers rises, charities are still reporting challenges recruiting and retaining the people they need to support their services and fundraising.

Many charities have had to find new and creative ways of attracting volunteers and think about what resources they can use to support them in a bid to hold onto them for longer.

Simplifying retail recruitment

Dorothy House Hospice Care has seen first-hand how simplifying recruitment and management of its retail volunteers, can not only improve the whole volunteer experience, but also make things easier for the volunteer managers running their stores.

The charity, which provides compassionate care and support for adults with a life-limiting illness, and their loved ones, has only been able to continue offering its critical services with the money raised by its 27 stores and last year recruited 61 more volunteers than in 2022.

Rachel Stewart, the charity’s volunteer manager, says working with The Access Group’s not for profit division to overhaul the way it recruited and managed volunteers made a huge difference to its retail success and fundraising efforts.

The charity introduced QR codes for volunteer applications allowing people to easily access and submit an online form and also switched its software to the Access Assemble platform, allowing staff to automatically input data from these forms rather than doing it manually.

This simple move helped them achieve their retail recruitment goals much quicker and completely changed how they interacted with their 721 retail volunteers, while also helping them attract more diverse volunteers from different age groups.

Rachel said: “We were aware before of how long and time-consuming our process was, and we were really keen to increase our volunteer numbers to help ease the pressures on our retail teams.

“The whole system now is really slick compared to what we had before. It’s changed how we operate and work so much, it’s sped things up a lot for us and has really made the lives of our charity shop managers easier.”

Volunteers feel valued

The Charity Retail Association says good volunteer management is paying off for charities that are seeing profits increase in their retail outlets.

Robin Osterley, CEO of the Charity Retail Association, said volunteers have played an important role in this success so it’s important they feel valued.

He added: “With more than 187,000 volunteers working across the charity retail sector in the UK, good volunteer management is crucial to ensuring that shops can continue to operate effectively and that volunteers feel valued and confident in their roles.

“Good volunteer management is about making volunteers feel like a valued part of the team, giving them a chance to shine and providing a safe space with robust procedures for this to happen, and the Charity Retail Association works closely with our members to support them with this.

“Charity shops would not be able to do their vital work in raising funds for their parent charities without the support of their volunteers and it’s important the management of volunteers is continuously reviewed and improved to ensure a positive experience for both charity shops and their volunteers.”

Keeping volunteers happy and engaged with the charity is an organisation’s biggest task but there are so many tools available to help them attract the right people, maintain their volunteer numbers and in turn see potential for increased retail sales.

So while we can’t predict how long the footfall and demand for charity shops will stay, charities can certainly make sure they invest in the right places now and prepare or protect themselves for when the trend might change.

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