Board members are responsible for the strategic management of each bureau, including oversight of planning, evaluation, staffing, managing finances and ensuring legal and regulatory compliance. Skills and experience are welcome, but training is provided. Interest in the community and bureau is most important.

You will be the first point of contact for clients within the Bureau, along with helping to ensure the smooth running and organisation of the Bureau is many different ways. Depending on what your are comfortable with you might be doing the following: -Welcoming clients -Answering telephone calls/emails and passing messages to the appropriate person or arranging appointments for clients -Updating databases and information systems -Filing and photocopying -Taking minutes at meetings -Ordering stationary and other supplies

To help provide effective and efficient advice to members of the public. -Interviewing clients -Finding, interpreting and communicating information so clients can make informed decisions -Act on behalf of clients, when needed - Negotiating, referring and drafting letters for clients -Completing clear case records -Recognising the root cause of problems and participating in taking action Our volunteer Advisers can either be generalist advisers (they advise on many different topics) or they can become specialist advisers (advising on a specific topic(s))

Volunteering Matters Overview At Volunteering Matters we believe everyone in the UK should have the opportunity to thrive, so we bring people together to overcome some of society’s most complex issues through the power of volunteering. We partner with communities to overcome adversity, tackling social isolation and loneliness, improving health, developing skills and opportunities. And because we’re a national charity, we do this at scale, sharing our expertise and building partnerships to make an even bigger impact. We turn local knowledge and energy into action and progress, building stronger communities and a better future for all. Project Overview Our Family Supporters in Edinburgh project offers practical and emotional support to families across the city of Edinburgh, empowering them to face a range of life challenges. We recruit, train and match dedicated, local volunteers to help families every step of the way, spending 1-1 time together on a personalised set of goals chosen by the family, for the family. We can help in many ways, such as improved living standards, budgeting, healthier eating, better school life and behaviour, access to health and wellbeing aid, as well as introducing parents to community resources, to name a few. So far, thousands of families across the UK have benefitted from our service and we are now delighted to extend the programmes reach to families in Edinburgh. Who can volunteer with us? Our volunteers are locally based people with an understanding of the challenges that families are facing. Aged 18+, each volunteer brings different life experiences and skills that they can use to help the family they are matched to, offering support on a weekly basis for an hour or so each week, usually for 6-9 months at a time that suits everyone. They build a strong relationship based on trust and mutual respect, acting as a friendly face who listens and cares about the family. All volunteers are interviewed, trained to the highest standards and undergo disclosure checks before being matched with a family. We also encourage and welcome volunteers who have the ability to speak multiple languages join our team! What can we offer volunteers? As well as the sense of achievement that comes through supporting a family, our volunteers will have the opportunity to learn and develop new skills, attend social events with other volunteers and enhance their employability. Certificates are provided upon completion of induction training and at the end of the commitment, with project staff happy to provide references for future studies or employment.