Volunteering opportunities

There are a whole range of opportunities to suit your time and interests, and as well as giving something to your community, you can benefit too in many different ways.

Reasons to volunteer

People choose to volunteer for a variety of reasons. For some it offers the chance to give something back to the community or make a difference to the people around them. For others it provides an opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing experience and knowledge. Regardless of the motivation, what unites them all is that they find it both challenging and rewarding.

Volunteering can be a route to employment, or a chance to try something new which may lead to a career change. For others, volunteering appeals because of its social benefits.

Volunteering organisations

In Wandsworth, there are over 900 voluntary and community organisations, many led and run by volunteers from across the whole social spectrum; from street-based WhatsApp support groups, to residents’ associations, youth groups, sports clubs, allotment societies, Friends of Parks groups and social welfare groups working to support the vulnerable in society.

Local and national directories

  • Wandsworth Care Alliance - volunteer brokerage service for Wandsworth
  • Link Up London - Mobilises professional skills to create vibrant, engaged and linked local communities
  • Lifetimes Care4me - Wandsworth community directory with links to volunteering opportunities
  • Do-it.org - National database of volunteer opportunities 

Organisations in the borough

These organisations are often recruiting volunteers:

  • Age UK Wandsworth - an independent charity working in Wandsworth to offer support and services to older people 
  • Wandsworth Care Alliance - helping local people to strengthen their voice, our communities and our voluntary sector
  • Citizen’s Advice Wandsworth - an independent charity that provides information, advice and support. They work to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives, helping people get the support they need and enable them to manage their lives better in times of crisis
  • Regenerate RISE - providing outreach and support services to the over 60’s across Wandsworth
  • Healthwatch Wandsworth - Healthwatch Wandsworth volunteers play a vital role in helping people have their say on health and social care. Volunteering can help you develop skills, gain experience and make a difference to your community
  • Wandsworth Carers’ Centre - supporting unpaid Carers in Wandsworth, offering a range of services including respite, one to one support and counselling 
  • Katherine Low Settlement - a busy charity that has been at the heart of the community in Battersea since 1924, supporting children, young people and their families, older people, women and refugees and newly arrived communities
  • Alzheimer's Society Wandsworth - a charity for everyone affected by dementia, which offers a local volunteer befriending service
  • Home-Start Wandsworth - a charity that supports families living in Wandsworth with children under the age of 5. It delivers a family-centred service via volunteer support, contributing to the wellbeing of parents, children and the wider family and community
  • Wandsworth Oasis - a local charity raising money for people living with HIV, largely through its nine charity shops in and around the borough. Wandsworth Oasis are looking for volunteers to join the team across their shops
  • Power to Connect - a community interest company that recycles, refurbishes and redistributes laptops and tablets for schools and families in Wandsworth, helping to tackle digital exclusion

Up to Volunteering

Updated: 18/08/2022