About Staff Volunteering

The Staff Volunteering scheme

Durham University operates an employer supported volunteering scheme, enabling University staff members to volunteer for up to 5 days (or 35 hours) per year during worktime. Opportunities range from individual placements utilising an individual’s professional experience, to departmental team challenges involving practical tasks.

As a Community Partner, the Staff Volunteering team can provide community groups, organisations, and charities with teams of staff volunteers or individuals to help you out on a short-term and occasionally longer-term basis

About us

The Staff Volunteering and Outreach (SVO) team provides an opportunity for Durham University staff to engage with a range of local community organisations.

Staff members can choose to volunteer on a variety of different activities, either individually or part of a team. Team Challenges bring groups of staff members together to volunteer with an organisation to complete a one-off task. Groups can be formed from members of staff from a single department or from across the University.

Individual volunteering is also supported by the Staff Volunteering and Outreach programme. Staff members can choose to utilise their volunteer leave with a charity they already work with, or they can choose an opportunity advertised by a community partner through the staff volunteering department.

We currently work with over 60 local and regional charities and are always open to speaking to new charities. All team challenges and individual opportunities are requested directly from organisations rather than the other way round. This method ensures charities are receiving invaluable assistance in areas that are important to them.