Volunteer Voices: Shaping the Future Together

Volunteer Voices is our feedback programme, designed to listen, learn, and act on what matters most to you. Through surveys, online sessions and in-person conversations, we want to hear your feedback and ideas so that we can make meaningful changes that improve your volunteering experience.

We understand that our volunteers and our community are at the heart of Oxfam Festivals and we want to cultivate and improve experiences across all of our festivals.

If you have volunteered with us before, you’ll know that we send surveys after each festival and after the season. We’ve taken on board your comments over the last few years and made changes to how we deliver our programme.

But we now want to take that one step further. We’ll provide more opportunities for feedback throughout the year, online and in-person, asking specifics about festivals, particular topics or your experience. We’re listening and investing in change.

This year, we’ve heard from thousands of you about your experiences and we’ll continue to explore ways to hear from more of you.

• Over 1000 people took part in individual post-festival surveys
• Over 400 people took part in our post-season survey
• We had hundreds of impromptu conversations on-site with volunteers
• We’ve reviewed commentary in the official Facebook group
• We’ve hosted seven online listening sessions to discuss areas we including the shift leader role, the supervisor role, and the new volunteer experience.

Your feedback is already driving change. Here are just some of the developments we are making based on the feedback we’ve heard. There are more exciting changes still to come so check back soon!

Community

The Oxfamily community is at the heart of the volunteering experience, and we’re committed to making it even stronger. You shared that some festivals felt less social due to limited facilities or a lack of organised events. To address this, we’re working to ensure every festival offers more opportunities to connect and socialise, no matter where you volunteer. We’re also exploring ways to ensure new volunteers feel more supported on-site through experience sharing with veteran volunteers.

Communication

You asked for clearer, more transparent information about the festival experience before you arrive on-site. We responded by creating new website pages and enhancing our email communications to provide all the details you need to feel prepared.

We are now working on how we communicate information to volunteers once you are on site.

Training

You expressed interest in additional training opportunities outside the festival season, including crowd management and mental health support. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re developing training programmes for volunteers to expand skills and knowledge and ensure you feel more equipped on-site with the tools you need.

If you’d like to offer your feedback or suggestions on any area of the volunteering experience, from signing up and pre-festival comms to your on-site experience, we want to hear it! You can do so here.

If you’re interested in our online listening sessions, make sure you are signed up to our newsletter here to find out about future opportunities.

It’s a great opportunity for you to share your feedback and shape the future of Oxfam Festival volunteering.

Thank you for being an integral part of our amazing Oxfamily community. We deeply appreciate the time you give, whether it’s volunteering in the field or sharing your valuable feedback. Your experiences and insights drive meaningful improvements, and we’re committed to making your volunteer journey as rewarding and impactful as possible.