Volunteering Action Plan Conference: Bridging the Participation Gap
How can volunteering become more inclusive, safe and accessible for everyone? Shaped by the themes of the Bridging the Participation Gap report, the Volunteering Action Plan Conference 2026 brings together Scotland’s volunteering community for a day of fresh thinking, practical learning, honest conversations and collective action. Together, we’ll explore inclusive pathways, volunteer safety, youth engagement, governance and the future of volunteer management, while sharing experiences, addressing challenges and helping shape the next chapter of volunteering in Scotland.
Conference Information & Resources
Morning Schedule
Registration and Trusted Partner Zone
- Format: In-person
- Time: 09:15 - 10:00
Your first stop at the conference. Check in, collect your delegate badge and event information, then explore our Trusted Partner Zone. Meet organisations working alongside us to support and strengthen volunteering, and discover valuable resources, services, and opportunities designed to help you make an even greater impact in your community.
Welcome, setting the scene through the lens of Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan & Slido warm up
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 10:00 - 10:25
- Host: Volunteer Scotland and the Youth VIP Panel
Members of the Youth VIP Panel will take on the role of conference “roving reporters”, engaging with participants throughout the day to gather reflections, insights and experiences relating to volunteering and participation. Their contributions will help capture diverse perspectives from across the event and provide opportunities for young people to influence discussions, share learning and highlight key themes emerging from the conference.
Opening Remarks
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 10:25 - 10:35
Keynote and roundtable discussions: Strengthening safety, respect and inclusion across the voluntary sector
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 10:35 - 11:30
- Host: Volunteer Scotland and SCVO
This keynote and roundtable session will explore how the voluntary sector can work together to create safe, respectful and inclusive environments for volunteers and staff. The keynote speaker will bring direct experience of the challenges faced by volunteers and staff encountering hostility within communities, helping to ground the conversation in lived realities while highlighting examples of effective partnership responses and opportunities for collective action.
The session will also feature short updates from sector working groups covering shared messaging, policy and influencing, organising and peer support, and multi stakeholder resource mapping. Participants will then take part in facilitated roundtable discussions to identify gaps, strengthen partnerships, and explore how the sector can align resources, support one another, and drive collective action for positive change.
11:30 - 11:45 - Break and travel to workshops
Workshops
Attendees will have the opportunity to book one of the workshops, either online or in person.
Is Flexibility the Answer? Rethinking Volunteering in a Changing Context
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 11:45 - 12:25
- Host: Rob Jackson (VS Trusted Partner)
This interactive, hybrid workshop brings together volunteer engagement professionals to explore current trends in volunteering, share learning on flexible approaches, and rethink how volunteer roles are designed. Through expert input, discussion, and peer‑to‑peer exchange, participants will gain practical insights and leave with ideas they can apply in their own organisations.
Creating New Pathways into Trusteeship
- Format: In-person
- Time: 11:45 - 12:25
- Host: Margaret Starkie, Volunteer Scotland and OSCR
This interactive session will explore how trusteeship can become more accessible and inclusive for people across Scotland, particularly for people that are currently underrepresented on charity boards. The session will review key research, identify barriers and enablers, challenge common misconceptions, and gather ideas to help shape a new national trustee recruitment campaign.
If We Build It Better, They Will Come: Rethinking Youth Volunteering
- Format: In-person
- Time: 11:45 - 12:25
- Host: Sara Cook, Volunteering Matters
Young people want to volunteer, but too often opportunities aren’t designed with them in mind. This collaborative roundtable hosted by YouthVIP colleagues and facilitated by youth panel members explores how organisations can remove barriers, create welcoming volunteer experiences and better reflect and support the diverse lived experiences of young people.
Using insights from YouthVIP research alongside practical case studies, participants will identify simple, inclusive changes that can make a lasting difference within their own volunteering settings. Hear directly from our youth panel volunteers about their own experiences (the good and not so good!) which has built a life-long commitment to volunteering.
Is Everyone Welcome: Tools to Broaden Volunteer Engagement
- Format: Online
- Time: 11:45 - 12:25
- Host: Faiza Venzant, Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (VS Trusted Partner)
This session introduces the free Is Everyone Welcome? Toolkit, a practical resource to help organisations make volunteer engagement more inclusive, welcoming and accessible.
Developed through the Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion (ADEVI) project and available free on idealist.org, the toolkit includes resources such as inclusive role description guidance, volunteer motivation questionnaires and recruitment support. Participants will leave with practical tools they can use right away to broaden who they reach and how they involve volunteers.
Building Scotland’s New Volunteer Development Network
- Format: Online
- Time: 11:45 - 12:25
- Host: Erin Burke, Volunteer Scotland
Volunteer management is evolving, and practitioners need opportunities to learn, connect and influence the future of volunteering. Volunteer Scotland is developing a new national membership for volunteer management practitioners, including those in paid roles and those who manage volunteers as part of a voluntary role, and wants to ensure it is shaped by the sector from the outset. Join this workshop to share your experiences and help design a membership that supports practitioners and strengthens volunteering across Scotland.
12:25 - 12:30 - Travel back from workshops
Afternoon Schedule
Bridging the Participation Gap: Reflections from the TSI Network Conference
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 12:30 - 12:40
- Host: TSI Network & Volunteer Scotland
A short reflection on the key themes, challenges and opportunities discussed during the TSI Network Conference workshop on the Bridging the Participation Gap report. This session will highlight insights from TSI colleagues across Scotland, showcase local activity and explore how the report’s recommendations might shape future action to strengthen and diversify participation in volunteering
12:40 - 13:25 - Lunch, Trusted Partner Zone and Investing in Volunteers drop-in surgery
Volunteering Knowledge Exchange
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 13:25 - 13:40
- Host: Adrian Murtagh, Volunteer Scotland
A quick-fire open mic session to share knowledge and ideas from organisations and practitioners supporting volunteering across Scotland. Hear about new initiatives, useful resources and practical examples, with a spotlight on how the Knowledge Gateway can help you find and share knowledge and tools to support volunteering.
Panel and Roundtable Discussions: Inclusive Volunteering Pathways
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 13:40: 14:35
- Host: Chaired by Gabrielle Macbeth, Glasgow Women's Library
What helps people take their first step into volunteering, and what makes them want to continue getting involved? This panel brings together volunteers with lived experience to share their experiences of accessing volunteering, the support that made a difference and the changes they’d like organisations to make. The discussion will offer practical insights into creating volunteering pathways that are more flexible, accessible, inclusive and well-supported.
14:35 - 14:45 - Break
From Reflection to Action: Youth Perspectives on Volunteering and Participation
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 14:45 - 15:00
- Host: Youth VIP Panel
Drawing on conversations and reflections gathered throughout the day, the Youth VIP Panel will present a summary of the key themes, insights and learning emerging from delegates’ experiences of volunteering and participation. Their unique perspective will highlight what matters most to young people and for future action and collaboration as we conclude the day discussing Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan.
The Future of Volunteering in Scotland
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 15:00 - 15:50
- Host: Chaired by Calum Irving, Deputy Director of Third Sector and Financial Wellbeing, Scottish Government
Designed as an energetic and forward-looking conversation, this panel session will examine what is coming down the track for volunteering and how the sector can position itself as part of the solution in building stronger, more resilient communities.
Final reflections, Call to Action and Thanks
- Format: Hybrid (in-person / online)
- Time: 15:50 - 16:00
- Host: Alan Stevenson, Volunteer Scotland
