Volunteer Area Coordinator Call 23 rd October 2025 Agenda • Volunteer Engagement Strategy • PAT plans for the year ahead • Brand Update – new brand materials • Pet Policy Update • Incidents Reports • New VAC recruitment Volunteer Engagement Strategy 2025 Discovery Phase Insights collated from: • Establishment visits with Visiting Volunteers and Assessors • Engagement with VAC’s – establishment visits, VAC calls, emails • Staff and Trustee conversations • Volunteer Voice Survey Volunteers are passionate, dedicated and committed but lack an easy and supportive experience that can build the emotional connection with PAT Volunteering Insights 5,000+ volunteers 400 Assessors 67 VACs Greater Relationship with establishment (9.0) vs PAT (7.0) 41% did not receive a good induction by their VAC 72% intend to be volunteering with us in one year 55% want a Reward & Recognition scheme 40% of those who contact HO couldn’t resolve their query online NPS 57 would recommend PAT to family and friends Volunteer Engagement Strategy 2025 - 30 Our Vision: A world where everyone can benefit from time with a pet Our Purpose: We inspire and enable volunteers to share the joy of their pets 1. Building the foundations for success 2. Creating a first - class experience 3. Enhancing the connection 4. Supporting our volunteers to develop and grow • Easier to use Website & MyPAT • Boundaries of roles are clear and understood • Policy and procedure framework • Data and Insights • Improving volunteer satisfaction with PAT • Enhancing the Recruitment journey • High performing VACs with national coverage • Reward & Recognition • Understanding our volunteer needs • Deepening the Emotional Connection through Engagement • Developing Supporters/ Advocates • Role Innovation • Skills for volunteer's programme • VAC Excellence in Volunteer Management • Grow our volunteers to 10k Easy and clear framework for volunteers to feel supported. Volunteers feel valued and motivated. Volunteers feel an increased emotional connection to PAT. Volunteers are well managed and support the charities objectives. Pillar Activity Out come PAT plans for the year ahead Increase number of volunteers, pets and visits Increase our profile Fundraising Demonstrate our impact Ensure volunteering with PAT is easy, fun and rewarding Annual plan Annual plan 1/5 Grow the number of volunteers: • Recruitment campaign in Spring • Pilot “volunteering with PAT” webinars • Improve number of assessments • MyPAT developments • Logging visits Aiming for a total of 6600 volunteers by September 2026 Annual plan 2/5 Volunteer experience: • Volunteer Area Coordinator recruitment , training and development • Review training – mandatory and optional • Pilot buddying / get togethers • New volunteer uniform scheme • Improve volunteer communications for Head Office Annual plan 3/5 Demonstrate our impact: • Pilot impact framework • Healthcare setting guidance • Academic links • Schools survey Annual plan 4/5 Increase our profile: • Implementation of brand refresh – website, materials etc • Continue to develop PR / Social Media work • Produce more videos about our work • Events support for 2026 Annual plan 5/6 Fundraising: • New supporter campaign in Spring • Test “Friends” scheme for retiring volunteers • Walk this May – plus second event • Develop commercial staff well - being days • Continue corporates, grants and legacies Aiming for a total income of £950,000 Increase number of volunteers, pets and visits Increase our profile Fundraising Demonstrate our impact Ensure volunteering with PAT is easy, fun and rewarding Annual plan Questions or comments? Brand Update Donate or volunteer business card Sign - up to our support newsletter business card Certificates Pull - up Banners x 5 (plus a tear drop flag) Brand Guidelines Thank you card Letter - headed paper Donate or volunteer business card We are Pets As Therapy A5 leaflet Become a volunteer A5 Leaflet Plus A4 and A5 “PAT Dog/Cat visiting here on....” And “We are Pets As Therapy” Generic poster with QR links to Donate /Volunteer New communications toolkit for PAT volunteers • Brand Guidelines: how to use our new brand, logos, use of colours , fonts, etc. • New PAT logo: in different formats • PAT PowerPoint with video (requires sound/audio connection): six slides, with speaker’s notes, explaining who we are and what we do with our new animation and hospital visit video • PAT PowerPoint (without video): six slides with speaker’s notes explaining who we are and what we do New communications toolkit for PAT volunteers • PowerPoint template: with lots of our visual assets, including photos, pet/volunteer illustrations, shapes and scenes • PAT Frequently Asked Questions: a set of standard answers to questions that you might be asked • Guide to working with local media: with press release templates • Social media templates: banners and adverts for our upcoming campaigns - from 15 th November to launch our Christmas Appeal • Contact: marketing@petsastherapy.org for access to the toolkit What else would help you?