About Us

The Gate Charity exists to relieve poverty and hardship across Clackmannanshire, promote environmental sustainability, and build resilient, inclusive communities. Every day, we support individuals and families facing poverty, food insecurity, and social isolation, providing both immediate relief and long-term solutions that benefit people.

Our work is delivered through a wide range of initiatives, including foodbanks, community larders, mobile hot food van, soup pot, café Xtra, charity shop, community café and a school uniform club.

At the heart of everything we do are our over 90 dedicated volunteers, who are essential to delivering our services and creating a thriving community hub. We are deeply committed to supporting our volunteers to develop skills, confidence, and leadership, while making a tangible, lasting difference in the lives of local people.

Role Purpose

The Volunteer & Learning Coordinator will lead and develop our volunteer programme, ensuring volunteers have a meaningful, skills-enhancing experience. This role combines volunteer coordination, learning, and engagement with a proactive community presence to attract and support volunteers from many backgrounds.

Key Responsibilities

Volunteer Engagement & Coordination

• Actively seek and recruit volunteers by being present in the community, workplaces, and other networks relevant to our mission
• Recruit, onboard, and support volunteers across programmes in an approachable and empathetic manner
• Match volunteers to roles that align with their interests, skills, life experiences and development goals
• Build an inclusive, motivated volunteer group

Learning & Skills Development

• Design and deliver onboarding and ongoing training
• Create volunteer learning pathways
• Support volunteers to develop transferable skills, such as organisational skills, leadership, life skills, communication and employability
• Implement mentoring, peer learning, and reflective practice

Progression & Leadership

• Identify and nurture volunteers
• Support volunteers pursuing further training, paid roles, or governance opportunities
• Collaborate with project leads to embed volunteer engagement and satisfaction into service delivery

Quality & Impact

• Gather feedback and monitor learning outcomes, volunteer satisfaction, and retention
• Analyse engagement data to improve volunteer experiences and programme impact continuously

Collaboration & Culture

• Work closely with staff and community partners to integrate volunteers as valued contributors
• Champion a culture of learning, growth, shared ownership, friendship and inclusivity
• Represent the charity externally to attract volunteers and raise the profile of volunteer opportunities
• Demonstrate empathy and approachability in all volunteer and community interactions

Person Specification

Essential

• Experience in coordinating or supporting volunteers or community programmes, with a people-centred, empathetic approach
• Experience in designing or delivering learning, training, or facilitation
• Strong interpersonal skills: coaching, motivating, and empowering others
• Ability to balance administrative coordination with development
• Commitment to the charity’s mission and values

Desirable

• Background in community development, education, or L&D
• Experienced in measuring volunteer engagement and learning outcomes
• Experienced in working for a charity or values-driven organisation