Frequently Asked Questions

Volunteers can help by giving anything from one hour to one year. Each opportunity is different and requires different levels of support and commitment. Charities will specify how much of your time is required, when you will be needed, and whether it can be undertaken in person or remotely.

You don’t need to be an award-winning filmmaker or a digital director to give invaluable support and advice to the charities we work with. But ideally, you need to work in the area relevant to the request. Often, charities just want an outside opinion. That fresh perspective is incredibly beneficial. As a volunteer, you will offer new, fresh ideas. You’ll be surprised at how much this can really add value and help a charity. Charities often have no budget or resource to devote to communications, so, this is where you come in. The impact can be huge! All we ask is that you have a minimum of two years’ professional experience and plenty of enthusiasm and commitment.

You can express an interest in as many opportunities as you like, but we ask that you are realistic about how much time you can give. From experience, we recommend that volunteers support a maximum of two charities at any given time. This will help you to manage your workload and be available to support the charity in the best way you can.

All our volunteering opportunities are undertaken on a pro-bono basis. The charities that you will be working with have minimal or no budget available to fund marketing and communications activities, which is why they request volunteers via our platform. If your employer offers volunteering days as part of your benefits package, you may wish to use this time.

If you are looking for paid work then you may want to consider any alternative option to volunteering. If paid work arises from a pro-bono opportunity please keep in mind that Media Trust is not responsible for any financial agreements made.

We encourage charities and community groups to state whether they will cover expenses when they post their request. If you are unclear, speak to the charity before you commence the project to find out what they will cover. If the project you are supporting requires a budget, make sure you agree budgets before any work is carried out. Costs should only cover expenses and not your time. Please note, Media Trust is not responsible for any financial agreements made between volunteers and charities.

If your circumstances change, and you can no longer volunteer, that is absolutely fine. We appreciate that situations change and there may be times when it is just not appropriate.

You will find an option in your volunteer dashboard where you can mark yourself as ‘currently unavailable’. Once you have flagged to us that you are unavailable, any charities that you have expressed an interest in working with will automatically be notified. When you are ready to start volunteering again, simply update your profile and you can start responding to opportunities that have been posted.

The charities you work with will be extremely grateful for your support however big a difference you make.

Throughout the process, Media Trust will keep in touch with you to check how things are going. At the end of the assignment you will have a chance to share your thoughts on how it went. We will also ask the organisation that you worked with to complete an evaluation form at the end of your time together and six months on.

While you may not see an immediate impact, over time the difference your involvement can make has the potential to be huge.  If you don’t believe us, take a look at a selection of our volunteer case studies.