Engaging audiences and recruiting volunteers for your project can be difficult, especially when you are trying to work with a variety of age ranges. If you want to be successful then you need to know what makes an individual want to take part, you need to know what inspires them - and there can be a thousand and one different reasons.

The Natural Discovery Volunteer Development Programme, supported by HLF, seeks to increase opportunities, training and diversity of volunteers, supporting natural environment projects across Oadby, Wigston and South Wigston in Leicestershire. The programme supports individuals, groups and communities not normally engaged in natural heritage and targets youth, BME and vulnerable residents groups. 

[quote]“Our oldest conservation volunteer is 87 and still comes week after week. It is the perfect way to keep active and get some fresh air.”[/quote]

Having worked with volunteers and community groups on natural heritage projects for a number of years, I know it can be a daunting task to get people involved. But here are a few tips on what can help engage people – of all ages.

25 to 65

Let’s start with the 25 to 65 age group. Within our project we tend to engage with recreational interest groups and individuals with a personal development interest. It all starts mainly from a talk or presentation but a phone call or a chance meeting on a site walk can be beneficial too. 

Having just set up a new friends group we started with a leaflet drop of local houses surrounding the site - not the best of jobs when it’s cold and wet! However it does work as an introduction to people within the local area and also spreads the word. It then leads people onto our wildlife recording programmes, natural history and conservation training courses or practical volunteering.

We also encourage the over-65s: our oldest conservation volunteer is 87 and still comes week after week. It is the perfect way to keep active and get some fresh air.

16 to 25

When it comes to engaging those who are lucky enough to fall into the younger age bracket we take a different approach.

[quote]“The trick is to take what could potentially be a boring day and turn it into an experience that will stick with them for life.”[/quote]

We work with Leicester's Young People's Council to develop ideas for projects within the countryside sites; these can range from practical days to hosting events. We have approached local colleges to use our sites, be it for course-related work or for enrichment days, and we work with and support the National Citizen Service programme.

We try as often as possible to attend local events from freshers fairs to young adult community events - it's a great way to spread the word.

Under 16s

The under-16s can be the hardest group to connect with. They tend to be forced to visit a natural heritage site with school or with parents - the trick is to take what could potentially be a boring day and turn it into an experience that will stick with them for life. 

So what do we do?

One of our sites offers the traditional schools programme to meet the national curriculum, but we also offer bushcraft days using a business relationship with an outside partner. We also offer enrichment sessions; these can range from visiting schools, youth and community groups to talk through how the environment fits into everyday life to practical conservation days using tools to leave a lasting impact on their local environment.

We also make use of social media, mainly Facebook and Twitter. It is one of the best ways to engage with both young and old. 

Does it work?

Yes. We have a successful engagement rate with all age ranges - we believe we offer a range of resources and activities that are currently wanted and enjoyed. 

Working with a wide audience can be a challenge, especially as we are a small team. Our biggest challenge is constantly thinking of new ideas to engage with people. We are always evaluating what we do and how we do it, to try and improve how we deliver against our outcomes. 

What could we do differently moving forward?

We are looking at engaging with a local project to involve young adults not in employment or education to gain valuable work experience. This will see two or three people per calendar quarter visit our sites to gain practical experience in wildlife and horticulture management. This should allow our message to reach areas not yet touched by the project.