The aim of the toolkit is to support voluntary organisations in Scotland that care for places, history and culture to make their volunteering programmes more inclusive.

The toolkit was informed by focus groups with marginalised people, surveys of voluntary organisations and extensive research on inclusive volunteering. It is part of Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan and was funded by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Make Your Mark launched version 1 of the Inclusive Volunteering Toolkit in November 2023 and since then it has been downloaded over 4,300 times.

Feedback since the toolkit’s launch has been used to help create this updated version of the toolkit and some of the new elements include:

• A section clarifying the difference between volunteering, placements, unpaid work and paid employment.
• Updated stats on volunteering in Scotland from the latest Scottish Household Survey.
• More information around how to address economic barriers to volunteering, which are becoming more prevalent due to the cost of living crisis.
• More information around the legalities of paying expenses.
• Resources available to empower staff to support volunteers with a range of access needs, specifically around supporting people struggling with their mental health.

Community Councils might find the toolkit useful to help them tackle some of the issues around attracting people from under-represented groups to get involved in local meetings and activities.