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Anthony Rose: In today’s founder interview, where we talk to amazing founders, we’re talking to Ash from Volunteero. So Ash, introduce yourself.
Ash Staines: I’m Ash, the CEO and Co-founder of Volunteero, and we’re on a mission to increase the positive impact of volunteering through technology.
Anthony: Amazing! So, what’s the problem you’re solving?
Ash: Volunteering is archaic. The root cause of that is the way that voluntary organisations manage their volunteers. So there’s probably around 500,000 organisations across the UK and US who manage volunteers, and they’re using a patchwork of software tools that are expensive, not fit for purpose, or spreadsheets and things. And typically, this means they’re wasting lots of time, lots of money, and they’re providing a very poor volunteer experience.
Anthony: So, tell me, how are you solving this?
Ash: We provide a one-stop-shop platform for organisations to manage and recruit their volunteers all in one place. So we help them manage all aspects of their volunteer journey – from onboarding, training, deployments, communication, reporting and everything. And from the volunteers’ perspective, we do everything through an easy-to-use app. So they go there, they can find an organisation, sign up, and then manage their day-to-day volunteering, all in the palm of their hand.
Anthony: So you’re actually using the network effect for this as well. And 500,000 volunteer organisations – that’s huge! No one would have thought there were that many. So, what got you out of bed one day to go, ‘This is a problem I want to solve’?
Ash: I actually somewhat stumbled into this, to be honest with you. So I’ve volunteered for most of my adult life in various capacities, and in 2020, when we were in lockdown, I was volunteering for my local Age UK. And essentially, I just got to the end of my tether with things and I said, “Look, how about me and my co-founders, we build you a basic tool?” That’s really where it started, and then it grew very much organically from there into what it is now. So I’ve always been very passionate about volunteering, and I believe if we can make volunteering easy, simple, and accessible, it’s going to have a massive positive impact on society.
Anthony: Okay, so tell me about your vision for Volunteero.
Ash: The root cause is in the management, so starting with a management platform was really always going to be at the core of our vision. But our vision is to create a volunteering ecosystem. So, a couple of examples, corporate volunteering, it’s really hard to manage that and find opportunities. So we think we can plug in elements there. Brands want to reward good people, and they’d typically love to reward volunteers as well, so we’d love to bring in rewards. So really creating an ecosystem for volunteering as a whole is our main vision.
Anthony: So, where can people go to find out more?
Ash: You can go to our website, which is www.volunteero.org, and I’m also very active on LinkedIn, so Ashley Stains and you’ll find me there.
Anthony: Awesome! Thank you very much, Ashley.
Ash: Thank you, Anthony!
