OUR AIMS

• To offer a brokerage service that empowers people who are looking to volunteer to find a role that interests them, and to help promote organisations’ volunteering opportunities.
• To promote the development of good practice in relation to the involvement of volunteers among volunteer-involving organisations.
• To enable volunteer involving organisations to increase the number and type of volunteering opportunities available.
• To take an active role in the strategic development of volunteering in the Canterbury District
• To utilize volunteers, in numerous capacities, as part of our delivery of community services
• To improve quality of life in the Canterbury district through active citizenship.
• To increase the quality of volunteer involvement in the Canterbury district for the benefit of volunteers, community organisations and the wider community.

OUR HISTORY

Canterbury Volunteer Centre (or bureau as it was formally called) was originally established in 1975 in response to local need and catered purely for residents within Canterbury.

In April 2007 the Canterbury and the Herne Bay Volunteer Centres merged to cater for volunteers and organisations across the district. This followed on from 2–3 years of negotiations between all the Volunteer Centres within the district, including the former Whitstable Volunteer Centre who ultimately declined to merge with us and subsequently ceased operations a few years later. 

Since 2002 the Canterbury District Volunteer Centre has been the leading provider of volunteering support services across the district and we are based in Canterbury and Herne Bay.