Volunteering
Volunteering is more than just giving your time—it’s an opportunity to learn, grow, and make a lasting difference in your community. At CHAI, we believe in the life changing power of volunteering, both for the people who give their time and for the individuals and families they help.
Why Volunteer?
Volunteering with CHAI offers:
- Skill Development: Gain new skills or build on existing ones while contributing to meaningful work.
- Experience: Add valuable experience to your CV, improving your employability prospects.
- Personal Growth: Build confidence, enhance self-esteem, and find purpose in helping others.
- Community Impact: Make a real difference by supporting those in need and fostering social cohesion.
The Value of Volunteers at CHAI
Our volunteers are the heart of our organisation. They bring unique perspectives, lived experiences, and specialist skills that enrich our work. Whether through cultural understanding, language skills, or personal insight, every volunteer strengthens CHAI’s ability to support our clients.
By volunteering, you’ll not only help individuals overcome challenges but also contribute to tackling wider issues like unemployment, exclusion, social isolation, and loneliness.
Benefits of Volunteering with CHAI
- Contribute to your local community in a meaningful way
- Learn from experienced professionals
- Access training opportunities
- Be part of a diverse and inclusive team
- Enjoy the satisfaction of making a real difference
Who Can Volunteer?
We welcome volunteers from all walks of life. Whether you’re:
- Looking to gain experience in welfare advice or community support
- Hoping to give back to the community
- Seeking to develop new skills or re-enter the workforce
CHAI provides a welcoming and supportive environment for you to make a positive impact.
Meet Shanaz!
A Volunteer Success Story
“When I started volunteering at CHAI, I began by answering phones. This gave me a great overview of the organisation and helped me discover where my interests and skills could best be used. Volunteering built my confidence and allowed me to develop knowledge and skills that eventually led to my employment as an Advice Worker. Everyone’s journey is different, but CHAI provided me with the support and opportunities to help me achieve my goals.” – Shanaz, former Volunteer, now Advice Worker
Ready to Make a Difference?
If you’re interested in volunteering with CHAI, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us on 0131 442 2100 or by email at volunteering@chaiedinburgh.org.uk to learn more.
Join us in creating a stronger, more supportive community—one volunteer at a time.
Volunteers Quotes
Admin support would be great and a good way to understand the organization and the type of work we do. I feel that a good way to start people off is obviously shadowing but also achieving tasks. For example, doing grant applications, calling the DWP with queries for people. I feel that this would be great support for the CHAI staff as it is time consuming. But it is informative and means someone is achieving something as a volunteer while helping staff out
My experience of working with volunteers at CHAI has been indirect mostly but the work that they did was of great use to CHAI, often bringing many years of experience and if they didn’t have the experience, they certainly came with fresh ideas and eyes
I guess everybody has a different starting point, I mean some people who volunteer have all the skills and are just looking to do something useful with their time and others like me have rusty skills and confidence and use volunteering to build skills and knowledge. When I started volunteering at CHAI I started answering the phones, this gave me good idea of who did what and how the organization worked, it also provided the opportunity for me to decide what areas of the organizations work I enjoyed and suited my abilities. Very positive experiences working with volunteers at CHAI, people are there because they want to be so it makes for a very pleasant atmosphere.
Two of our dedicated volunteers
