How it works
Who can join, and how we check
CauseWork is for skills-based volunteering: people with real professional experience giving it to organisations with a public benefit. These are the rules every organisation, role and volunteer will be checked against before going live.
Launch statusCauseWork is coming soon and is not ready to use yet. The pages currently available are a preview; accounts, posting, applications and messaging will open at launch.
Volunteers
- You live in the UK. We cannot accept volunteers living abroad, including UK citizens, and we cannot help with visas.
- You have at least three years of professional experience in the skills you select, paid or voluntary. Internships and work experience placements are not what this service is for.
- Your profile is complete: where you are, what you can offer, what you are looking for, and a CV or LinkedIn profile.
- We do not carry out reference or DBS checks. Organisations are told to do their own, especially for board roles or work with people at risk.
Organisations
- Based in the UK and already operating, with a team involved and impact you can describe.
- A demonstrable public benefit, with a legal structure that keeps it at the core: a registered charity, an educational body, a small or unincorporated group, a society or credit union, a social enterprise, a not-for-profit, or a public sector body.
- Where a regulator number exists we ask for it: Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI, Companies House or the FCA mutuals register.
- Not primarily profit-making. Limited companies and LLPs are accepted only when they are also community interest companies or limited by guarantee.
Roles
- Unpaid and based in the UK.
- Needs three or more years of experience in at least one of the listed skills, and the description says so. Skills must be essential, not nice to have.
- Not over-burdensome: no line management of paid staff, and no more than 15 hours a week.
- One role per advert, and not a duplicate of a role you already have live in the same area.
- A closing date within six months. You can extend it later.
- No contact details or links to external application forms in the advert. First contact happens here so placements can be counted and the service can measure its impact.
- Trustee roles for people with lived experience of your cause may waive the skills requirement. Everything else still applies.
How the checks work
- Hard rules (UK postcode, closing date, hours and contact details) are checked automatically when you submit. The description is then assessed against the experience rule and either approved, sent back with a reason or declined. CauseWork may use automated tools and reviewer oversight as part of these checks.
- The target is to review organisations and roles within two working days and volunteer profiles within three.
- Every role, organisation and profile will carry a report link. Reports will be assessed and answered within five working days.