Family Volunteering Club is on a mission to make it really easy for kids aged 0 - 9 and their grown ups to help out at important causes on their doorstep. We want to help create a society in which every child grows up feeling connected to their local community, and understands the positive role they can play in helping change issues that matter to them.

 

We work with different charities and community groups to create programmes of fun, impactful, tailor-made volunteering sessions, specifically for kids!

 

Why Family Volunteering Club is great!

• It’s an easy way for families to volunteer together

• Participants can benefit from increased confidence, learning new skills and feeling better connected

• Families can help make the world a better place – every week

• We are teaching kids how to tackle big problems, from the climate crisis to food poverty

• It's a great way to make stronger connections in the local community

• Families can fit volunteering into their schedule, without fuss

 

What to expect

At a Family Volunteering Club session, both kids and their grown ups will have a brilliant time doing age-appropriate volunteering tasks for important causes, in a fun environment! As well as rolling up our sleeves to get stuck into helping out, we always start with a song, and end with a story (and snacks) plus stickers to say thank you to our helpers. Here's a short video to give you a taste of what happens.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Here's why people love Family Volunteering Club!

• Exposing my child to gardening - something we can’t do in our London flat! And spending time with other local parents doing something fun.

• I loved the freedom of being able to do as much as you could, whilst having your children there.

• It was so brilliant. I loved getting to know one of our local charities and feel really inspired to do more volunteering with my daughter in future. THANK YOU!

• It was great! Love my son helping "the real world" and learning to help others so young.

• Interactive, well run, friendly organisers, meeting other local families with children the same age, the activity, safe space for kids, feeling of helping the community.

• It can be hard to build connections as a new mum, and this has helped me hugely as well as giving me a great way to introduce my daughter to volunteering. 

• The sessions are perfectly formatted for young children... hands-on-activities... opportunities for learning... and the inclusion of the all important story and snack! 

• Activities were age appropriate and paced well for their attention span. Well done!​

​

Our story so far

Family Volunteering Club (FVC) was established in 2019 by Maddy Mills - a mum of two originally from Cumbria and now living in London. Maddy used to do volunteer work in her free time, but found that after having her first child, places just weren't set up to accommodate families, so she had to stop. Lots of parents and carers she spoke to felt the same, and she realised there was an opportunity to make a difference.

 

Maddy piloted FVC in autumn 2019 with 7 organisations including: London Transport Museum, Ronald McDonald House and Waterloo Foodbank. The project was an immediate success and she began to further grow the programme in south London. However at the same time, Maddy was getting regular enquiries from people across the UK keen to volunteer with their children and to create FVCs in their own community. The positive impact and potential for this to grow into a national project was clear. 

​

At the end of 2022, Maddy left her job to focus full-time on developing Family Volunteering Club and to help accelerate its growth. In 2023 she recruited a stellar founding Board of Trustees and registered FVC as a CIO. 

​

Since then, FVC has grown into a national network. We currently operate nine clubs across England, Wales and Scotland, with more in development. You can check out our latest programmes on the ‘Upcoming Sessions’ pages.

​

What began as a response to the lack of child-friendly volunteering opportunities after becoming a parent has grown into a nationally recognised charity, supported by organisations including the Pears Foundation, Comic Relief and The National Lottery. FVC has been featured on BBC Breakfast Live (for The Big Help Out), on The Times Radio, in The Week Junior, we have been a finalist for The Stephen Lloyd Awards, taken part in The Funding Network, shortlisted for Children and Young Person’s Charity of the Year 2025, and co-hosted a House of Lords roundtable in November 2025 on childhood and civic engagement.

​

At a time of growing social division and disconnection, we believe volunteering together is a powerful way to build stronger, kinder and more connected communities. By making caring for our communities easy, joyful and part of everyday family life, Family Volunteering Club is helping children flex their “civic muscle” and shaping a more compassionate future for us all.

 

​The Vision 

We have big plans. We want to continue to grow - and for Family Volunteering Club to create locally run programmes in towns, cities and villages across the UK run by fantastic local coordinators, supporting their local causes. We want it to be easy, and part and parcel of family time (just as arranging a swimming or football lesson!) to spend a few hours each month volunteering together for a local cause. The sessions will always guarantee fun, a positive impact and be entirely geared up for kids. 

 

We are keen to link up with people from across the UK who might be interested in setting a FVC programme up in their area, and businesses who would like to support this project to grow - do get in touch!