Ways to Lend a Hand

Here are seven top ways to help us in the fight against heart disease...

1. Volunteer in a BHF shop
2. Help at a BHF fundraising event
3. Fundraise with family, friends or colleagues
4. Place collection boxes locally
5. Help other BHF volunteers in your community
6. Promote Heart Matters, our free info service
7. Other ways to volunteer

1. Volunteer in a BHF shop

There are lots of volunteer opportunities in BHF Shops. As well as helping on the sales floor, there are behind the scenes roles, such as pricing and sorting stock. Many shops have specialist roles in their book, music, furniture and electrical departments. If you are a driver, you could help by collecting donated stock. You’ll be working as part of a great team and will need to be able to make a regular daytime commitment to your shop.

2. Help at a BHF fundraising event

The BHF puts on over 70 fundraising events across the UK each year, such as bike rides, walks and jogs. Most of them are outdoor and at weekends and volunteers are essential to helping makene the day happen! Activities are varied, and include registering participants, marshalling and giving out refreshments. You will be asked to give between 4 and 8 hours on the day. There’s a great team atmosphere and huge appreciation from event participants and organisers for your work.

3. Fundraise with family, friends or colleagues

From putting on a social event such a coffee morning to arranging an activity based event such as a sponsored walk, there are lots of ways to raise funds for the BHF with family, friends and colleagues. Our Do it for us booklet will give you lots of ideas and tips to ensure a successful event. We can also let you have essential materials, such as posters and sponsorship forms, to ensure that you get the most from the day, both personally and for the charity.

4. Place collection boxes locally

Many local business or venues raise money for the BHF from collection boxes on their premises. You will place boxes in locations close to your home or at work and then empty and replace them when they are full. We’ll give you all the materials you need and your time commitment will be limited, as many people do this around daily activities. 

5. Help other BHF volunteers in your local community

There are BHF fundraising groups and branches across the UK. You can help them raise funds at collections and local events, such as coffee mornings and sponsored walks. You can choose how much time to give, and this can vary from a few hours on an occasional basis to regular monthly involvement as a branch or group organisers. If there’s not a group already in your area, we’d be delighted to talk to you about what’s involved in setting up a group.

6. Promote Heart Matters, our free membership and information service

Heart Matters is a free BHF membership service, that helps people to live with a healthy heart. On joining, people receive benefits and services tailored to their needs, including BHF’s heart health magazine and a welcome pack packed with information and support. You will visit local GP surgeries and pharmacies and ask them to display Heart Matters posters and leaflets. Your local promotion is an effective way to ensure information about this new service is widely available.

7. Other ways to volunteer

Do you have a special skill? Or are you interested in a specific type of volunteering? If so, let us know and one of the team will give you a call to chat things through. 

Some of the other roles that we recruit for are:

• schools co-ordinators – visiting local schools to promote BHF fundraising activities such as Jump Rope For Heart and telling children about the work of the charity and heart health
• in memoriam representatives – visiting local funeral directors and distributing BHF literature, thereby ensuring the funeral director will suggest the BHF for donations in lieu of flowers when appropriate
• speakers – for volunteers with public speaking experience, giving short talks either at cheque presentation or to local groups who may be interested in fundraising for the charity
• office volunteers – at our offices in London, Edinburgh, Mansfield, Birmingham and Tunbridge Wells.

Time commitment for these roles is variable and some flexibility is needed to fit in with other people’s schedules.  Daytime availability is required for schools and in memoriam visits and speaking engagements can be in the evening or at weekends. Office volunteers need to be able to give a day or part day during office hours, Monday to Friday.

You may have other ideas on how you can help, or special skills to share. We are keen to talk to you about these and other ways to get involved...

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