What does volunteering mean to you?

So, let us ask you:

What volunteering moment in your life would you most like to relive?

Volunteering for which organisation would complete your life story?

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At IFC, we know that behind every charity, campaign, and community initiative are stories powered by volunteers—people who give their time, passion, and skills to something bigger than themselves. In this blog, we reflect on the transformative power of volunteering—not just in the lives of those served, but in the hearts of those who serve.

Whether you're a seasoned volunteer or considering where your next chapter might lead, we invite you to explore these questions with us. We also asked IFCo's CEO, Director and Founder what their answers would be...

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Bill King, CEO

‍‍‍What volunteering moment in your life would you most like to relive?

‍I’m going to go back in time quite a while, to an occasion when I volunteered to help at a youth event at my then church. It wasn’t the sort of thing I would normally volunteer for, but it turned out to be memorable because my now-wife, Erin, was also volunteering. It wasn’t when we first met, but it was when I started to realise there was more there than just friendship. Twenty-five years later, I’m happy to say there still is!

‍Volunteering for which organisation would complete your life story?

‍This is a really difficult one, as I’ve worked with so many wonderful organisations in my career who I would love to volunteer with that it's hard to know where to start. I am going to go with one which would just be an amazing experience – Pangea Trust. They are currently transforming a huge estate in Portugal into a sanctuary for elephants being held in zoos and circuses across Europe. The opportunity to work with those incredible animals would be truly amazing.

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‍Sarah Gray, Director

‍What volunteering moment in your life would you most like to relive? ‍

Shamelessly I love the Royal family and so it has to be when I met King Charles at one of the Buckingham Palace Garden parties.

‍Volunteering for which organisation would complete your life story?

‍I actually have 2!  I have made an annual trip to Kew Gardens on my birthday for the last 5 years. I made a pact with my sister last time that we would spend some of our old age volunteering at Kew!I would also really love to be involved on a voluntary basis with an organisation like Hand in Hand International. They have a great organisational culture, are well run and work in an area that I really admire.

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John Baguley, Founder

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What volunteering moment in your life would you most like to relive?

‍I love to travel and when I volunteered for Amnesty International’s ‘Fundraising Working Group’, which helped their sections around the world to fundraise, I was able to assist in running a fundraising workshop in Hong Kong for all their fundraisers in the region. Years later some are still good friends.  

‍Volunteering for which organisation would complete your life story?

‍I am currently on the board of the Egypt Exploration Society and, though it was founded in Victorian times and worked with Howard Carter who discovered Tutankhamun’s fabulous tomb, it is an incredibly modern and forward thinking organisation - www.ac.uk.  When I was very young I saw my first mummies in Truro Museum and if this was my last volunteering post it would neatly bookend my life story.