Here are some of the things that volunteer practitioners shared with us:

Some of those things relate to knowing your volunteers and being interested in them and listening to their needs. For example, practitioners asked people to tell them about:

• Changes to their health status, family or other personal commitments, employment status or other volunteering participation – bearing in mind that these may change over time and without notice;
• What they have been doing in their time away from the group or organisation;
• Whether COVID-19 presents any perceived or actual impacts on their safety, including lone working, safeguarding measures in terms of exposure to the risk of transmitting or contracting COVID-19.

Some of the things relate directly to changes in the way volunteering within the group or organisation. For example:

• Whether the content of the role has changed or whether the timing or location of the role is different;
• If they will be carrying out the activity with people they know when they return, or different people;
• Whether the way they will be asked to do the role has changed due to COVID-19, including safety measures like social distancing or PPE;
• Whether any changes will be temporary or permanent and when they might be reviewed;
• Whether the timing or location of the role has been changed.

This complex list of questions is a mix of ones you would ask a volunteer, and ones you might anticipate being asked by volunteers. It is typical of the back and forth of groups or organisations who are prepared to listen to volunteers and preparing to listen to volunteers. Thinking through what might happen in a conversation with a volunteer and all the possibilities is part of managing risk in uncertain times. It is part of a shift from reacting to things as they happen to proactively engage with change through anticipating and preparing for different outcomes.