If you’re inspired to lead others and be part of a genuinely transformational charity, then why not volunteer with Read Easy and use your leadership skills to guide and support a team of local volunteers. You will manage meetings, set agendas, take responsibility for the project, network within your local community and be a passionate spokesperson for your local group. This is a hugely important role in the Management Team, and you will be responsible for ensuring the proper and effective direction of your local group from the front. This role will appeal to people who are motivated by managing a team of diverse volunteers, and by the challenge of ultimately helping hundreds of adults in their community who can’t read.

As a Read Easy Coordinator you would be meeting and enrolling adults who want to learn to read and interviewing volunteer Reading Coaches with a member of the Management Team. You would then pair them up and offer ongoing support throughout their reading journey, visiting their reading sessions occasionally and maintaining support through regular calls with both Reader and Coach to check all is going well.

If you’re a ‘people person’ and love to meet a wide range of people, then volunteering as a Read Easy Volunteer Recruiter will give you a really interesting opportunity to help manage the recruitment and interviewing of volunteers for your local group. You’ll need to be enthusiastic, a good listener and be able to spot a strong volunteer when you see one. By recruiting the right sort of volunteers, you’ll play a vital role in ensuring the longevity of the group.

Our Literacy Specialists bring their experience and expertise to provide support to Reading Coaches and assist in running the Reading Coach meetings. The person who takes on this role should have a background in teaching reading/literacy (preferably but not necessarily with adults). Our volunteer Literacy Specialists feel a real sense of pride in giving practical solutions to their Coordinators and Reading Coaches to give our new Readers the greatest chance of success.

This is a vital and interesting role within our Management Team to create and develop relationships with local agencies, such as Job Centres, social services and many others who may be able to refer potential readers to the group. This voluntary position will suit people who thrive on networking and making new connections. The impact our local groups make is down to securing a steady stream of Reader referrals, so you will play an instrumental part in making sure your group thrives.

This role presents a wonderful opportunity to get out and about in your community, liaising with local businesses and organisations to find and arrange suitable reading venues for your group. Generally, our preferred venues are libraries or similar settings that can provide an element of confidentiality, so that Readers aren’t intimidated by having to return to classroom-like settings, but have at least one other person is in the building during reading sessions. You will be organised, proactive and enthusiastic and enjoy spreading the word about your local group to a wide range of people and organisations.

Are you keen and confident using tech? Our IT Supporters offer their skills to support other local group volunteers when necessary. It is amazing how much difference you could make to your local group by providing IT support. Even the smallest things like setting up email accounts and creating social media accounts can be a real challenge for some volunteers, so your expertise will make the world of difference to helping adults learn to read in your community.

If you’re motivated by sales or development or live for the ‘thrill of the deal’, then becoming a local Read Easy Fundraiser will appeal to you. Local Read Easy Fundraisers use their existing skills and develop new ones to raise funds to ensure the group’s running expenses are covered, so that more people can learn to read in the community! You must enjoy networking and be comfortable discussing finances to be suitable for this role, not to mention passionate, enthusiastic and committed to the cause.

Spreading the word is key to your local community understanding what your Read Easy group does and how people can get the reading support they need or volunteer to help. You will be creative, determined and passionate about communications, and bringing people together. You’ll be confident using local media, social media, and other resources provided by Read Easy UK to help get the message out there into your community about the life-changing journey of learning to read. Once the local community and media hear about the thousands of adults who can’t read in the area, it will be your responsibility to make sure that your local Read Easy group is able to capitalise on this attention!

If you believe the ‘devil is in the detail’ and enjoy working alongside a diverse range of people, then why not volunteer to be a Read Easy Data Protection Champion. You will liaise with members of the Team to make sure that all personal data is stored according to the Data Protection Policy and generally oversee that the group’s records are kept correctly and securely so that more people can learn to read in the community.

If you have a head for figures and statistics, then volunteering as a local group Treasurer is the perfect opportunity for you to get involved with a really worthy cause. Our Treasurers must ensure the accurate management and recording of the group’s income and expenditure and work closely with the Management Team to explain what the group needs to raise to support its activities for the year.

If you’re a rigorous timekeeper and an organised individual, then your administration skills will be vital to support the smooth running of the local Management Team. By supporting other volunteers on your team with administration as well as taking minutes, keeping records up to date and managing internal and external communications, a Read Easy Administrator ensures that the group functions at its best and works in the most efficient and effective way to help adults in your community learn to read.

Once trained, you will be linked with an adult who wants to improve their reading, and will then help them work through the Turning Pages phonics-based reading programme.

Our volunteer Safeguarding Champions ensure that their group implements, understand and follow the Read Easy UK Safeguarding Policy and  organises DBS checks. For their local volunteers.  This is a valuable role on the team with responsibility for the Reader’s and the Reading Coach’s safety.

This role enables your local group to provide reading coaching over a wider geographical area. You will be helping your group to cover a wide area by distributing publicity, building links with agencies that refer adults who want to learn to read and sourcing reading venues in your own local area. You may also support Readers in your area who learning remotely to make good progress by supplying them with reading books and occasionally making sure they can access IT equipment to log in to online coaching sessions if required. If you are a Literacy Expert, you may also bring those skills locally too.

The Coordinator Supporter is the main point of contact on the Management Team for Coordinators. They play a crucial role in ensuring that the Coordinators feel well supported, so that they in turn can support Readers and Coaches. Your Coordinators help interview Reading Coaches, assess and enrol Readers before pairing them with trained coaches; then offer ongoing support to these Reading Pairs, visiting their reading sessions occasionally and maintaining support through regular calls with both Reader and Coach to check all is going well. They call on the group’s Literacy Specialist to respond to any literacy related difficulties a pair may be having. They also help run Coach meetings.