Our 2026 Volunteer Celebration Fund launched this week, giving Action Together member organisations the opportunity to apply for up to £500 to celebrate and strengthen their volunteer offer, whether that’s:
- Saying thank you to their volunteers
- Recognising their impact and commitment, or
- Recruiting new volunteers to grow their teams
Are you looking to apply this year, and planning a celebration for your organisation? Read on for inspiration as we share with you some of the examples from last year where groups across Rochdale paid tribute to their amazing volunteers.
You can also see details of every group who received a grant from the Volunteer Celebration Fund in Rochdale last year HERE.
Kate's Training CIC
Non-profit training company Kate's Training CIC provide a range of first aid, health and safety, basic life support and safeguarding courses for adults and children across Rochdale. They also deliver many free community workshops and events.
Their successful grant from the 2025 Volunteer Celebration Fund was used to powerful effect, bringing to life the funding themes of recruit, retain and recognise.
With the funding, they delivered a series of recruitment events in local libraries and community venues, welcomed new volunteers through tailored induction training, and celebrated their team with a special event and certificate presentation.
We’re inspired by how much they were able to achieve with the funding, and it’s fantastic to see Kate's Training CIC’s volunteer offer continue to grow from strength to strength.
Kate Gorski, Founder of Kate's Training, shared with us what she'd personally gained from the funding, and the support from our Action Together Volunteer Support Officers:
"I have learned to be super-specific with job role description for volunteers, and also communicate clearly what type of volunteer we need/for which activities. I have also advertised a 12-month Volunteering Programme. I have learned how to manage volunteers, and to give them very specific and simple tasks, simple written lists of jobs etc. I have also learned how to support people with different disabilities better. I have also learned how to support asylum seekers and refugees. It has been great experience and learning journey."
They received lots of great feedback from their volunteers too:
“I had fabulous experience with Kate’s Training and am looking forward to more events and training in 2026”. Shifa
Springhill Hospice
Rochdale's Springhill Hospice used their grant to arrange a special 'Thank You Party' in June 2025 to coincide with Volunteers' Week, and combined it with their annual Service Awards.
Over 100 volunteers joined them for wonderful afternoon tea with entertainment, dancing and a raffle with each volunteer attendee receiving a free ticket.
They told us their event was to recognise the invaluable contribution of their volunteers, and reward them with milestone service awards and badges - some of which had been volunteering for up to 35 years!
As well as a thank you opportunity, the event gave the volunteers chance to meet up with volunteers from other areas, people they might only see a couple of times a year, which they know from feedback is important to them. The feedback from people who took part certainly showed how successful the afternoon was:
"A big thank you to everyone who helped on the day and helped organised the lovely afternoon”
"Thank you most sincerely to everyone involved in preparing and arranging the volunteer party, it was really lovely and I enjoyed the afternoon”
Kashmiri Productions UK CIC
Kashmiri Productions UK co-produces films with communities to address and raise awareness for Pakistani/Kashmir culture and heritage, British and Islamic values and showcases them nationally in cinemas.
In 2025, they organised PAK Film Festival with a team of volunteers helping them to deliver the project. Their application to the 2025 Volunteer Celebration was successful and their grant allowed them to hold a celebratory awards dinner at the Reel cinema to say a special thank you to their volunteers where they all received certificate of appreciation too.
Some of their volunteers shared their feelings following the event, and were really grateful to have been part of it:
"Thank you for the dinner and appreciation certificate" Tariq
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of this venture" Amir
Apply for the 2026 Volunteer Celebration Fund
The application window will remain open for two weeks from Tuesday 21 April 2026 to Tuesday 5 May 2026.
