Free co-design support for Make Your Mark members

Calling all Make Your Mark members! Are you looking to involve a more diverse range of people in your volunteer programme? 

With support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, over the next year Make Your Mark can support 3 member organisations to co-design a volunteer taster session with a marginalised or underrepresented group in their area. 

If your organisation is selected to participate, you can expect:

• Support from a facilitator who will upskill you in co-design
• Connections to Make Your Mark’s network of community groups across Scotland
• Volunteer expenses to be covered by Make Your Mark

For each taster session, the process will be:

1. An online meeting with a co-design facilitator. This session will support Make Your Mark members to develop skills in partnering with groups to plan inclusive events.
2. An online meeting with a prospective partner organisation. Make Your Mark will use its network of community groups to help the selected campaign member connect with a local group.
3. An in-person co-design workshop. This session will see the Make Your Mark member and partner organisation come together to discuss the content and structure of the taster session, specifically focussing on participants’ accessibility needs and what types of activities they’d be interested in.
4. An in-person volunteer taster session. The content and structure of the taster session will have been informed by the co-design meeting with the partner group.

If you’d like more insight into the co-designed taster session process and outcomes, you can read more about how Archaeology Scotland and Scottish Refugee Council partnered to co-design a taster session on our blog.

We are aiming to host a taster session every few months, but we are flexible and can be responsive to organisations’ needs and timescales. For example, if your organisation only has volunteers in the summer, please indicate this to us at the time of applying.

How to participate

Would your organisation like to be considered for this opportunity?

You would need to be able to commit staff time to attend the planning meetings with the co-design facilitator and prospective partner organisation, as well as attending the co-design session and hosting the volunteer taster session.

In return, you will have developed skills in co-design, initiated a relationship with a group in your area and had volunteer expenses covered by Make Your Mark.

Please note that for the 2025 cohort of co-designed taster sessions, we will be prioritising organisations located outwith the Central Belt, as well as organisations that can offer archive, library and research roles. This will help us ensure that we are supporting organisations from areas across Scotland, as well as offering a range of types of volunteer roles. However, all member organisations are welcome to apply.

If you’d like to apply to host a Make Your Mark taster session, please fill out our Expression of Interest by Monday 10 March.