Charities should recruit more unemployed volunteers, but need to tackle benefits myth, advises charity PR guru Ingrid Marson.

With the unemployment rate currently at 7.8% and likely to rise with public sector cuts, charities have an opportunity to recruit many additional volunteers.

For individuals, volunteering offers the opportunity to bolster their CV and boost their self esteem, while charities can benefit from people with a wider range of skills and experience, who are currently unemployed due to the economic downturn.

But one of the problems charities face in recruiting unemployed volunteers is the mistaken belief held by some Jobcentre staff that unemployed people will lose their Jobseekers Allowance if they do voluntary work. A couple of friends who are unemployed and wanted to volunteer were mistakenly told this by their local Jobcentre, and some of the charities I work with have also faced this problem.

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell pledged at the Liberal Democrat party conference two weeks ago to tackle this misunderstanding by making sure Jobcentre staff follow internal guidance on this issue.

This is great news, but charities should also try to tackle this misunderstanding directly when using PR to recruit volunteers.

Volunteering case studies, particularly when targetted at local media, can be a successful way of recruiting volunteers. For example, when Acorn PR helped Age Concern Hertfordshire promote its volunteer visiting scheme, it had 15 volunteer enquiries from just one article in a small local paper.

To reach out to unemployed people, charities should focus case studies on unemployed volunteers, with quotes from the volunteer about how they hope to use the experience to get paid work (for an example case study, click here). 

Or, if your charity has any volunteers who have recently found paid work and feel their volunteering made a difference, this would make a great inspirational case study for the press.

Make sure you include information in your case study about volunteers still being eligible for Jobseekers Allowance, potentially with a link to the booklet on the Department for Work & Pensions website on this issue.

The recession is bringing many challenges to charities with the imminent threat of funding cuts, but also throws up opportunities. Now is a good time for charities to reach out to new volunteer audiences, while addressing a common misconception about volunteering.

Ingrid Marson is director of Acorn PR, providing public relations and marketing services to charities and social enterprises