Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary Supported Volunteer Programme

The Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary is pleased to offer a six-week supported volunteer programme for anyone who would like to volunteer at the Sanctuary but needs a bit of extra help. This will be in either a customer facing role or helping with our donkeys and ponies.

All applicants must have access to a support worker who is able to join them for each volunteer shift and we appreciate this might not be the same person each week. Every support worker will be required to complete an emergency contact form, so we have the name of somebody to call in case of an accident.

The first week of the programme will include an induction which covers health & safety and general guidelines/training for the role. The following five weeks will follow a programme set out for each role to allow as much involvement and education as possible.

Due to the high number of applications the Sanctuary receives for placements, to make this programme as fair as possible, we are not able to extend the volunteer period beyond six weeks unless the volunteer involved has reached a point where they are able to carry out volunteer duties on their own and therefore join our core volunteer team.

If you are interested or you have a client who is interested in applying for a role, please contact the Sanctuary’s Volunteer Coordinator, Marie Westmore, who can be reached on 01983 852693 or at marie.westmore@iowdonkeysanctuary.org. Applicants and their support worker will be invited to come in for an informal chat to learn more about the Sanctuary and the different roles available.

Once an agreement is made on the role that an applicant will carry out, a start date will be confirmed in writing. During the six weeks placement, the Volunteer Coordinator will check in with the applicant to see how they are progressing and offer any assistance if needed.

The IOW Donkey Sanctuary is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our staff and volunteer teams. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best.