Our incredible volunteers are making a difference to people affected by Pulmonary Fibrosis, whether providing emotional support over the phone, helping with admin support, raising awareness, fundraising and campaigning.
Join our incredible network of volunteers across England Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As a volunteer for APF I get to talk to many interesting people who are experiencing a difficult time in connection with PF. It’s so rewarding when you help can make a difference to the way they feel.
Current opportunities
There are different ways you can volunteer for Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis such as befriending, admin support or running a support group, it all depends on what skills you have and how much time you have to give.
Information Guidance Group
Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis (APF) creates information resources for people affected by pulmonary fibrosis (PF). It’s crucial that people affected by PF are involved in producing this information. Their involvement ensures that what we create is relevant to people's true experiences and answers their questions.
If you're affected by pulmonary fibrosis, whether you have a diagnosis yourself or you know someone who does, you can help us provide high-quality information to people like you by joining our information guidance group. Find out more about how you can shape pulmonary fibrosis information.
Telephone befrienders
She listens to me when I cry, I just want to say thank you. The support from my Befriender was amazing.
Why we need you?
Do you enjoy listening to and helping people? Are you looking for a volunteering role where you can do just that, and fits in around your family, studies or other commitments?
By becoming a telephone befriender and donating your time, energy and skills, you can make a real difference to the lives of people affected by Pulmonary Fibrosis.
We are looking for volunteers to be telephone befrienders, providing emotional support over the phone to people affected by Pulmonary Fibrosis. This role will involve supporting people with some of the following:
- Provide emotional support to people with Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) and their carers
- To signpost people to local and national support, such as support meetings, specialist centres, APF website, other organisations
- To highlight and refer to the APF support line when people need expert advice
- A commitment to keep up to date with PF related information
- Attend volunteer support meetings and other development events identified.
The time required is flexible, but we expect befrienders to commit to a minimum of 1-3 hours per week. You’ll be inducted into the role and receive e-learning training for the role.
Treasurer Trustee
Communications Advisory Group
Help us shape how we communicate about our work!
Context
It’s crucial that the way we communicate is shaped by people affected by pulmonary fibrosis (PF), so everyone can understand it and wants to get involved to support us. In particular, we share information about research so that everyone affected by PF, regardless of their background, can hear about the amazing research that is being carried out.
People affected by PF have told us how important it is to them to find out about research, but that this information is often overly scientific and hard to understand. We need your help to shape our communications, so that they are straightforward and tailored to what people affected by PF want to hear about. We also want your help to influence our communication priorities and generate ideas about what we communicate as well as how we do it.
At APF, we:
- Produce information about research for those who are new to PF
- Create articles and updates that are of interest to everyone affected by PF
- Update our online study finder tool to share participation opportunities
- Share involvement opportunities and webinars
Why get involved?
- You can directly shape the communications we create and share with our audiences
- You can help us think about new ways to communicate about research
- Make our communications more accessible, engaging, and relevant to people’s experiences as a direct result of your involvement
- Learn about exciting PF research being done before anyone else!
In this role, you will be expected to…
- Attend an introduction session on Tuesday 3rd September at 11am lasting approximately 90 minutes (with scheduled breaks)
- Read and give feedback on our communications via email on an ad hoc basis (we estimate that this may be around 30 minutes once a month)
- Attend and constructively participate in online meetings every 3 months
- Read a small amount of paperwork in advance of meetings
- Let staff know if you need further information or support from us, or if your circumstances change
You do not need to have:
- Any experience or understanding of research
- Any prior knowledge of APF or the work that we support
We’re looking for people who…
- Are or have been affected by any type of Pulmonary Fibrosis as a person with a diagnosis, a carer, or a loved one
- Are preferably new to research, because you will provide the most insightful feedback about communications that aren’t easy to understand
- Are willing to represent and listen to the needs of a broad and diverse range of people affected by PF
- Can read and give feedback about our communications via email
Time commitment:
- Research information and communications to review: the amount of work will vary and be ad hoc, but we hope to share this with you once a month
- Online group meetings: approximately 60-90 minutes every 3 months
- A small amount of paperwork to read in advance of meetings: roughly sent out 2 weeks in advance of each meeting
- We’re running our first proper group meeting on Tuesday 3rd September at 11am
- This is the first time we have run a group like this, so we are aiming to pilot it for 1 year
We appreciate that commitments may be impacted by your health or the health of the person you care for, and we would always encourage you to prioritise your physical and mental wellbeing. We would be grateful if you can let the relevant staff member know if things change for you.
Interested?
Please email involvement@actionpf.org to request our short expression of interest form. Please return the form by Sunday 11th August.
Office Volunteers - Peterborough
Why do we need you?
At APF we understand how important good administration is. You will be helping to ensure the smooth running of our work so that we make the best use of donations received, more PF patients and carers have good support, and we can fund more research into treatments and a cure. This role will involve working with the current Charity Administrators to assist them in offering administrative support to the whole team.
Your gift of time can be planned to suit you and the needs of the Charity. This role can be flexible and work around your existing commitments. You don’t need to give a lot of time to make a big difference.
Location: You would assist us at our national office in Peterborough
Volunteers need to be over 18 and commit 2-5 hours a week to volunteering.
For an initial conversation about the role please call us for an informal chat: 01733 839642 or contact recruitment@actionpf.org
Fundraising Admin support in our Peterborough office
Why we need you?
In 2021 we launched the APF Store, a dedicated online shop where our supporters can buy branded Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis merchandise that raise awareness and supports our work. We need amazing volunteers to help us pick, pack and provide excellent customer service to all our customers.
Depending on the needs of the online store and your interests, you may be involved in the following:
- Selecting, preparing, and sending out APF Store items in line with the APF’s guidelines
- Supporting to dispatch out seasonal services materials
- Providing excellent customer service
- Answering emails and telephone calls regarding orders
- Sending out merchandise to fundraisers
- Stocktaking
- Photographing stock and uploading images
- Ordering in new merchandise
- Research into new merchandise that can be added to the stores collection
Volunteers need to be over 18 and commit 2-4 hours a week to volunteering.
Local fundraising
Why we need you?
Do you have a fundraising idea? Whether big or small we can help to make it happen. From baking a cake to swimming a lake you can get involved! People fundraise for lots of different reasons but whatever your reason your money will go towards research and supporting people affected by Pulmonary Fibrosis. Visit our fundraising page to find out more