If you’re already one of our fantastic volunteers, then this Hub is for you! You can find useful information and resources, and we regularly share news and updates to do with volunteering at Cancer Research UK. Find everything you need to know about your time with us in the Welcome to Volunteering booklet.
View the Welcome to volunteering booklet(PDF, 4.35 MB)
Watch the Welcome to volunteering video
This Volunteers’ Week, we’re saying a huge thank you to our incredible volunteer community. Every hour you give helps power life‑saving research and brings us closer to a world where everyone can live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. Visit our Volunteers’ Week page to hear a message of thanks from our Chief Executive, Michelle Mitchell, explore inspiring stories from fellow volunteers, and discover the impact you’re making across Cancer Research UK.
Our volunteer awards are back for 2026 with a brand-new look and feel! We’re delighted to introduce our Volunteering Excellence Awards, which give staff the opportunity to recognise and nominate our most outstanding volunteers, who go above and beyond to support our mission to beat cancer.
Cancer Research UK staff members have been invited to submit nominations during June, and you will be contacted in July if you have been nominated. Winners will be selected by our panel of judges over the summer and announced later this year, so keep your eyes peeled!
On 29 April, the Tobacco and Vapes Act became law, preventing people born on or after 1 January 2009 from ever legally being sold tobacco. This is a historic milestone in our mission to beat cancer.
Thank you to every volunteer and supporter who has helped to make this milestone possible. This is a moment that all of us at Cancer Research UK, and the UK, can be proud of.
Read more about the Tobacco & Vapes Act
Our volunteer Campaigns Ambassadors have refused to give up, often driven by the memory of someone they’ve lost. Campaigns Ambassador Lynne started campaigning over 12 years ago to protect the health of future generations. Her voice – and the voices of people like her – helped make this possible.
We’ve recently refreshed our Welcome to Volunteering Booklet(PDF, 4.35 MB), which is a key resource for all volunteers at CRUK. The booklet is shared with new volunteers as part of their induction and includes useful information for volunteers at all stages of your journey with us. As part of this refresh, we’ve also created a new Volunteer Behaviours document(PDF, 71.3 KB), which outlines in more detail the guidance and behaviours we ask all members of our volunteer community to follow during your time with us to help us create a safe and respectful environment.
Please take a few minutes to have a read through both documents, and if you’ve got any questions, please speak to your staff contact.
Race for Life is back for 2026! Each year, our amazing team of volunteers support hundreds of Race for Life events right across the UK, and we always need more people to help. We’re looking for volunteers to cheer on participants, help them make their way around the course and hand out medals at the finish line. As well as having fun and soaking up the atmosphere, you’ll be helping us beat cancer. Interested? Sign up today
We’ve announced an important change to our retail operations that will impact some of our shop volunteers.
We love hearing our volunteers' stories! If you'd like to share your volunteering experiences with us, please complete our 'Share Your Story' form below. You can tell us what inspired you to start volunteering, what you enjoy, and what you might say to anyone thinking about getting involved.
A variety of online badges have been created to help you share your love of volunteering with friends and family.
Help us spread the word by downloading and sharing on your social media or adding one to an email signature - you never know who you might inspire to help out too!
Volunteering has many benefits, from boosting your wellbeing to giving you the opportunity to learn and develop new skills. At Cancer Research UK, we are really grateful for the support you give us, and we want to make sure that you have an enjoyable, rewarding and satisfying volunteering experience. Our wellbeing and development page is full of useful resources to help you make the most of your time with us.
We exist to beat cancer. And beating cancer means beating it for everyone. We want everyone at Cancer Research UK to feel part of an inclusive team, where our differences are valued, we have fair and equal opportunities to succeed and everyone can thrive. As a volunteer with us, it’s important you understand and embody our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) values.
Read more about EDI at Cancer Research UK(PDF, 2.02 MB)
Join our Talk Cancer online workshop to feel more confident in having supportive conversations about how people can reduce their risk of cancer, the importance of early diagnosis, and cancer screening. The Talk Cancer training is created by nurses, with workshop content always backed up by the latest cancer evidence.
We were delighted to have been awarded the Investing in Volunteers accreditation for good practice in volunteer management. We appreciate the amazing impact that our volunteers have on our mission to beat cancer. This accreditation is our commitment that we’ll do all we can to give back to our volunteers as much as you give to us.
To talk to others affected by cancer. Or if you have questions about cancer, you can speak to one of our nurses on freephone, Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm, 0808 800 4040.
If you have any questions about volunteering, please speak to your staff contact or email us.
