Case study: volunteer work
A volunteer-led organisation
Five operating guides, and an AI-assisted analysis process with the checks built in.
I volunteered with a fast-growing, volunteer-led organisation with local branches that needed everyone working the same way, so a new volunteer or organiser could pick things up without relying on whoever happened to know. It was unpaid work, done to the standard I would bring to a client: I designed and wrote the operating guides, and the process for producing research briefings with AI.
01 One way of working across every branchFive operating guides, one consistent route from first contact to long-serving volunteer
The brief
Give every branch the same route from first contact to long-serving team member, in plain English, short enough that people actually read it, and safe on data, reputation and people.
What I did
- Mapped the volunteer journey: recruit, welcome, meet, match, organise, thank
- Wrote each process as a short guide with a one-page version up front
- Added checklists, named owners, a simple register and clear rules
- Built in safeguards: light-touch vetting, data handling, incident reporting
What was delivered
- Five guides, 45 pages, each in screen and print versions
- One consistent design system across all of them
- Meeting, briefing and field crib sheets
- A survey kit with Word and Excel templates (formulas and drop-downs built in)
GuideForCoversLength
Volunteer HandbookEvery volunteerMission and goals, how to communicate, dealing with the public, handling data, staying secure, the rules at a glance13 pp
Volunteer ManagementOrganisersRecruit, welcome, match, organise, support, thank and retain9 pp
Running Effective MeetingsOrganisersPlan it, chair it, follow it up so every decision becomes an action8 pp
Volunteer Vetting GuideCoordinatorsA light-touch way to welcome genuine volunteers: holding group, meeting face to face, making the call5 pp
Technical & Broadcast GuideOrganisersFind your people, plan, film well and share safely10 pp
See the format
Two of the guides, with the organisation's name and details replaced by a fictional "Example Group". Each comes in a full-colour screen version and a print-friendly version. Open them to see the layout, structure and level of detail.
02 Fast analysis, with the checks built inAI-assisted research briefings, with a process that controls for AI bias and checks every fact
The same organisation needed research briefings produced quickly and to a consistent standard. I designed a nine-step production sequence, shown here in four stages, where AI does the heavy lifting and the process controls its weaknesses, so the output can be trusted and checked.
Agree the question first
Issues are pulled from public data with sources, then the priorities are agreed with the people who will use the briefing, before any writing starts.
Add the house logic
A voice and positions guide goes into every drafting session: tone, positions, words to use and avoid. Deliberate wording choices are recorded with a reason. Anything softened without one is reverted.
Remove AI bias
The guide guards against watered-down positions, false balance, moralising, loaded wording, relevant official data quietly left out, and exaggeration in the other direction.
Fact-check across several AIs
Three separate AI sessions, ideally from different providers and none having seen the drafting, check the facts independently. Where they agree on an error it is fixed. Where they disagree I check the source and decide.
The audit tests that every claim has a source that says what the draft says it does, that numbers are recalculated, that figures are current, that quotes are accurate and that nothing is overstated. Anything that cannot be confirmed is removed or marked unverified. A human sense check and one round of amends follow, and each pack is released with a version number and date.
The working documents are not published here.They are shared in conversation, not on a public page. If this is the kind of thing your business needs, I am happy to walk you through them.
Ask to see them