A City Wide Volunteer Program with Matt Doherty

Meet Matt Doherty, City Volunteer Manager for Greater London Authority.

Having worked alongside some of the world’s largest events including The European Championships, Commonwealth Games, The Australian Open and now the Euros, Matt is no stranger to engaging with volunteers in a large capacity.

In this episode of the podcast we get an in-depth look at Greater London Authority’s legacy project from the 2012 Games - Team London - an incredible example of how cities can engage with their communities through a centralised, city wide volunteer program.

After the success of the London Olympics and a renewed interest in volunteering, the city of London made the sustainable move to invest in a volunteer management program, designed to provide year round opportunities for individuals looking to volunteer. From major events to community volunteering and serving the third sector, Team London has around 15,000 engaged volunteers for the community to utilize.

In this podcast, Matt shares how programs such as Team London have been instrumental in supporting London’s major events like The Euros but also, more importantly, how volunteers were able to be utilized by the NHS at hospitals and vaccination centres during the peak of the pandemic which many cities around the work can relate to.

This episode of the podcast was hosted by Shannan Gove.