Vegan Community Advocate

Vegan Society (The)
VO102011

Do you want to take part in vegan volunteering around your pocket of Scotland?
Our Advocates help out at events, write to their local MP, ask businesses to provide more vegan options, and find places to display our leaflets.

Every month, our Network choose from a range of outreach tasks. These could include town centre stalls, writing to a councillor or MP, sharing our campaigns on social media or contacting local businesses. You're in control of how much or how little you do.

What does the Advocate role involve?
Being an Advocate for veganism with The Vegan Society will mean communicating with people in your local community. You'll share the benefits of a vegan lifestyle. You will form part of a local group, headed up by a local Organiser. The Organiser will feed back your collective efforts to staff. You will also be invited to our private Facebook group, for vegan socialising and ideas sharing.

You’ll stay in touch with the Organiser and bring your passion to tasks. Activities can range from staffing a stall to giving a talk at an employee event. It could also mean writing to a local newspaper or lobbying an MP.

Messaging can differ every month. Part of our mission statement is to ensure people can remain vegan, so you might focus on getting more vegan options available in local businesses. Or within our Live Vegan for Less campaign, you may share cheap vegan recipes to help people with the cost of living.

What training and support is available?
You will be provided with a big welcome and full induction from your local Organiser. They will introduce you to the group and any actions that are ongoing. Any training and development will be provided via your Organiser, and you can also ask for specific training on any areas that you need some development in.

How much time do I need to invest?
For Advocates, we ask for people to engage in a minimum of four to six actions per year. An example of an action could be writing to an MP or holding a stall. But the more you can do, the better! On occasion, there may also be online meetings to plan for actions or provide training.

Experience required

The ability to stay motivated in order to achieve the best possible outcomes
Good email etiquette, responding in a timely manner
Committed to veganism and the mission of The Vegan Society
Ability to stay calm if confronted with differing opinions or challenges
A good communicator, with the ability to be persuasive
Confident in communicating with people from a range of backgrounds
Experience of campaigning
Any experience in talking with members of the public through customer/public service

I want to volunteer