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Being easy to contact by phone

People expect to be able to contact your group by phone. We recommend that you purchase a dedicated landline or mobile phone for making and receiving calls on our behalf.

A dedicated phone line

Your phone line is the way people usually contact your group. You don't have to install a dedicated phone line but we recommend you do for these reasons:

  • By setting up a dedicated phone line, you don't have to publicise anyone's private number
  • You can easily keep track of phone expenses
  • It makes it simple to transfer calls to another number when your main contact is away - and if your contact person changes or steps down, the same number can be transferred to another phone line
  • Using a dedicated line and not a personal number keeps the person calling safe and keeps the person answering safe

Dedicated answer times

Your phone line is not an emergency service – you are not expected to deal with calls at all hours of the day and night. You may consider setting dedicated answering times to enable you to concentrate fully on calls and manage your volunteering commitment. Just make sure your answerphone message lets callers know when to expect a response.

Your answerphone message

A dedicated answerphone is important to ensure the person calling is reassured they have called the right number and will know that you will call them back.

  1. Download our guide - How to be easy to contact by phone

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