Use your volunteering day to make a real difference



Volunteer, fundraise, and make a lasting impact with
Blue Light Card Foundation

Through your partnership with Blue Light Card Foundation, you have the opportunity to support charities that improve the wellbeing of the emergency services community.
Whether you want to share your professional skills, get involved in grant-making, support events, or take on a fundraising challenge, there are flexible ways to use your paid volunteering day to create meaningful impact.
Choose the opportunity that suits you best and help us support those who dedicate their lives to helping others.


Why get involved

Your time, skills, and enthusiasm can make a genuine difference to charities working on the front line of wellbeing support for emergency service personnel.

By getting involved, you can:

  • Use your paid volunteering day in a meaningful way through opportunities tailored to your interests and availability.
  • Share your professional skills with small charities that need extra capacity and specialist support.
  • Help shape grant decisions that support vital wellbeing services.
  • Support fundraising and awareness events that bring our mission to life.
  • Be part of something tangible, seeing first-hand the difference your contribution makes.

Choose how you'd like to support.

We offer several ways for you to get involved.

Some opportunities are one-off activities, while others can be spread over several weeks, such as one hour per week across a set period.


Back the Badge fundraising challenges

Take on a fundraising challenge as an individual or team, with Blue Light Card Foundation supporting your place.

Through Back the Badge, we can fund the cost of selected charity challenge places, and participants raise money to support our work.

Choose from a range of challenge events, including:

  • Marathons & Half Marathons
  • 10Ks & 5Ks
  • Tough Mudders
  • Inflatable Obstacle Courses 

We cover the cost of event entry, allowing participants to focus on their challenge while raising vital funds to support emergency service personnel.

Help Create Wellbeing Spaces

For those who enjoy hands-on volunteering and seeing the impact of their efforts immediately, our Workplace Wellbeing programme offers a unique opportunity to make a lasting difference.

Every year we run the work place wellbeing fund, emergency service workers apply for £2,000 to create a wellbeing space, who gets the funding is decided by a member vote. Once the winners are announced we provide grants of up to £2,000 to emergency service teams to create or improve wellbeing spaces within their workplace.

These projects are designed to give staff somewhere to rest, recover, reflect and connect during and after demanding shifts. Volunteers can help bring these spaces to life by supporting practical improvement projects such as:

  • Painting and decorating crew rooms and wellbeing areas.
  • Building or refreshing outdoor spaces.
  • Planting trees, shrubs and sensory gardens.
  • Creating quiet reflection areas.
  • Assembling furniture and equipment.
  • General maintenance and improvement work

Get involved in granting

This is a particularly rewarding opportunity for employees who want to see how funding decisions are made and understand more about the charities working to support emergency service wellbeing.
Depending on the opportunity and your availability, you may be able to support parts of the grant-making journey, including:

  • Reviewing applications
  • Supporting due diligence
  • Assessing impact and value for money
  • Contributing to recommendations
  • Helping us communicate outcomes to applicants

 

One of the most meaningful parts of this process is helping share good news with successful applicants – knowing that vital wellbeing support will reach the emergency services community.

Cook up a storm

Sometimes the simplest ideas have the biggest impact. Whether it’s a bake sale, cake competition, breakfast morning, office lunch, BBQ, coffee morning or team bake-off, food-based fundraising is a fantastic way to bring colleagues together while supporting the emergency services community.

These activities are easy to organise, can involve people of all ages and abilities, and are a great option for those who want to make a difference without taking on a physical challenge. Ideas include:

  • Bake sales
  • Coffee mornings
  • Breakfast fundraisers
  • Office bake-offs and competitions
  • Cultural food celebrations

 

Not only do these events raise vital funds, but they also create opportunities for colleagues to connect, have fun and learn more about the impact their support is making. Every slice sold, cup poured and cake baked helps us support the people who dedicate their lives to helping others.

Foundation events and awareness activities

Support Blue Light Card Foundation at events and awareness activities throughout the year.

This could include helping us:

  • Represent the Foundation at community and partner events
  • Support fundraisers taking on personal challenges
  • Promote our work and spread the message
  • Get involved in open days or station-based activities
  • Take part in events such as firefighter stair challenges and similar initiatives

 

This is a great option for employees who enjoy in-person activity, teamwork, and ambassador-style volunteering.

Share your skills with funded charities

Support one of the charities we award grants to by offering your professional skills and expertise.

We can match employees with charities that would benefit from practical support in areas such as planning, finance, HR, marketing, communications, operations, digital, strategy, project management, or other specialist expertise.

This could be delivered in a way that works for you and your employer, for example:

  • One full volunteering day
  • A half-day project
  • One hour a week over 8 weeks
  • A time-limited mentoring or advisory arrangement

 

This kind of support can save charities money, strengthen their capacity, and help them expand their impact.

Opportunity currently closed – Reopens Summer 2026