Meet Laura Dempsey, the founder of Volunteers for Future

Selin Yigitbasi-Ducker

Verified writer

PUBLISHED ON March 8, 2020

The first post of our interview series of "women making impactful change" for the International Women's Day

Hear about how Laura is delivering lasting and impactful change by empowering young people to become active citizens in their communities.

What is Volunteers for Future? 

Volunteers for Future is a social enterprise delivering free conservation education to young people in schools throughout the UK. 

By harnessing the power of collaboration, and by working in partnership with leading conservation organisations to boost their educational outreach through skilled, diverse and motivated volunteers, Laura is aiming to reach as many young people as possible throughout the UK, helping them to feel inspired, empowered and better informed about climate change. 

Assembling teams of volunteers to deliver assembly sessions and workshops to primary schools in the London area, Laura has focussed on wildlife conservation and climate change education workshops thus far, aiming to deepen young people’s knowledge of the climate change challenges we are now facing. Enabling young people to explore their own values and attitudes around the topic, and helping them develop the key skills they need to feel empowered and take positive action, Laura provides her volunteers with all necessary training, materials and resources, enabling young people to meet and collaborate with like-minded individuals all the while doing something great for their local communities. 

What has been one of your greatest achievements so far? 

Having just recently launched Volunteers for Future earlier this year, Laura is already reaching young people in their communities across the UK, and realising the value of her new model as she continues to receive an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from her network partners, and increasing number of people eager to partner with her and support her in reaching her three target audience - conservation charities, schools and volunteers. 

Laura and the VFF volunteers have already successfully run assemblies and workshops with over 200 children in partnership with WWF at John Donne Primary School in Peckham.

What advice would you give other female entrepreneurs?  

For Laura, the key to successfully starting up your own business is building and nurturing a great network of supporters around you. While building a social enterprise from the ground up can be a lonely and sometimes challenging endeavour, it’s important to remember to ask for help, to build friendships, and to offer your support in return when you can. That’s because your network is going to help you grow, be successful, and carry you through both the highs and lows of that success. 

Want to empower young people to become active citizens for our planet? Laura is looking for volunteers to deliver assembly sessions and workshops to primary schools in the London area.  
 

Explore Goodsted opportunities here to offer your support! 

Topics: International Women's Day