Bradford City of Culture: Connecting communities through volunteering

Introduction

Bradford 2025, the UK’s City of Culture, is delivering a year of culture, creativity, and arts shaped by one of the country’s youngest and most diverse populations. 

With more than 2,000 volunteers registered and over 1,000 events across the district, the volunteer programme goes beyond event delivery. It aims to strengthen community belonging, empower local people, and ensure that Bradford’s cultural celebration is accessible to everyone.

To support this ambitious vision, Bradford 2025 uses Rosterfy as its core volunteer management platform. The result is a modern, inclusive and scalable programme that reflects the vibrancy and diversity of the district.

The Challenge

Bradford is home to more than 150 ethnic groups, 13 major languages, and a large youth population. Many residents come from minority or migrant backgrounds, while others face accessibility barriers, low confidence, or limited experience with formal volunteering.

Bradford 2025 set out to:

• Break down cultural, linguistic and logistical barriers to participation
• Create a simple, accessible, and welcoming volunteer journey
• Build a volunteer workforce that truly represents the district
• Enable collaboration between cultural, arts and heritage organisations
• Manage over 1,000 events with a streamlined, digital-first approach

To achieve this at scale required technology that could support multilingual access, centralised data, and inclusive recruitment processes.

The Solution

Rosterfy provides Bradford 2025 with a complete volunteer management solution that enables accessible engagement, data-driven planning, and smooth coordination across the district.

Key capabilities include:

• Accessible and inclusive experiences
• Translating the volunteer portal and training content into 13 languages, including support for British Sign Language (BSL)
• Allowing volunteers to record access needs during sign-up so support can be tailored
• Providing a user-friendly portal and mobile app for people of all ages and abilities
• Data-driven programme design
• Collecting demographic and representation data to identify gaps
• Analysing volunteer trends to improve equity and outreach strategies
• Centralising volunteer records for use across cultural and arts partners
• Digital-first recruitment and self-service
• Enabling volunteers to explore roles, view shift details, and choose flexible opportunities
• Allowing online registration without long or confusing forms
• Empowering volunteers to manage their own profiles, schedules and availability
• Collaboration across the district
• A single, centralised database shared with local organisations
• Supporting community-led recruitment through libraries, places of worship, community centres and partner networks
• Allowing Bradford 2025 to take volunteering directly into communities

The Impact

Bradford 2025 has built one of the UK’s most accessible, representative volunteer programmes, reflecting the richness of its communities and creating long-term opportunities for participation.

Measurable outcomes

• 1,000 events powered by volunteer support
• 2,000 volunteers registered through Rosterfy
• 13 languages available across the volunteer portal

Community impact

• A volunteer base with strong representation across ethnically diverse communities
• 25% of volunteers aged 18–27, strengthening youth engagement
• Increased accessibility for individuals with disabilities and people with access needs
• Lower barriers to participation through multilingual resources and flexible roles
• Stronger district-wide partnerships through a centralised system

Lasting legacy

The Bradford 2025 volunteer programme is building more than event capacity. It is empowering local people, building confidence, developing new skills, and fostering a sense of belonging. With Rosterfy, Bradford 2025 is laying the foundations for long-term community participation that will continue long after the year of culture concludes.