How to become a core volunteer?

This project explores how frequent volunteers at Losæter can become core members who help keep the community garden running. Through two gigamaps, it maps the past and present experience and explores future ideas for sharing knowledge and responsibility while keeping Losæter informal and welcoming.

It was easy to feel part of Losæter’s community. The people I met on Wednesdays welcomed me quickly, and I soon felt at ease.

But I discovered that some community members who had volunteered for years still received tasks in much the same way as someone arriving for the first time. They would find the city gardener and ask, “Please give us work!” I also learned that self-organised volunteer groups were active at Losæter, but information about them was difficult to find. Understanding how to join often depended on knowing the right person.

This raised the question behind my project: how might we help frequent volunteers become core volunteers who can keep Losæter going, even when the people carrying it today choose different paths?

The project focuses on the journey between regularly helping and taking shared responsibility within a volunteer group. Here, a core volunteer means someone who helps organise activities, passes on knowledge, and supports the group’s continuity.

The past-and-present gigamap explores what makes this transition from frequent volunteer to core volunteer difficult today. The future gigamap brings together possible ways to make groups more visible, share practical knowledge and support people in trying new responsibilities. The aim is to help Losæter remain welcoming and informal while making it easier for volunteers to act independently. These ideas are proposals to explore with the community; their effects have not yet been tested.

I am an Estonian UI/UX designer and soon-to-be service designer. I have lived in Oslo for the past year and will graduate from AHO next semester. Before that, I studied product design at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

I also have a dog and love spending time in nature, so I think I’m settling into Norwegian life quite well.

What drew me to this topic was the gap between feeling welcome and knowing how to become more involved. At Losæter, people were open to conversation and naturally included newcomers. Yet returning regularly did not necessarily give volunteers more independence or a voice in planning activities.

I wanted to understand what could help people take that next step, if they wanted to. The existing group leaders also needed help, while worrying that more structure could make volunteering feel like work. That tension became central to my project. How could responsibility be shared in a way that protects the warmth and freedom that make people want to be there?

The past-and-present gigamap looks at becoming a core volunteer through the everyday experience of taking part in Losæter. It brings together a volunteer journey, comments from volunteers and an overview of the groups connected to the area.

The journey shows how people find out about Losæter, arrive on a Wednesday, look for someone who can give them a task and join the community dinner. Alongside this welcoming social experience, the map reveals a dependence on personal introductions and instructions.

Frequent volunteers can remain in the same position as newcomers, waiting for someone else to decide what they should do. The group overview adds another layer: people need to know which groups exist, who is involved, and how they might join before they can take a more active role.

The future gigamap explores how frequent volunteers could gradually take more responsibility within Losæter’s volunteer groups.

Its starting point is the balance between chaos and order. Losæter may seem spontaneous, but the activities that bring people back depend on knowledge, routines and care. A little more clarity could help people contribute while keeping the experience informal.

The map groups possible interventions under five themes: finding the balance between chaos and order, improving knowledge about existing groups, improving knowledge about shared space usage, starting a volunteer group and matching skills to the right group. Together, these themes explore how someone might move from asking for a task to helping shape an activity and supporting others. They also leave room for volunteers who simply want to help occasionally.

Read the themes as connected possibilities. Clear group information and recognizable clothing could make it easier to find someone to talk to. Introductions to the garden and baking house could help volunteers understand how to use shared spaces. Learning alongside experienced members could prepare people to try a small responsibility, while a simple starting route could help a new group form.

My idea of a graduation ceremony explores how this transition might be celebrated, without making recognition depend on becoming a leader.

The desirable future is a community where knowledge and responsibility are shared, allowing people to join, grow into roles and take breaks.

The undesirable future imagines what could happen if too much depends on a few tired people: activities fade, fewer volunteers join and Losæter loses support. This is a speculative worst-case scenario, not a prediction.

A next step would be to discuss the ideas with volunteers and try a small intervention, such as a group information board, to learn whether it actually makes participation easier.