Reflecting on volunteering

As Volunteers' Week ends, it is a good time to take stock and to reflect on what we know about volunteering, its contribution to society, and how it is changing.

It is hard to think of an area of life that volunteers don’t contribute to. Some are well recognised: the volunteers who help us navigate the confusing corridors of large hospitals or bring trolleys around the wards, volunteers that help our children learn to read in schools or organise endless bake sales and other fundraising events, the volunteers that guide us around National Trust properties or help clear paths and maintain habitats for us to enjoy at the local Wildlife Trust, or the countless volunteers that help run sports clubs, arts groups and museums.

Other areas of volunteering are less recognised. For Volunteers Week a few years ago, a Guardian article reported on the five weirdest volunteers role, including mascot surgeon, chicken knitter, pudding chaser, fiddle playing bird, astronaut twins – in the decade since the article was written, there would be many more examples to add! Less ‘weird’, but also often forgotten or not thoughts of as volunteering are all those people that help their elderly neighbours with the weekly shop or the activists tirelessly campaigning to create much needed change on issues such as climate and social justice.

The value of all this volunteering is hard to capture. Figures for its financial value vary dramatically, but all point to the significant contribution that volunteering makes to the UK economy. It can reduce strain on public services; it can help to strengthen communities. On an individual level, volunteering has been found to contribute -amongst other things - to well-being; to mental and to physical health. It is important to recognise, though, that volunteering does not always lead to positive outcomes: understanding when and why is important.

What trends are we seeing?

The latest Community Life Survey reports that levels of volunteering are down – in 2023/24 28% of England’s adult population took part in formal volunteering at least once in the year, compared to 45% in 2013/14; 44% took part in informal volunteering at least once over 12 months during 2023/24, compared to 58% in 2013/2014. And according to NCVO’s latest Time Well Spent research, those that are volunteering, report lower levels of satisfaction.

The decline in volunteer numbers is inevitably being felt by volunteer-involving organisations, many of which are reporting challenges in both recruiting and retaining volunteers. A 2024 report from the VCSE sector barometer survey run by Pro Bono Economics and Nottingham Trent University, for example, found that six in ten organisations faced challenges in volunteer recruitment, whilst four in ten said that they lacked sufficient volunteers to meet their primary objectives.

These trends stand in contrast to much of the media coverage of volunteering during the pandemic, which tended to highlight the numbers of people getting involved in their local communities to help with the distribution of food and medical supplies. Whilst some organisations and mutual aid groups saw their volunteer numbers soar during the pandemic, many others experienced the opposite. COVID is now more associated with a decline in volunteering, rather than a boost, although to what extent the pandemic is ‘to blame’ is a moot point.

These figures also seem to stand in contrast to many surveys which often suggest that people intend to volunteer or are ready to step up and volunteer if only they are asked to do so. A 2023 survey by the National Lottery Community Fund found that half of the adults who responded intended to take part in local volunteering activities in the coming year. The Time Well Spent survey found that approximately one-fifth of people who hadn’t volunteered recently said that it was because they hadn’t been asked.

So, what is going on?

If what was stopping people volunteering was not being asked, then surely it would be fairly easy to resolve the decline in number of people getting involved – we’d just need to find new ways of asking more people to step up and help out? That might be a start. Volunteer-involving organisations, though, are struggling to prioritise the resources they would need to recruit and retain volunteers. Whilst there has been a proliferation of online platforms to match potential volunteers with opportunities, there has been a decline in local volunteering infrastructure which supported a more person-centred approach.

But the reality is that simply asking more people to get involved is unlikely to turn the tide on declining volunteer numbers. There are more entrenched issues at play. Volunteering is itself affected by some of the structural inequalities which it often seeks to challenge. The Community Life Survey shows you are more likely to volunteer if you live in a more affluent area. You are more likely to volunteer if you have a higher managerial, administrative and professional occupation. Your level of education also makes a difference to the chances of you volunteering. Wider research, based on international comparisons, shows that higher levels of volunteering are associated with lower levels of income inequality.

Volunteering is not just a matter of having a reason to do it; or even having a reason and being asked. Research shows that in order to volunteer people need a combination of motivation, opportunity, and resource. Having the resources to volunteer, is not just about being reimbursed any out of pocket expenses. It is also about time – often identified as the biggest barrier to volunteering. And human and cultural capital, including having the self-belief and confidence that you have what it is that people are looking for in volunteers. Addressing this is not an individual responsibility.

To sustain the future of volunteering, we need to think about how we can reframe volunteering as something that people want to get involved in, about how we create opportunities which are appealing, meaningful and inclusive. But we also need to pay attention to tackling the wider, more entrenched, issues that mean that volunteering, and its benefits, is more of a possibility for some than it is for others.

To learn more about how the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School supports voluntary sector leadership, research, and innovation, visit our website and explore our latest insights and programmes.