My submission to @NCVO’s 2015 Project on Volunteering

In reply to ncvo’s discussion paper for the #2015project There are some very odd things going on in volunteering at the moment:

• 1) Statutory bodies are increasingly recruiting volunteers directly as it’s cheaper than contracting a voluntary organisation to do it.

• 2) Increasingly front line organisations cannot afford to provide the infrastructure for volunteer placements when they have PBR monthly targets. 

• 3) private sector bodies (predominantly around sports) have learnt through social media metrics that recruiting volunteers as event organisers is both a cheaper deliver mechanism and also adds to the buzz surrounding the event.

So we're having private and statutory moving into a space where smaller voluntary organisations are retreating from. And the social attitudes surveys tells us people (especially young people) are more cause driven, but less motivated by sectors.

I think in time volunteering/ participation/ involvement will become mainstream, and the organisational framework will learn to sit better around larger groups of knowledgeable activists in some ways a return to the philanthropic organisations of the 12C albeit with more external focus. How this fits with a massive increase in opportunities on Do-it (and what succeeds it) and increasing health and social care needs as the state retreats and the family doesn't step in - I don't quite know.

I’m enthusiastic about the future of www.do-it.org.uk as I like the shared infrastructure principle (small and large orgs have the same way of attracting supporter) but also the critical mass we’re talking about needs a single focus. It’s still 9% of the population who do more than half the volunteering hours. Things like www.wewillgather.co.uk are great, but they rely on the same small number of people to deliver. A bit like the lurkers – maybe we need a strategy to increase the number of creators and contributors from the 90% of lurkers..?

 
As a trustee of InvolveYH we're looking at how we can involve more people in helping delivering our work, with different levels of involvement depending on people's knowledge and time offered. We think this will help us grow our supporter base whether we call them 'volunteers' or not.