Volunteering In Challenging Times

Over the past two years the number of people volunteering in England has dropped sharply. According to the Government’s Community Life Survey 2021/22, only 16% took part in formal volunteering (through an organisation or group) at least once a month, down from 23% in 2019/2020. 

Preliminary results from NVCO’s Time Well Spent show that satisfaction with volunteering has declined and various local reports show that voluntary organisations do not have enough people coming forward to volunteer.

In this article, Mike Locke, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, looks at the reasons why the number of people who work as volunteers has fallen, and looks at where we can go from here.