The VCSE Barometer is a quarterly survey of at least 50 different Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE) organisations and networks in the United Kingdom (UK). It's designed and conducted by Nottingham Trent University’s National VCSE Data and Insights Observatory. The aim of the survey is to provide a high-level view of the UK VCSE landscape for policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders. The sixth report (Wave 6) was released in May 2024. This report focused on what (if anything) has changed in 12 months (since Wave 3 in May 2023) when it comes to recruiting and retaining volunteers.

We know everyone is super short on time, so, here is a one-page summary of the eleven paged document Present Struggles, Past Origins: Current Challenges in Volunteering Amidst Two Decades of Decline by Post Doctoral Researcher, Dr Ben Evans.

Leading barriers to volunteering include a lack of spare time (due to work and family commitments) and a lack of interest in volunteering (ouch - time to spice up your volunteer advertisements!). The good news is, the number of volunteers is stabilising with less organisations reporting fewer volunteers (don't get too excited, we're at a 20-year low in terms of volunteer numbers).

We're not going to lie, we find it ironic that 61% of organisations indicated they find recruiting volunteers difficult. More, a whopping 84% of organisations surveyed indicate that their dominant method for recruiting volunteers is word of mouth.

The real kicker is .. one in five individuals claim they have never been asked to volunteer (FYI, this is a worldwide nugget of feedback). Not drawing too long a bow here - but perhaps word of mouth isn't stretching far enough. As Gethyn Williams, volunteering strategy and non-profit expert said, this could "lead only to the involvement of more people like us, to the detriment of increased volunteer diversity".

If you want access to new pools of volunteers, adopting more diverse channels of communication is crucial. Try adopting the channel your target audience uses (then another target audience and channel and repeat). Case in point: here in Australia, our VIOs are tasked with increasing engagement with their First Nations people, newly arrived migrants, people with disability, vulnerable women, unemployed and young people. To do this, many of VIOs have adopted innovative and collaborative ways to connect with these groups (online and offline).

The report indicated one in three VIOs find it difficult to retain volunteers (little has changed in 12 months). The main reason for the revolving door of volunteers is due to changes in their personal life (such as an increase in family or work commitments). This in turn creates greater reliance on a smaller number of volunteers who are more likely to burn out or feel the commitment is too large (both also cited in respondent feedback).

Another lightbulb moment is the fact many VIOs use training and development to retain volunteers. Think about it - asking time poor volunteers to invest more time in training and development. SURELY there must be another way. What about capturing skills development WHILE volunteering? (Hello, Social CV).


Finally, Gethyn Williams highlighted four recommendations:
< Tailor recruitment / retention strategies for each volunteer segment
< Integrate flexible and virtual volunteering
< Highlight volunteer benefits your VIO offers in your volunteering ads
< Keep diversity and inclusion in mind

Some comments:
< Try advertising on social media to reach younger audiences and consider partnering strategically with relevant sector, corporate or support organisations.
< Are you making it easy for everyone to participate? Virtual volunteering alleviates pressure for the time poor, physically impaired and even people living remotely to contribute to your organisation.
< Volunteers won't know about the benefits your VIO offers to them if you don't tell them up front. Your volunteer recruitment advert is a great place to promote this ... and also if your role is open to people wishing to complete it remotely.
< Diverse recruitment methods will lead to a more diverse group of volunteers - and that's when the magic happens! Think beyond the methods of word of mouth, social media and the noticeboard at the local supermarket.

If this quick summary has piqued your interest, you can read the 11 page summary by Dr Ben Evans here: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/2391840/VCSE-barometer-wave-6-report-may-2024.pdf