Recession – good or bad for volunteering?

I am not surprised to see Volunteering England’s latest research findings published today – the recession is increasing demand for volunteering placements. It’s hardly rocket science to see why this is the case, especially as it comes on the back of a lot of work in recent years to promote volunteering and highlight the potential for it to develop skills and build your CV.

Volunteer Centres have always been a barometer for changes in the volunteering movement; their activity has been a clear indication in the growth that we have seen. I think that the fact they have done this when they face continual battles for resources is a mark of their dedication and commitment to the importance of volunteering within our communities.

But – this extra work for Volunteer Centres means that there are additional pressures on volunteer involving organisations. Volunteering may be freely given, but it is not cost free. Involving volunteers has financial implications for organisations, and it is worrying to see at a time of increased volunteering that some organisations are reducing their volunteer management capacity (last week I heard of yet another national organisation doing this).

I wonder how many volunteer involving organisations have thought about the value of the gift of time their volunteers give them, looked at how much they would invest in their fundraising efforts to secure this level of income and then invested the same in their volunteer management. I’m fairly sure that they are few and far between. Similarly, I wonder whether volunteer involving organisations have looked at how much they invest in each of their members of staff (recruitment, management, development) and applied a similar figure to their volunteers.

Yes, Volunteer Centres need funding – and it’s about time there was a national agreement for this to happen. But Volunteer Management needs investment as well. Volunteer involving organisations need to be realistic about the costs they face in securing and maintaining their volunteering programme, adding these as core costs, and ensuring that their Volunteer Manager has an appropriately senior role. This is not a time for cutting resources allocated to volunteering, it’s a time for investment by government and volunteer involving organisations.

We all need to accept the reality that Volunteer Centres and volunteer management cannot continue to deliver the nation’s vision for volunteering if they are not invested in; if investment continues to be cut during the recession not only will volunteering suffer, so will the all of our communities – especially those who are most vulnerable. And we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?

Chris Penberthy is Managing Director of Red Foundation and South West Regional Chair of the England Volunteering Development Council; he was formerly Chief Executive of Volunteer Development England and a Director of Volunteering England - Chris blogs in a personal capacity.