Volunteering changes similar to changes in television viewing

Volunteering is not declining, it has just changed.

Data shows that rates of formal volunteering have been declining across the UK for a few years now, but does this actually mean the desire to volunteer is declining?

The short answer is no. Volunteering is not declining but the culture of volunteering has fundamentally and permanently changed.

The simplest comparison to help explain is looking at the viewing figures of broadcast television. These have been in heavy decline for more than a decade now. Does this mean television is in decline? No, the way people watch television has changed and some may argue that this has actually increased the desire to watch television output, just not on traditional television broadcast channels.

We now watch television in far more flexible ways, on demand, in a way that suits us, whether streaming or downloading to watch later (e.g. whilst we travel to work). Recently the news reported that YouTube has become the UK’s second most-watched media service, behind only the BBC which has the successful iPlayer platform.

Just as television is not in decline, it has just changed, the same is happening with volunteering. The old days of a charity asking for someone to volunteer a day a week for the rest of their life are gone. People still have the strong desire to volunteer but they want to do it when suits them, to meet their more complicated and diverse personal schedules.

They don’t want to wait weeks or months to start volunteering, they want to begin straight away. Unfortunately, the voluntary and community sector is not ready, speaking generally, for this at the moment and many volunteer involving organisations (VIOs) have actually moved in the opposite direction, being more safeguarding conscious and requiring longer onboarding periods for new volunteers. The result is a decline in formal volunteering.

This move to flexible volunteering is not new and started more than ten years ago, but grew slowly and then accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis. This change is here to stay and the sector has a long way to go to adapt fully. It must be noted that many organisations have adapted or trying to adapt and are getting great results but it is not a one-size-fits-all approach and each individual organisations needs to adapt in a way that is right for them and the resources they have (or don’t have).

VIOs now have to work harder and smarter to recruit and retain volunteers but this also follows, in addition, more than ten years of austerity and further and continuing economic hardship. This also contributes to the decline in formal volunteering in the traditional way.

Looking at volunteering overall, however, it is not in decline, volunteering has just changed and the sector is still trying to adapt during an economically very challenging era.