Bridging The Gap

Successful Volunteer Management Conference

Gloucester, 24th May 2012

Who am I?

• Worked in sector since 1994• Strategic roles in national charities• Six years in fundraising • Director at Volunteering England• Now Director of Rob Jackson Consulting Ltd

– Engaging and inspiring people to bring about change

• Active volunteer– School governor, former trustee, online

Bridging The Gap

The volunteering landscape

A few words about the statistics that follow

• Formal volunteering is that done through an organisation

• How you ask about volunteering affects the response rate

• Consequently data varies from report to report depending on methodology

Levels of volunteering in the UK

• 39% of UK adults did formal volunteering at least once in the year up to March 2011– 25% at least once a month

• In 2008/09 13.5m gave time in the previous year and spent an average of 12.6 hours volunteering in the previous four weeks.– That 170.1m hours, 7m days, 1m weeks, 19.5k years!

• Levels of formal volunteering have been largely static over the last decade

Source: Citizenship Survey 2011 & 2008-09

Levels of formal volunteering

Proportion of people volunteering formally

010

2030

4050

2001 2003 2005 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11

Year

%

At least once a month At least once a year

Why people volunteer (%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70 I wanted to improvethings/help people

Cause was importantto me

I had spare time

Meet people/makefriends

Use my skills

Learn new skills

Source: Citizenship Survey 2008-09

What prevents people volunteering (%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60 Work commitments

Looking afterchildren/home

Have other things todo with my sparetime

Haven't hear aboutopportunities

Don't know groupsthat need help

Source: Citizenship Survey 2008-09

What volunteers do

• Activity– Raising or handling

money (52%)– Organising or helping

to run an activity or event (59%)

• Field– Sport and exercise

(52%)– Hobbies, recreation,

arts & social clubs (40%)

– Children’s education/schools (34%)

– Religion (33%)

Source: Citizenship Survey 2008-09

Bridging The Gap

Volunteering doesn’t exist in a bubble

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85

201020152020

Thousands

Source: nfpSynergy - Population Projections/National Statistics/nVision Base: UK ; 21774: The New Demographic Landscape

Age structure of the UK population

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,00019

71

1974

1977

1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

2013

2016

2019

2022

2025

2028

2031

Married couple

Cohabiting couple

Lone parent

Other multi-person

One person

Thousands

Source: nfpSynergy - Department for Communities and Local Government/nVision Base: England; 8165: The New Demographic Landscape

Number of households, trend and forecast by household type

Choice

• TV channels– When I was a child there

were three in the UK– Now there are 527!

• Drinks• Supermarkets

– Much wider choice of food than 20 years ago

– Now sell financial products, clothes, furniture, legal advice

The social media revolution

Internet growth

In Dec 1995, 16m people(0.4% of global population)were on the internet.

In December 2000 it was361m (5.8%).

In December 2005, 1.018bn(15.7%).

In June 2011, 2.11bn (30.4%)

Internet use by UK adults

Source: ONS (2010)

A one slide summary

• The world has changed quite significantly in the last decade (& will do even more in future) but:– Levels of volunteering haven’t– The ways organisations involve volunteers

haven’t changed much either (and are largely process driven)

The challenge we face

• Disconnect (growing?) between what people want from volunteering and what organisations are offering

• The need to embrace different approaches to getting and keeping volunteers

• We’re not competing for volunteers but for people’s spare time

Bridging The Gap

Bridging the gap

• What people are looking for in volunteering

• How organisations are engaging volunteers

• Actions to ‘bridge the gap’

Source: Bridging The Gap (2011)

What did they find?

• The legacy of uber-volunteers

• Potential of past volunteers

• Gaps & why they exist

• How we can respond

The uber-volunteer

• 31% of the adult population provide almost 90% of volunteer hours

• 8% of the adult population provide almost half the volunteer hours

Source: Mohan, J – What do volunteering statistics tellus about the prospects for the Big Society? (2010)

Potential of past volunteers

• Most promising opportunity to engage more volunteers is amongst past volunteers

• We have to understand and address their issues

• UK data– 1 in 5 people had

volunteered but weren’t now

– Changes in personal circumstances the main reason

– 54% of non-volunteers would like to volunteer

• Your organisation?

Source: Helping Out (2007)

Gaps

• People want group activities but there are few on offer

• People come with skills but don’t always want to use them

• We have clearly defined roles but volunteers want to shape their own roles

• We want long-term volunteers but people want shorter term, flexible ways to engage

• We focus on our needs but volunteers have their own goals

Source: Bridging The Gap (2011)

Why these gaps?

• Motivations, availabilities and interests change during our lives

• Volunteering is a two-way relationship• Skills transfer and development is

important• Time is our most valuable resource• In other words, today’s volunteers are

different!

How can we respond?

• Optimal formula to build organisational capacity and strategically engage volunteers– Design specific, set roles and be open to volunteers

determining the scope of what they can offer.– Match skills to the needs of the organisation but don’t

assume that everyone wants to use the skills related to their profession, trade, or education.

– Be well organised but not too bureaucratic.

Source: Bridging The Gap (2011)

How can we respond?

• Re-think how we involve people to achieve our mission

• Focus more on what needs doing than on how and when it is done

• Be flexible and provide greater choice• Provide opportunities for online engagement• Build meaningful relationships with volunteers

Source: Bridging The Gap (2011)

“Improving participation opportunities requires starting where people are and taking account of their concerns and interests, providing a range of opportunities and levels of involvement so people can feel comfortable with taking part and using the personal approach to invite and welcome people in.”

Pathways Through Participation

To reflect on

• What has struck you most from the presentation and why?

• How do you see these trends and issues impacting on volunteering with your organisation?

• What actions could you take to ‘bridge the gap’ and what help might you need?

Useful reading/resources

• 21st Century Volunteer – nfpSynergy• Bridging the Gap – Volunteer Canada• Participation: trends, facts and figures – NCVO• Helping Out: National Survey of Volunteering

and Charitable Giving – Institute for Volunteering Research

• Pathways Through Participation – NCVO, Involve and Institute for Volunteering Research

• The New Breed – Thomas and Jonathan McKee

How to get in touch

Email: rob@robjacksonconsulting.com

Phone: 07557 419 074

Web: www.robjacksonconsulting.com

Twitter: @robjconsulting

Blog: www.robjacksonconsulting.blogspot.com