What does the future look like for volunteering? We are seeing that volunteers are becoming harder to recruit and retain. Our Development Officer, Lizzie, offers her views in this insightful blog post.

This report outlines the findings from NCVO’s latest Time Well Spent research. It explores what volunteer participation and experience looks like in 2023, against a backdrop of five years of significant external change. And it considers how these insights can be used to improve volunteering.

Hambleton Community Action is being funded by the National Lottery and North Yorkshire Council to research supported volunteering practices, develop organisation networks and develop a toolkit of advice and support. If your organisation offers supported volunteering opportunities or are engaging with volunteers who have additional support needs, or would you like to, and you’re interested in finding out more about removing barriers to volunteering - please get in touch with Daisy.Ellis@hambletoncommunityaction.org

Ripon BID, working with Volunteering City of Ripon project, have launched a Volunteering Hub, which will focus on one-off and group opportunities to encourage local businesses to support local projects. If you have a community project or one off task in the area that could do with the help of some extra pairs of hands you can add your opportunity to the Hub.

Across the month of July, communities across the United Kingdom celebrated National Pride Month. In this post, Woosh Raza, NCVO's director of people, culture and inclusion, and Shani Newbold, managing partner for Cadence Partners, share their thoughts on intersectionality. 

The final of four reports from the #iwillFund Learning Hub, focuses on the benefits that youth social action provides and the potential impact it can have on the outcomes of young people and their communities.

Volunteer recruitment is a rising concern, with 63% of small charities worried, according to a new survey by Pro Bono Economics (PBE) and Nottingham Trent University. Nonetheless, the survey suggests growing optimism in the sector following months of financial hardship associated with the cost-of-living crisis.

A survey of young people investigating their engagement with volunteering, based on data from Ipsos’ omnibus survey of secondary school pupils across Scotland, has found a marked decline in volunteering participation between 2019-2022.

In this blog post, Meridian Swift, discussed volunteer sustainability and the sustainability of the volunteer manager. Who sustains us? Who nurtures and supports us? How do we keep from becoming burned-out or depleted?

Why are many older people missing out on the benefits of giving back to their community? The Centre for Ageing Better Programme Manager, Rachel Monaghan, looks at what can be done to make volunteering opportunities accessible to all ages.

National charity, Linking Lives UK, has recently developed a volunteer training session aimed at volunteers operating in community spaces such as lunch clubs, community cafes, drop-in centres or warm spaces. Lasting for two hours and run as a webinar, the course covers subjects such as ‘effective listening skills’, ‘boundaries’ and ‘safeguarding’.

The cost is £5 and there are dates available in July and August.

Nominations for the 2024 The King’s Award for Voluntary Service are now open!

Nominations must be submitted by 15 September. Find out more about how to nominate a local group near you here.