Volunteering: The Facts

Join us in celebrating the launch of Volunteers' Week (June 1 – 7) as we take a look at some key sector facts and reinforce how we support and sustain community engagement in our manifesto.

Volunteers' Week is an annual event organised by Volunteering England to recognise the contribution of millions of volunteers across the UK, raise the profile of the work they do and inspire others to get involved.

Who volunteers in the UK?

Here's how the volunteering sector shaped up in 2009/10:

• 17.1 million adults in England volunteered formally over the last 12 months.
• Around one million full-time workers would be needed to replace them, at a cost of £18 billion to the economy.
• Just over two-fifths of women (42%) formally volunteer once a year compared with just under two-fifths of men (39%).
• Nearly one-third of formal volunteers (31%) volunteered within educational organisations, followed by religious organisations (24%), sports and exercise-based organisations (22%) and health and disability-based organisations (22%).
• 90% of volunteer centres experienced an increase in the number of enquiries about placements between March and August 2009.

These figures were taken from our UK Civil Society Almanac 2010 – our annual reference publication drawing together trends, facts and information from across the voluntary sector.

Our Commitment to Volunteers

Here at NCVO, we believe that volunteers are the lifeblood of our sector. We believe the Government should ensure local volunteer centres are adequately resourced and that volunteering is actively encouraged. That's why we are backing the campaign for a Community Day bank holiday, and believe that everyone should have the right to at least five days paid time off to carry out volunteering roles.

Read our manifesto

Are you responsible for recruiting, managing or training volunteers?

Our Workforce Development team have written a range of guides to help you demonstrate good practice in your organisation.

You can also purchase our National Occupational Standards for the Management of Volunteers booklet. Including an overview of the role of a volunteer manager, advice on writing job descriptions and how to assess training needs, it's a useful resource for anyone who manages volunteers on a regular basis.

For more information about Volunteers' Week (June 1 – 7), please visit the Volunteering England website: www.volunteering.org.uk.