Volunteering in the new Millennium

I've been reading how volunteering is changing. The figures seem to say that the days when charities could pick out the jobs that needed to be done and hand them to unpaid but willing recruits are over. According to Cabinet Office national survey on volunteering and giving from 2007 volunteers do give less time than they used to, volunteers spent an average of 4.05 hours per week in their role in 1997, but only 2.75 hours a decade later.

It seems that in the past, people volunteered in fundraising because they were committed to a cause. Now they want to have an idea of what the money they raise is spent on. They're businesslike and they expect tangible outcomes. They want a bigger role. They're not content with being given tasks. They want to innovate and come up with ideas for new fundraising strategies.

The increase of employer-supported volunteering has also encouraged this trend. The survey found that only 16 per cent of respondents in 1997 said their employers ran volunteering schemes, but 36 per cent said this was the case in 2007. It found that employees have specific demands: 43 per cent want "personal achievement" and 41 per cent to enjoy volunteering.

It is intereting to look at why people dont volunteer;

• Not enough spare time- 42%.
• Put off by bureaucracy- 42%.
• Worried about risk and liability – 39%.
• Not got the right skills/ experiences- 35%.
• Would not be able to stop once I got involved- 31%.
• Worried about threat to safety- 31%.

A lot of charities have changed the way they work in response to these developments. In 1997, 71 per cent of volunteers said their work could be better organised, but only 31 per cent said the same in 2007.

I'm delighted to say that charities themselves are becoming increasingly professional in their work. All of this means the task of attracting volunteers has now become as much a marketing challenge as anything else.

Having reported on the figures I find that my charity, Wessex Heartbeat, seems to be bucking the trend. Our volunteers, although small in number at the moment, are willing to do what ever they can to help. It is true that they need to see how their work makes a difference and they need to be appreciated. However, this applies to us all, doesn't it?

Are you ready to support a charity?

If you are thinking of becoming a Knight in shinning armour and being a supporter of a charity please take the time to ask charities questions about their programs, mission, and goals before you decide to support them.



For those of you who don't have the time or resources for this here are six questions that you as a donor should expect to get clear answers for:

1. Can your charity clearly communicate who they are and what they do?

If a charity struggles in articulating its mission and its programs, it will probably struggle in delivering those programs. Organisations that can explain who they are and what they're trying to accomplish have a singularity of purpose and a commitment to focused institutional change. If a charity can't explain who it is and what it does, and why it is needed, find one that can.

2. Can your charity define their short-term and long-term goals?

Organisations without quantifiable goals have no way to measure success. If they have no way to know if they are successful, how can you be sure they are working toward something? Demand that your charity tell you what it is trying to do. Good organisations relish this opportunity. They know what they are working toward today and tomorrow.

3. Can your charity tell you the progress it has made (or is making) toward its goal?

Once again, it's not enough to merely be concerned with a problem. Good intentions are no longer sufficient to warrant your charitable support. The marketplace is too crowded with nearly 187,000 charities registered with the Charity Commission. Ask your charity what it has done to make the issue it confronts better. What are its results? You wouldn't buy a brand of toothpaste if the manufacturer couldn't prove to you that it fought cavities successfully. Why should you support an environmental clean-up charity if it can't show you that it is cleaning up the environment?

4. Do your charity's programs make sense to you?

If you support the mission of a charity, ask yourself if its’ programs also make sense. You believe in the cause, and you hope for the end result, but is the charity working toward that result in a way that seems rational and productive to you? If the charities goal is to promote kindness toward animals, does it pursue its goal in a way that makes sense to you, or does it merely inflame the issue? Do you want your research charity doing advocacy? Do you want your outreach charity making policy, or your policy charity doing outreach? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. This doesn't mean that every organisation should be singular in focus. It also doesn't mean, however, that you have to support every organisation that has the same belief system as you. Just because you support the ends, you may not support the means. If you know you want to support the outcome the charity aims to deliver, ask yourself if its method of arriving at that outcome makes sense to you.

5. Can you trust your charity?

There has been much research on public trust of charities. Generally it has shown that the overwhelming majority of charities are not only responsible and honest, but well-managed. So we give with confidence. You should feel the same way before you give. Don't support a charity until you feel comfortable with it. To gain this trust look at unbiased sources of information. The Charity Commission or Guidestar are good starting points. Call the CEO of the charity and ask the questions you need answered before you can be assured this is a good use of your money. Ask for an annual report. Do whatever it takes to put your mind at ease. Good charities will encourage this. A happy and trusting donor is a willing and supportive donor.

6. Are you willing to make a long-term commitment to your charity?

We like to think of giving to charity as a long-term commitment, more akin to marriage than dating. Intelligent giving is motivated by altruism, knowledge, and perspective, not a knee-jerk reaction to a television commercial. You are an adult. You have a budget. You have the means to help others. You want to help. Ask yourself if your charity is the type of organisation to which you're willing to make a long-term commitment. When you do this, you agree to support them through good times and bad, and provide the funding they need to weather economic downturns. In return, they promise to continue working toward addressing the issue you both think is so vital. Look hard and find a charity you can support for many years to come. When you find that charity, give it your financial commitment, tell it you'll be there through thick and thin, and then continue to support it. Only then will long-term sustainable change take place.