Speaker 1:

Dr. Angela Ellis Paine Third Sector Research Centre

University of Birmingham

“21st Century Volunteering: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges”

21st Century Volunteering: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges

Angela Ellis PaineThird Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham

Befriending Networks Annual ConferenceEdinburgh, 2015

Interesting times…

• A high profile for volunteering • High but static levels of participation• Policy environment is both supportive &

challenging • Management practices are developing• The preferences of volunteers are changing • Potential to nourish or to stifle

Profile

• ..it’s high!

Participation

Policy

• Social action • Big Society• Localism• Public service reform • Austerity

Preferences

• Changes to: – The reasons that people get involved – The ways in which people volunteer – The expectations that people have

• From ‘collectivist’ to ‘reflexive’ volunteering? (Hustinx and Lammertyn, 2003)

Practice• Professionalisation?– Dynamics between volunteers and paid staff

• Formalisation? – Expansion of work-based management models

• Marketisation?– ‘Selling’ volunteering opportunities

Potential …

• …to go either way• High levels of interest– But do the opportunities match interests?

• Supportive policy framework– But where’s the money & is all volunteering equal?

• Improved support for volunteers– But is it properly resourced and is it too formal?

• It’s all in the balance…