Is NCVO aiming too high on volunteering?

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Is NCVO aiming too high on volunteering? 3

Finance | Gareth Jones | 24 Feb 2010

NCVO launched its election manifesto at its annual conference yesterday, and it contains a great many sensible reforms that would benefit civil society.

One demand stands out as being particularly ambitious, the call for all workers to be given five days paid time off in order to volunteer.

While it’s a nice idea and would go a long way to creating the ‘good society’ that Stuart Etherington envisages, it does strike me as rather radical.

While the accompanying request for an extra day bank holiday for volunteering is a reasonable request, it is hard to see any government being willing to fight the business lobby for a further five days of their employees’ time.

Plus, like it or not, to take five days out of every employee's time would affect national productivity significantly, risking any recovery and in the longer term affecting the UK's economic strength relative to other countries.

Do charity manifestos necessarily have to be realistic? Perhaps not. Maybe NCVO is right to aim high in order to encourage the government to ultimately meet in the middle.

But you would think they need to be realistic to retain credibility. Wouldn't it be best to focus on just an extra day’s paid volunteering, rather than risk spooking the regrettably all-powerful private sector and getting nowhere as a result?

Directory: National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Sir Stuart Etherington

Place a comment

Robin Bogg
CEO
BUBB
25 Feb 2010

If people at BUBB want to save the world they can jolly well do it at the weekend.

[Reply]

Carl Allen
none
none
25 Feb 2010
Response to [Robin Bogg]

Saving on weekends and working on weekdays?

[Reply]

Carl Allen
none
none
24 Feb 2010

One can aim at a right/benefit to volunteer for five days, or one can aim at getting employers to adopt a civil society activity and make it integral in their business objectives and planning with an enhanced tax break, or one can aim at allowing employees to use up some of their unused illness leave entitlement or...

My opinion ... it is a voluntary union, business and individual choice where innovation is at play with some carrots but no sticks.

[Reply]

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Gareth Jones is a former senior reporter for Charity Finance who continues to work part-time for Civil Society Media on a freelance basis. He edits the 'Technical Briefing' section of Charity Finance as well as writing features and producing survey reports.

As of September 2011, Jones is studying for an MA in Public Policy at King's College London. He is also currently volunteering one day a week in the policy team at Citizens Advice.

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