New research has identified “substantive” declines in the number of trustees and volunteers at small charities.
The latest Third Sector Trends report, which received more than 8,680 responses, found that most voluntary organisations with annual incomes of less than £50,000 reported a falling number of trustees over the past two years.
Declines in trustee numbers were most common among the smallest third sector organisations (TSOs), with incomes below £2,000, while most of those with incomes over £50,000 reported net increases.
Most TSOs with incomes below £2,000 also reported a decline in regular volunteers over the past two years, while the majority of larger charities saw an increase.
Rob Williamson, Community Foundation North East chair, said: “Volunteers and trustees are the heart and soul of the third sector, especially for smaller organisations.
“Whilst post-pandemic we have seen some recovery in the number of people coming forward to be volunteers and trustees, we know recruitment is still a real challenge for many of the charities we support, and there is clearly still some way to go.”
Investment in training
The research also found a decline in TSOs training their workforce, with the proportion of respondents doing so falling since 2020 from 67% to 60% for staff, and from 36% to 33% for regular volunteers.
Meanwhile, 28% of TSOs stated that trustee development and training was a “high priority”.
Researchers also found that 85% of TSOs agreed that they rely on volunteers to commit time regularly, and 88% said they could not keep going without them.
Tony Chapman, Third Sector Trend project lead, urged staff and volunteer welfare to be protected.
Chapman said: “Leaders need to be careful about what they wish for.
“If their energies are focused too closely on raising money, there is a serious risk that other factors that sustain organisational wellbeing, such as volunteer, staff and leadership development are neglected.”
The number of TSOs who reported that they rely mainly on unsupervised volunteers has steadily increased since 2016 – from 60.3% that year to 78.5% in 2025.
