Justin Davis Smith, chief executive of Volunteering England, has said that there are too many volunteering infrastructure organisations in London, and that the number will have to be cut in the future.

Davis Smith made the comments during an address to membership body for the Capital's funders, London Funders.

He told the audience that funders could play an important role in strengthening the work of volunteering support services which had been hard hit by funding cuts. But also said that the volunteering infrastructure sector needed to get better at partnership working and collaboration.

“We need to cut out duplication, join forces where it adds value, and consider the case for merger where it makes strategic sense,” he said.

He continued that rationalisation would be necessary:

“London is reasonably well-served in terms of volunteering structure,” said Davis Smith. “One study a few years ago estimated that there were as many as 150 infrastructure organisations in the capital, both generalist and specialist agencies offering a range of support on volunteering to local organisations.

“It seems unlikely that this number is sustainable into the future and further rationalisations will be required.”

Davis Smith also said that funders could support the volunteering sector in better evidencing the impact of volunteering and the role of support services in encouraging more people to volunteer.

Davis Smith said one of the reasons that the volunteering sector was being disproportionally hit by funding cuts was that the sector found it difficult to measure its value:

“If measuring the impact of volunteering is hard, then measuring the impact of volunteering infrastructure is harder still,” he said.

During his speech , Davis Smith also said the volunteering sector needed to do more innovation, such as using new technology and exploring the role of incentives and rewards in stimulating volunteering activity. He also said businesses, particularly SMEs, needed to be encouraged to develop volunteering programmes.