A national skills-based volunteering charity has challenged the widespread perception that the number of British people offering their time to good causes is in decline.
The government’s most recent Community Life Survey found that 16% of adults in England reported regularly taking part in formal volunteering in 2023-34, a sustained decline since 23% did so in 2019-20, the last year before the first Covid-19 lockdowns.
Meanwhile, the Charities Aid Foundation’s latest UK Giving Report found a reduction in the number of people volunteering for charity to around 5.6 million adults (10%) in 2024 from an estimated 7.1 million the previous year.
However, in contrast to these figures, Reach Volunteering has reported that sign ups to participate through its platform have increased fourfold since the pandemic, with 16,000 people doing so in 2024.
Meanwhile, recent research by volunteer management software provider Access Assemble found that online searches for volunteer roles rose by 13% across the UK in the year to February 2025.
Volunteers ‘primarily motivated’ by purpose
Reach also said that more volunteer-led organisations had advertised with it recently – 650 today, up from 69 in 2019.
It said these organisations varied in size but the opportunities they offered were not “traditional place-based, time-bound and rigidly defined volunteer roles”.
Reach also conducted a survey of 729 people last month, in response to which many said they were primarily motivated to volunteer by purpose, such as contributing to a better society.
Reflecting on these findings, Reach said that while there has been much investment into making volunteering easier – such as frictionless sign-up processes or micro-volunteering tasks – charities should instead focus on offering “clear, meaningful impact”.
Reach also recommended that charities offer co-production volunteering opportunities rather focusing on task completion.
“We are not witnessing the death of volunteering,” said Reach chief executive Janet Thorne. “We are seeing a powerful shift in how and why people volunteer.
“The question isn’t whether people are still volunteering. It’s whether we’re recognising, supporting and investing in the ways they want to contribute.”
‘Formal volunteering can be off-putting’
Meanwhile, Daniel King, a contributor to Access’s research and professor of organisation studies at Nottingham Trent University, said: “Research shows formal volunteering has dropped over the last three decades but there could be a number of reasons for that including the way data is collected.
“For example, there are informal ways of volunteering that aren’t typically classed or viewed as a volunteer role.
“Formal volunteering can be off-putting to some people as it can almost feel like a job. Even if they’re committed to the purpose or mission of a charity, the hours and location may not be suitable for them.
“It can also be expensive to volunteer when you factor in travel costs and food – and there’s some evidence that people don’t like to claim expenses.”
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