Nick Brooks urges readers to make volunteering their new year’s resolution.

Suddenly colder, wetter; the winter’s onset somehow reminds us all of those who need society’s support. Perhaps it’s the impending festivities that make the British public realise how important charitable work is. Perhaps it’s the joint events of Remembrance Sunday and Children in Need.

Whatever the reason, charity and goodwill are high on the topical agenda at this time of the year. People are donating millions of pounds to high-profile charities and yet many smaller operations are struggling with a decrease in funding and reporting difficulty in finding the right kind of people.

The Charities Act 2006 was reviewed and, in the findings published last year, Lord Hodgson concluded that charities “struggle to find trustees with specialist skills” and “many also need the managerial skills business can provide.” The review also found that “word of mouth” was used by 81 per cent of charities to recruit trustees.

With so many segments of the public sector facing cutbacks or closure, so much for the private sector still to do to resurrect itself, an array of work involving caring, supporting, maintaining and more is being picked up by volunteering and charitable work.

There’s also a swathe of new not-for-profit organisations being created as new vehicles enter the sector - such as NHS functions and academies that keep on growing. The range of services being picked up by the charity sector also means that the choice of roles available for volunteers is ever increasing too.

For volunteers, it’s a great opportunity to broaden or challenge their skills and expertise. For employers, Lord Hodgson said there’s “evidence from several organisations that working in the charitable sector has improved the employee’s commitment and performance at their commercial place of work”.  

In a nutshell, volunteers are in greater demand than ever. The call for people with specialist skills, such as financial and regulatory expertise, is ever increasing for charity boards in trustee and leadership roles.

In June this year, the ICAEW and CABA launched a free website to help address this need: www.icaewvolunteers.com. The driving force behind the website came from a desire to help charities find volunteers with the expertise needed to fill specialist roles. However, the site was designed in such a way as to bring together all types of volunteers, including those from non-financial backgrounds, with all types of volunteering vacancies.  

The website has received around 8,000 visits in the last two months and the number of volunteer profiles posted is nearing 500. In September, 225 live vacancies were available, which suggests the message is reaching more volunteers than recruiters; but we aim to change that.

So to help plug the gap and support our overstretched sector, to sharpen up your skills or learn a few new ones, why not get involved yourself? Whatever amount of time you have to give, whatever your skills and, let’s be honest, whatever type of work you’re prepared to do, it’s valuable. Find out what help is needed in your area. If you’re a manager or employer, urge your staff to volunteer. The skills and experience they develop will benefit them individually, as well as your organisation. Not to mention the charity they support.

Nick Brooks is head of not-for-profit at Kingston Smith and chair of ICAEW’s Charity and Voluntary Sector Group