How is the third sector tackling the volunteer shortage?

New research has revealed that volunteering has fallen to a historic low in England post-Covid.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) surveyed 7,000 adults for its Time Well Spent report and found that those raising money or taking part in sponsored events was down from 11% to 6% since 2018. Meanwhile, the Charities Aid Foundation's UK Giving report found there were 1.6 million fewer people volunteering compared to five years ago.

The decline is also evident from the government’s latest annual Community Life survey.

The survey found that in 2021/22, around seven million people volunteered for a charity or local group at least once a month, down from 11 million in 2019/20.

The figures mark the lowest ever participation recorded by the survey, which has been running for a decade.

What’s caused the decrease?

The pandemic is a major factor. People who were lifelong volunteers broke their habit during the pandemic and haven’t gone back to it.

Since the end of lockdown, enthusiasm among volunteers – particularly professionals – has plummeted, while the cost-of-living crisis has made it harder for people on lower incomes to help.

Some of the drop off can also be attributed to spending cuts on voluntary infrastructure.

Impact

Charities are suffering as a result. For example, the Scouts has 90,000 young people on their waiting list, but they’re struggling to recruit volunteers to run the groups.

Meanwhile, the Charity Retail Association, (which represents charity shops), said its volunteer numbers have dropped from 230,000 to 186,000 since the pandemic.

Some charities are being forced to pause operations due to the double whammy of the recruitment crisis and volunteer shortage.

How is the volunteer shortage being addressed?

Over the past year-18 months, various initiatives have been developed by voluntary sector organisations and the government to address the problem:

Vision for Volunteering

Last December, the government committed to investing £600,000 into Vision for Volunteering - a ten-year strategic plan to create a better future for volunteering.

Led by a coalition of voluntary organisations including NAVCA, NCVO, Volunteering Matters, and the Association of Volunteer Managers, the Vision for Volunteering launched in May 2022.

More than 350 people from over 300 organisations - both big and small - contributed to its first phase in a year-long engagement exercise.

Five key areas were identified from the exercise, in which volunteering needs to evolve over the next decade:

• Awareness and appreciation

• Power

• Equity and inclusion

• Collaboration

• Experimentation

You can read more about the five themes here.

The next phase of the project will focus on turning the vision into reality.

Over the next 18 months, a newly established Vision for Volunteering team will engage with partners and stakeholders to raise awareness of the Vision, build a community to champion the Vision, share stories of positive change, collect evidence, and share learnings.

The ultimate aim of the Vision is to see volunteering ingrained in our national psyche, and to be accessible and welcoming to everyone everywhere, so the benefits of volunteering are equally distributed.

The Big Help Out

To inspire people to start volunteering, the Scouts, the Royal Voluntary Service and the Together Coalition, teamed up to organise the Big Help Out on Monday 8 May.

Promoted as a National Day of Volunteering, the aim of the initiative was to bring communities together and create a lasting volunteering legacy from the Coronation weekend.

Over 30,000 charities seized the opportunity to issue a call for support, and an estimated 6.5 million people answered.

Following the event, 7.81 million people said they’re more likely to volunteer after taking part.

While the public response is encouraging, as Matt Hyde, chief executive of the Scouts, pointed out: “we don’t want this to stop just because the coronation is over. It cannot be a one-off. We need to build on today’s momentum to keep inspiring the next generation of volunteers.”

The organisers are planning to make the Big Help Out an annual event, and they’ll be drawing on its success to promote volunteering during Volunteers’ Week, which is taking place from 1-7 June.

Final Word

The voluntary sector contributes around £20bn to the UK's economy each year. Given how important volunteering is to our social fabric, re-engaging lapsed volunteers and attracting new ones needs to be high on the third sector (and the Government’s) agenda.

Charities can play their part by reviewing and re-working their volunteer strategies to make their proposition more appealing and addressing the areas of focus outlined in the Vision for Volunteering strategy.

Looking for a talented fundraiser to focus on volunteer engagement? We can help. Call us on 020 3750 3111 or email info@bamboofundraising.co.uk for an informal chat.

To PAYE, or not to PAYE? That is the question

From Uber drivers and web designers to freelance fundraisers, the gig economy is vast in the UK. There are currently around 4.29 million self-employed workers, and that number is growing year on year.

The appeal of freelancing has never been greater. As a result of COVID, flexible working has become the norm, and advancements in digital communication have made it faster and easier than ever to stay connected.

This begs a question: When there’s a gap in your team, should you fill it with a permanent member of staff, or a freelancer?

Here are the arguments for each.

Freelancers

Cost-efficiency: Freelancers are cost effective because:

1. You only pay for the work they do, which means you don’t waste money on downtime.

2. You don’t need to worry about sick leave, holiday pay, NI, or pension contributions. You also save on desk space, equipment, and training.

To put it in perspective, the British Business Bank estimates that hiring someone permanently on an average UK wage of £32,084 actually costs the organisation £62,897.63 a year with all the add-ons.

Speedy recruitment process: The process of hiring permanent staff can be long-winded. Sifting through applications, interviewing, and notice periods all take precious time. A freelancer can be up and running in a matter of days.

Reduced risk: Even with a perfect recruitment process, you can never be sure how things will work out. When you hire a freelance fundraiser, you can easily and quickly terminate the contract (depending on the terms put in place in the contract)

Flexibility: The beauty of using freelancers is you can hire them on a per-project basis. This allows you to mix and match talent as your projects and needs change.

Permanent staff

Commitment: A freelancer will want to keep you as a client, but the long-term success of your individual organisation won’t be their priority. A full-time employee is likely to feel more committed and motivated to add to the bottom line.  

Engagement: Happy, engaged employees are crucial to the success of any charity. Research by The Institute of Leadership & Management found that 77% of respondents cited good relationships with colleagues as the most important factor in determining job satisfaction and engagement – even more so than pay.

While not impossible, it’s much harder for permanent staff to establish quality relationships with transient freelancers.

Flexible contracts: Permanent employees don’t have to be full-time. Let’s say, for example, you’re in need of a grant writer. Up until now you’ve used freelancers to write them, but you want to bring the function in house and introduce some consistency.

You have options in terms of employment contracts - for instance, fixed-term or part-time.

Insider knowledge: Unlike freelancers, permanent staff go through an onboarding process, and ongoing training. This equips them with the knowledge to:

●       Answer questions from donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders

●       Deal with problems quickly and efficiently

●       Pick up the slack when colleagues go on holiday/sick leave

Final word

There’s no right or wrong decision when it comes to hiring freelance or permanent fundraisers. It comes down to where you stand on the factors above. If you’d like some help deciding which is better for your charity, give us a call 020 3750 3111.

Are you a Disability Confident Employer?

Over 7.7 million people of working age in the UK are disabled or have a health condition.

Many of them are more than able to work, but the disability employment gap (which measures the difference between the employment rate of disabled people, compared to that of non-disabled people) is sitting at 29%, meaning that more than two million qualified candidates are missing out on job opportunities, and employers are missing out on top talent.

Industry leaders

The good news is research shows that charities have consistently been ahead of the pack when it comes to recruiting disabled workers. The number of disabled people employed in the charity sector has risen from 14.1% to 20.6% in the last decade. Compared to a 15.4% average across other sectors in the UK.

The stats are encouraging but there’s room for improvement …

Want to improve the stats andwiden your candidate pool? You can start by becoming a disability confident employer.

The Disability Confident Scheme

The Disability Confident scheme is a free, voluntary government initiative designed to support organisations in employing and retaining disabled people.

Developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives, it was introduced to increase understanding of and challenge attitudes towards disability and remove barriers to ensure disabled people are able to reach their full potential in the workplace.

The scheme has three levels of accreditation. All employers start at Level 1 and progress through the others at their own pace.

Level 1: Disability Confident Committed

Level 2: Disability Confident Employer

Level 3: Disability Confident Leader

The benefits of becoming Disability Confident

Encouraging applications can help you to:

• Increase the number of high-quality applicants applying for roles

• Create a workforce that reflects the diverse range of customers it serves and the community in which it is based

• Improve staff morale, commitment, and loyalty by demonstrating that you treat all employees fairly

Simply put, being Disability Confident could help you discover someone your business just can’t do without.

How to make your recruitment process more accessible

If you want to find out more about the scheme and sign up, you can do so here. In the meantime, here are a few things you can do to make your recruitment process more accessible.

Ensure your hiring staff have disability awareness training

Unconscious bias can come into play when assessing or interviewing applicants with disabilities. By providing appropriate training, you’ll reduce the likelihood of discrimination.

Training can also avoid staff unintentionally offending disabled applicants by using inappropriate language and/or etiquette.

It goes without saying, if you’re using a recruiter, it’s important they understand the disability employment market.

Make it clear you want a diverse workforce

Disabled people might be put off applying for jobs over concerns that their accessibility needs won’t be met during the interview process, so make it clear in your job adverts that you’ll make adjustments where needed.

Make your job adverts accessible

It’s important that people with disabilities can read your job ads, so make sure they’re posted on websites that are compatible with screen readers. If you don’t, your ads will be inaccessible to some applicants, (such as those with sight impairments). You should also make the information available in different formats such as audio format, braille, and large print.

Make the interview accessible

Ahead of the interview process, ask applicants if they have any access requirements and make adjustments as necessary. And if the interview involves a test, be clear about what is involved and ensure candidates have access to any adjustments they might need (e.g., dyslexic candidates may need extra time, sight impaired candidates may need assistive technology). This will ensure no-one is unfairly disadvantaged.

Here are some things to consider:

Create an accessible environment

Is your building accessible? Do you have an access ramp? Are there any stairs people in wheelchairs or with vision impairment should be aware of? Is the physical space for the interview large enough to welcome a person in a wheelchair?

If there are barriers for wheelchair users, can you conduct the interview by video call instead?

Provide a quiet area for candidates to wait before the interview

A quiet waiting area can help people with disabilities feel more at ease. Candidates with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), for example, can be sensitive to noise and their surroundings. A bustling waiting room could make them uncomfortable, which is not going to put them in the right mindset to ace an interview.

Offer the opportunity to break

For some people with disabilities, concentrating for long periods of time can be challenging. So let them know at the beginning of the interview that they can ask for a break whenever they need one.

Final Word

Recruiting disabled staff isn’t an act of charity - it’s what smart employers are doing to get ahead of the competition.

We have a diverse pool of candidates ready and willing to help your charity grow. Call us on 0203 750 3111 to discuss your requirements.

How to Make Fundraising Roles More Attractive Without Increasing the salary

Charities looking to hire top fundraising talent are facing tough competition in the current candidate-driven market. Many think the only way to attract the best of the best is to pay top dollar.

But this isn’t the case. Money is important, of course. But it’s not the only thing job seekers think about when looking at their next career move.

Here are seven ways to make your fundraising roles more attractive without increasing the salary.

1.      Mental Health and Wellbeing

Research shows that one in six working Brits suffer from poor mental health. Therefore, focusing on the mental wellbeing of your employees is essential.

In our experience, candidates are noticing that charities talk the talk when it comes to wellbeing. But dig below the surface and there’s little substance to their claims.

Being an advocate for positive mental health and taking steps to support the wellbeing of your staff will set you apart in a crowded market.

We will be publishing a blog post on this topic in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here are a few things you can do to show staff their mental health matters:

• Make mental health training mandatory for managers to make them more aware of and invested in employees’ well-being.

• Factor mental and emotional well-being into the on-boarding process so employees know it’s a priority from day one

• Build as much flexibility into employees’ schedules as possible

• Consider offering a meditation room, mindfulness training, and/or yoga classes at work

2.    Childcare

Recent reports show the number of people not working due to caring commitments has risen to its highest level since 2020.

The cost of childcare combined with a lack of flexible working opportunities and proper parental leave has caused many parents and carers to leave their jobs.

Show you’re sympathetic to the needs of caregivers by offering them tangible incentives, such as compressed working hours, job shares or part time hours.

3.    Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Many charities talk about building a diverse team, but don’t walk the walk.

There are various things you can do to attract applications from a diverse range of candidates. For example:

• Advertise jobs in diverse networking groups

• Include a diverse interview panel

• Offer alternative routes to employment (i.e., apprenticeships)

If you’re at the beginning of your diversity journey, set some objectives and share them with the team. For example, “we aim to increase the level of diversity in our team by 15% by 2025.”

Information like this (along with a concrete plan of action) will demonstrate that diversity is a important to your organisation.

4.    Promote all your perks

A pension is a major perk, yet many charities don’t advertise the fact they offer one. Some of our candidates have only found out they get one once they’ve accepted the role.

It could be the difference between a top candidate applying for your role or discarding it.

The same goes for all the benefits. Is there an on-site child-care facility? Should about it! Do staff get free meals? Add it to the list of perks.

5.    Flexibility

Flexible working comes in all shapes and sizes. From part-time and zero-hour contracts to remote working and career breaks.

Wherever you stand in terms of flexibility, make it clear in your job ads and reiterate it at interview stage.

6.    Progression/Training

Candidates want to know there are opportunities for growth and progression when applying for jobs.

Does your charity have a staff training budget? If so, make it known.

For job seekers looking to build a long-term career in the fundraising sector, this will hold great appeal.

Finishing up

That’s six ways to make your roles more attractive without breaking the bank - done and dusted.

If you’re looking to recruit fundraising talent, give us a call on 0203 750 3111.

How to Hire an Apprentice

Have you ever considered hiring an apprentice? If not, it’s an option that’s worth thinking about.

An apprentice can support your fundraising efforts and make a positive contribution to your team but at a significantly reduced cost. What’s not to like about that?

You’ll also have the chance to nurture and support young people as they embark on their journey towards a career in the not-for-profit sector - and you’ll receive support from the government for the privilege. It’s a win-win!

Okay, so how do you hire an apprentice?

The process is different to traditional hiring, with T&Cs to consider. But fear not! We’re going to fill you in…

Apprenticeship? What’s that?

Apprenticeships combine work and academic study. They’re designed to help individuals aged 16 and over gain skills and knowledge within a specific industry or sector.

When hiring an apprentice, you must:

• Pay them at least the national minimum wage

• Have them work with experienced staff members

• Help them learn job-specific skills

• Allow time for study and training during the working week
  

Up to standard?

Apprenticeship standards outline how a specific apprenticeship will be delivered - namely, the duties your apprentice will perform and the skills they’ll need.

The government website provides a list of approved apprenticeship training courses with information such as:

• Level of qualification

• Typical duration

• Amount of funding available

Helpful, right?

Once you’ve chosen an apprenticeship from the options available (Fundraiser level 3, anyone?), you’ll need to find a training provider and an end-point assessment organisation to conduct the final assessment.

Next, it’s time to advertise your apprenticeship.

What should you put in your ad?

The ad must clearly state that the position is an apprenticeship and include relevant information, such as the length, the training on offer, and the organisation supplying the training.

Other than that, the usual job advertisement rules apply. Write and format your ad in line with your brand guidelines and post it on job boards and send it to recruitment agencies. Pretty straightforward really.

Onto the next task…

Candidate selection

Once you’ve received enough applications, it’s time to shortlist the candidates.

Bear in mind that many applicants will be school leavers with little experience in applying for jobs and writing CVs. So maybe cut them a little slack when judging their applications.

Once you’ve decided on the shortlisted candidates, you can move on to the interview stage.

Agree. Commit. Move forward!

As with any hiring campaign, there comes a time when a decision is made, and an individual is offered the vacancy.

At this point, you’re required to create an apprenticeship agreement, including details such as the start/end date, the qualification being worked towards, and the amount of training provided.

In addition, you, your apprentice and the training provider need to sign a commitment statement outlining the training schedule, what is expected from each of the stakeholders, and how queries or complaints can be resolved.

If you’d prefer not to create bespoke agreements and commitments, there are templates available.

Once completed, you’re ready to move onwards and upwards with your new apprentice.

Ready to hire an apprentice?

If you’re looking to recruit an apprentice for your fundraising organisation, we can help. Get in touch on 0203 750 3111 to get the process started.