volunteers count 2019 - agenda consulting · •31 organisations completed questionnaires this...

Volunteers Count 2019

Results Conference

Catherine Wearden and Aidan Stead

8th October 2019

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1. Introduction

2. Analysis of Key Metrics

3. The Future of Volunteers Count

1 Introduction

Some housekeeping….

- Webinar should last around an hour

- We have muted everyone, to cut down on background noise

- If you have questions please use the chat function and send to Aidan Stead

- We will collate the questions and try to answer as many as possible

- We will send the slides afterwards and a link to a recording of the webinar

Welcome

Agenda Consulting

Research Consultancy working with not-for-profit organisations. We offer:

• Employee and Volunteer Engagement Surveys

• Pulse, On-boarding and Exit Surveys

• HR and Volunteer Management Benchmarking Studies

• Social Care Reward Benchmark Study

• Annual Pay Award Survey

We work in 4 sectors:

• UK Social Care, UK Third Sector, International NGOs, International Organisations

• Abbeyfield

• Action on Hearing Loss

• Alzheimer's Society

• Amnesty International

• Barnardo's

• Blenheim CDP

• Blind Veterans UK

• Breast Cancer Care

• British Heart Foundation

• British Red Cross

• Cats Protection

• Clic Sargent

• Crohn's and Colitis UK

• Donkey Sanctuary

• Douglas MacMillan Hospice

• English Heritage

• Guide Dogs for the Blind

Association

• Jewish Care

• Marie Curie

• MS Society

• Oxfam

• Prostate Cancer UK

• Refugee Council

• Royal British Legion

• Royal Voluntary Service

• Sense

• SSAFA

• The Churches Conservation

Trust

• The Horder Centre

• The National Trust for

Scotland

• ZSL

Volunteer Surveys

31 organisations:

Challenges of volunteer management/ data gathering

• Why collect data?

• What are the challenges?

Volunteers Count

1. Volunteer benchmarking study, focussing on key management metrics

2. Aims to enable participants to:

1. Understand how they compare with their peers/sector

2. Learn from others to improve performance

3. Make contact with other participants to share good practice

3. Provides information to inform policy and practice within the Third Sector

• 31 organisations completed questionnaires this year. In aggregate respondents:

• Had a total of 105,147 volunteers over the year

• These volunteers contributed a total of 29 million hours

• Statistics based on data submitted for 2019 study. For most organisations, this is

data from financial year 2018/19, i.e. April 2018 to March 2019

• Participants from the 2017 and 2015 studies were available to be chosen as peers

but were not included in sector-wide statistics

Volunteers Count 2019

Volunteers Count 2019

Participants by size

41%

32%

27%

% of participants by average number of volunteers over the year

200-1000

1001-5000

Over 5000

Participants by sector

1

1

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

5

5

5

6

7

7

8

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Arts/Culture

Environment/Conservation

Heritage

Sport/Recreation

Housing

Mental Health

Economic/Community development/Employment

Other

Animal Welfare

Education/ Training

Elderly/Old people

Hospice

Social care

Children/Young People

People with disabilities

Health care/Medical research

Number of participants in each sector

2 Analysis of Key Metrics

Annual change in volunteer numbers

9%

4%

2%

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

9%

10%

2019 2017 2015

Average number of hours per volunteer per month

6

9

12

5

9

13

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

200-1000

1001-5000

Over 5000

Lower Quartile (25%)

Median (50%)

Upper Quartile (75%)

Average volunteer

Aged

56

A few

times a

year

Percentage of participants which collect data on the following:

12%

49%

32%

61%

66%

83%

88%

8%

40%

40%

60%

67%

92%

94%

0%

19%

48%

58%

65%

84%

87%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Socio-economic group

Employment Status

Sexual Orientation

Disability

Ethnicity

Age

Gender

2019 2017 2015

Diversity

47%

3% 3% 2%

70%

4% 4% 3%

79%

8% 9%3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Female Ethnic Minority Identifying asDisabled

LGBTQ

% of volunteers who are:

Lower Quartile (25%) Median (50%) Upper Quartile (75%)

Areas in which organisations involve volunteers

23%

58%

61%

68%

74%

81%

84%

87%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Catering

Retail/shops

Research

Campaigning

Communication and Marketing

Central Functions

Core Purpose

Fundraising

Top five recruitment sources

35%

35%

45%

61%

68%

94%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Leaflet or poster

Internet search engine

Previously used organisation services

Social media

Organisation website

Word of mouth

Top five recruitment sources

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

2013 2015 2017 2019

% of organisations who chose social media as one of their top 5 sources for recruitment

Turnover of volunteers

17%

25%

30%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Lower Quartile Median Upper Quartile Voluntary turnover(median)

Turnover of volunteers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2013 2015 2017 2019

Leaving information

20%

60%

25%

58%

21%

56%

11%

47%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Written information on leaving (% ofvolunteers)

Exit interviews (% of organisations

2019 2017 2015 2013

Reasons for leaving

32%

71%

82%

82%

89%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

It takes up too much time

Moving away from area

Health problems or old age

Taking up new employment

Change in home or work circumstances

Good practice in Learning and Development

• Structured learning programmes

• Bitesize sessions available

• Flexible training opportunities

• Involving staff in training of volunteers

• Improve communication of training opportunities

• E-learning

• Standardised and compulsory induction

Volunteer surveys

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2013 2015 2017 2019

Strategic Volunteering Development Function

Is the most senior Strategic Volunteering Development

Function person a member of the Senior Management Team?

50%

17%

40%

20%

40%

20%

35%

12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Yes No, but attends regularly

2019 2017 2015 2013

Ratio of volunteers (Headcount) per SVD Function employees and volunteers (FTE):

225

272

558

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

2019 2017 2015

Ratio of volunteer contribution (based on national living wage) to total cost of volunteers

1.1

2

5.6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Lower Quartile (25%) Median (50%) Upper Quartile (75%)

Main volunteer data management system used

48% use cloud-based data management systems.

0%

6%

13%

13%

13%

16%

19%

19%

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%

No system

System developed in-house

Module in HR system

Module in fundraising system

Purpose-built bought-in system

Spreadsheets

Off-the-shelf brought-in system e.g. Better Impact

Module in membership system

Functionality

21%

28%

34%

38%

41%

45%

55%

66%

79%

83%

83%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Allow volunteers to schedule themselves

Allow you to schedule volunteers

Allow mobile login by volunteers

Allow volunteers to access/update information

Undertake vetting

Enable online volunteer applications

Record recognition

Log and track volunteer hours

Record volunteers' history at your organisation

Manage mailings

Allow for reporting of volunteer data/hours

3 The Future of Volunteers Count

• Aberlour Child Trust

• Aldingbourne Trust

• Alzheimer's Society

• Battersea

• Blind Veterans UK

• Blue Cross

• Cats Protection

• Children's Hospices Across

Scotland (CHAS)

• Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust

• Crisis

• Cycling UK

• Durham University

• Essex Wildlife Trust

• Guide Dogs

• Helen And Douglas House

Hospice Care

• Independent Age

• Marie Curie

• Missing People

• National Museum Wales

• NSPCC- National Society for

the Prevention of Cruelty to

Children

• Queenscourt Hospice

• RNIB

• Rowans Hospice

• RSPCA

• Sense

• SSAFA The Armed Forces

Charity

• St Monica Trust

• Stroke Association (The)

• The Children's Society

• Versus Arthritis

• Workers' Educational

Association (WEA)

2019 Participants

31 Participants

Join Volunteers Count

Take part out of cycle and benefit from:

Your own organisation analysis

comparison with your chosen peers

all sector-wide reports

£700 + VAT

If you don’t have the time or resource…

Access the sector-wide reports:

2.1 Composition of Volunteers and the Strategic Volunteer

Development Function

2.2 Managing Volunteers: Recruitment, Learning and

Development, Recognition

£200 + VAT per report

Catherine Wearden

Senior Consultant

Catherine.wearden@agendaconsulting.co.uk

Aidan Stead

Research Consultant

Aidan.stead@agendaconsulting.co.uk

Clare Harris

Head of Business Development

Clare.harris@agendaconsulting.co.uk

01865 263720www.agendaconsulting.co.uk

Follow @AgendaConsult linkedin.com/company/agenda-consulting