Speaker 1: Dr. Angela Ellis Paine Third Sector Research Centre University of Birmingham “21 st Century Volunteering: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges”
Jan 18, 2018
Speaker 1:
Dr. Angela Ellis Paine Third Sector Research Centre
University of Birmingham
“21st Century Volunteering: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges”
21st Century Volunteering: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges
Angela Ellis PaineThird Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham
Befriending Networks Annual ConferenceEdinburgh, 2015
Interesting times…
• A high profile for volunteering • High but static levels of participation• Policy environment is both supportive &
challenging • Management practices are developing• The preferences of volunteers are changing • Potential to nourish or to stifle
Profile
• ..it’s high!
Participation
Policy
• Social action • Big Society• Localism• Public service reform • Austerity
Preferences
• Changes to: – The reasons that people get involved – The ways in which people volunteer – The expectations that people have
• From ‘collectivist’ to ‘reflexive’ volunteering? (Hustinx and Lammertyn, 2003)
Practice• Professionalisation?– Dynamics between volunteers and paid staff
• Formalisation? – Expansion of work-based management models
• Marketisation?– ‘Selling’ volunteering opportunities
Potential …
• …to go either way• High levels of interest– But do the opportunities match interests?
• Supportive policy framework– But where’s the money & is all volunteering equal?
• Improved support for volunteers– But is it properly resourced and is it too formal?
• It’s all in the balance…