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About the voluntary sector

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Voluntary sector organisations are an important part of what the government terms civil society.

What do we mean by the voluntary sector?

When we refer to voluntary sector organisations we mean charities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international NGOs, voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, community interest companies, co-operatives and mutuals, faith groups and housing associations. And we mean organisations both large and small working internationally, nationally, regionally and/or locally. These organisations are driven by values that benefit people and their communities. They principally reinvest any financial surpluses to further their social, environmental, welfare or cultural objectives.

Voluntary sector organisations are an important part of what the government terms civil society, which also includes universities, schools and owner-owned companies and other organisations that fall outside the voluntary sector.

Number of voluntary sector organisations

According to the Office of the Third Sector, now Office of Civil Society:

  • In 2007/08 there were 171,000 general charities in England.
  • There are approximately 61,800 social enterprises in England (average estimate 2005-2007).
  • NCVO estimate there were 600,000 informal community organisations in the UK in 2007/08.

Value of the voluntary sector

According to the Office of the Third Sector, now Office of Civil Society:

  • The total income of general charities in the UK was £33 billion in 2006/07, a 40% (£9 billion) increase since 2000/01.
  • In 2005, social enterprises had a turnover of £27 billion and contributed £8.4 billion to the UK economy.
  • To put this in the context of the wider civil society, in 2006/2007 there were 870,000 civil society organisations in the UK with a total income of £116 billion and assets of £210 billion.
There’s more information about the size, nature and characteristics of the voluntary workforce in NCVO’s UK Civil Society Almanac 2010, the workforce chapter of which you can download from the resources section of this page, along with the previous Voluntary Sector Workforce Almanac 2007, in which the figures are obviously older but much more in depth.

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