Our news  31 Aug 2010

Managers of volunteers undervalued and underfunded: New research published

Skills - Third Sector have commissioned a new report, Valuing Volunteer Management Skills. The report, published today, reveals the need for more training and development for managers of volunteers.

It shows that nearly half of people who manage volunteers have not received any training that would help them in their work, despite the fact that volunteers are crucial to the government’s Big Society.

The report canvassed opinion from over 1000 third sector organisations, and research for the report was carried out by the Institute for Volunteering Research.

Some of the key findings in the report include:

• 42% of people who manage volunteers have not received any training that would help in their work with volunteers.
• members of networks were considerably more likely to access training and support than those who weren't members - 74% compared to 49%.
• there is strong demand for additional training and skills development across the range of functions outlined in the National Occupational Standards in the management of volunteers.
• many organisations rely greatly on the local and national volunteering infrastructure for advice and support, particularly on local Volunteer Centres.

The full report is available now together with a press release announcing the report's publication.

Read more information about our work in this area.