Vision for Volunteering sets out 10-year plan for volunteer work

A broad range of organisations have collaborated on a roadmap for the future of volunteering.

Vision for Volunteering, which looks at how volunteering needs to adapt by 2032, comprises five sections, covering awareness and appreciation; power; equity and inclusion; collaboration; and experimentation. Its content explores the changing nature of volunteering, how volunteers and their organisations can rebuild in a post-Covid world, and how to make voluntary work more inclusive.

Each section features action points alongside statements demonstrating how volunteers should feel about various aspects of their roles in a decade's time. Case studies show how volunteering can forge community links, tackle isolation and improve wellbeing, and champion diverse voices.

Tamsin Russell, the Museums Association's workforce development officer, said: “Volunteering serves many purposes for society. Within the museum sector, volunteering means different things to different people: it can provide opportunities for people to engage more actively with the work of museums and galleries, to tackle issues of isolation or wellbeing, and to develop and hone skills for employabilty or career progression.

“It can also enable people to give something back by sharing skills and expertise, and it can enrich experiences of work and reduce risks of deskilling. We welcome a joined-up and strategic way of approaching volunteering post-pandemic and the positive impacts it aims to deliver.”

More than 350 people from over 300 organisations contributed to the development and publication of the vision, which is led by National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (Navca), National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), Volunteering Matters, the Association of Volunteer Managers and Sport England.

The partners and the vision's steering group gathered views through a series of workshops, interviews and written submissions, while reviewing existing research that engages directly with volunteers. Heritage sector organisations involved in this research phase include the Natural History Museum, Barnsley Museums and English Heritage.

Matt Hick, head of volunteering at the Science Museum Group and chair of the Heritage Volunteering Group, said: “The Vision for Volunteering provides a clear roadmap for how we can transform volunteering in our sector. However, making it a reality requires action from all of us – volunteer managers and organisational leaders alike. The Heritage Volunteering Group’s Creating Capacity eeport sets out what these actions are and provides the first steps for making the vision a reality.”