NCVO – Time Well Spent

NCVO have just released their latest Time Well Spent survey on volunteering. It’s a sequel to their last survey which took place prior to the advent of COVID.

It’s a comprehensive examination of volunteering amongst their sample of 7,000 adults across the UK.

Their 5 headline takeaways can be viewed by clicking on this link: 5 key takeaways from Time Well Spent 2023 – YouTube

The most important headline theme for an Infrastructure organisation like VIN is that whilst volunteering still provides extreme levels of satisfaction amongst those that participate, the unequal nature of the act is still an issue, especially amongst younger people and the disabled who are less satisfied with what’s on offer and how they can engage. This follows on from VIN’s latest view around key challenges for the sector: Key Challenges for the Charitable Sector | Voluntary Impact Northampton which echoes the NVCO survey. As West Northamptonshire moves to an Infrastructure contract across the piece in 2024/2025 this issue will need to be addressed. Within the newly forming Local Area Partnerships (with its emphasis on the wider determinants of health and how communities can engage and get involved) this subject area is also a point of discussion, or should be as they evolve, and perhaps some simple Test and Learn projects around how these groups might be brought to action would be worthwhile.