Volunteering in community-based groups and the impact of public policy

A new study by the Institute for Volunteering Research finds that volunteering in community-based organisations is increasingly being moulded by external policies and funding concerns as Nick Ockenden, from IVR, reports.

A huge amount of volunteering takes place in community-based organisations to run services and activities for local communities.

Over the past ten years, the public policy environment in which these groups operate has changed significantly. It is affected by increased government interest in encouraging individuals to become actively involved in their communities.

At the same time it has also been influenced by the government’s desire to increase the role of community-based organisations in the provision of public services. There is, however, little research that explores the impact of such policies on the organisations, and even less that looks at how their volunteers may be affected.

This research project, carried out in partnership between the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) and funded by the Volunteering Hub, sought to explore the impact of public policy on volunteering in community-based organisations. IVR and IVAR researched eight case study community-based organisations across England. In each organisation, interviews were carried out with members of staff and trustees, and a focus group was held with a group of volunteers. The research was completed in March 2008.

This study found that community-based organisations are becoming increasingly externally moulded by policy. It also found that because of their small size and limited capacity, they have few opportunities to influence the policy environment in which they are operating. The organisations risk moving away from their original ethos and remit as policies encourage them to follow different directions. External policy could influence, direct or even restrict the activities undertaken by volunteers and the way they were managed. Emphasis on child protection, CRB checks, health and safety and risk assessment, for example, could produce reviews of volunteers’ roles.

One major aspect of public policy is funding – new funding streams can often be the practical result of a government policy. This research found that changes in funding could have a much larger and immediately obvious impact on the organisations and on their involvement of volunteers. The influx of new funding, for example, allowed some organisations to plan further ahead and extend their services. It also allowed for improvements in the supervision and training of volunteers. However, the loss of funding had meant that other organisations had reduced or refocused their services, and led to a feeling that their future was under real threat. In many cases they had scaled down some activities and their involvement of volunteers. Reduced levels of funding could also pull some organisations away from the less formal and sociable aspects of support, and have an adverse effect on volunteer morale.

Despite the severity of these impacts, this study found that staff and volunteers within the organisations were often not aware of wider policy issues - where they were, it was generally limited to issues or policies that directly affected the organisation’s area of work. Furthermore, organisations did not often attempt to influence national policy. Volunteers especially did not often want to become involved in lobbying or influencing policy, and felt that their interest in volunteering was to carry out activities and to help people directly.

While volunteering in community-based organisations is driven by active and committed individuals from the bottom-up, it also appears to be increasingly moulded by external factors from the top-down. Furthermore, the organisations and their volunteers are challenged by a lack of resources and are often not able to influence policy. This study concludes that the government’s current drive to increase the involvement of volunteers in the provision of services through community-based organisations may therefore sit uncomfortably alongside its wider aim to involve volunteers as a key part of civil renewal.