Funding cuts bring three-year rise in youth volunteering to an end

A survey carried out by nfpSynergy of around 1,000 11- to 25-year-olds found the proportion of young people who had volunteered within the past three months had fallen by a quarter.

While 19 per cent had volunteered during the previous three months in November 2010, just 14 per cent of those questioned in May had done the same.

This slump bucks a three-year rise in youth volunteering recorded through the consultancy’s Youth Engagement Monitor since May 2008.

The biggest fall is among 17- to 19-year-olds, down from 27 per cent to 15 per cent between November 2010 and May this year.

The biggest obstacles to volunteering were a lack of confidence, which was cited by 18 per cent of those surveyed. Other factors were having "enough to worry about already", which was cited by 13 per cent of young people and 17 per cent said they "didn’t know what it involves".

Joe Saxton, nfpSynergy’s driver of ideas, said funding cuts to organisations such as V since the coalition government came to office in May 2010, is the likely cause.

This financial year, V’s initial government funding came to an end. As a result, the volunteering organisation saw its funding from the Office for Civil Society cut from £37m in 2010/11 to just £1.25m in 2011/12.

Saxton said: "This drop may well reflect a cut in investment in youth volunteering initiatives like V, suggesting a possible link between government funding and volunteering levels, and thus highlighting the urgent need for a better understanding of what volunteer recruitment and retention strategies do and do not work."