Spotlight on: Volunteering

Results from March 2023 Panel Research

In March, 241 panel members completed the UK Heritage Pulse survey on the theme of volunteering.

The questions covered the management and retention of volunteers and the particular business areas where organisations rely most on volunteers. In addition, respondents had a chance to reflect overall on the relationship between volunteering and the heritage sector, and tell us a bit more about their experience.

Thank you to all of those who responded.

🔍 Click on any chart to zoom in.

Sector faces challenges in recruitment of new volunteers  

When asked about their experience over the past year with recruiting new volunteers, responses suggest a mixed picture, with 44% of organisations saying they had found this challenging. Organisations with higher turnover (over £1m pa) and those who work with larger numbers of volunteers (50+) have found it slightly less challenging than smaller organisations.

What has been your experience over the past year with recruiting and retaining volunteers?  [select one answer per line]  

	1 We found this challenging	2	3	4	5 This has gone well
Recruitment of new volunteers Count Row%	36 22.1%	36 22.1%	36 22.1%	27 16.6%	23 14.1%
Recruitment of existing volunteers Count Row %	13 8.0%	23 14.2%	41 25.3%	43 26.5%	4 2.5%
Attracting volunteers from a broad range of ages & backgrounds Count Row %	50 30.9%	44 27.2%	40 24.7%	10 6.2%	5 3.1%

Even more difficult though – for organisations of all sizes – was recruiting volunteers from a broad range of ages and backgrounds. 58% of respondents found this challenging, and only 14% said it has gone well.

Retention of existing volunteers has been less of an issue however. For over half of organisations this has gone well in the last year, while 22% were finding it challenging. Organisations with a lower turnover (under £1m pa) find it easier to retain volunteers than larger organisations.

There is a reliance on volunteers in a significant number of business areas

There are six areas of business operation for which more than a third of respondents said they were reliant on volunteers to function at full capacity. Almost half said they were reliant on volunteers for public facing roles – engaging with visitors through interpretation, tours or room hosting. 38% said they need volunteers for the delivery of education and learning programmes. A number of organisations also mentioned governance as a key business area which involves volunteers.

42% of respondents said their organisation relies on volunteers for technical skills like maintenance, while 39% rely on them for administration and finance. Around a third are reliant for research / archaeology and conservation / collections management.

There is a stark difference in responses from organisations of different sizes. Those with lower turnover are relying on volunteers much more heavily than those with higher turnover, with more than half saying they were reliant on volunteers for administration/finance and public facing roles.

In which areas is your organisation reliant on volunteers to function at full capacity? [Select all that apply]

Value	%	Responses
Administration / Finance	39.3%	59
Collections accession or cataloguing	26.7%	40
Conservation or collections management	33.3%	50
Delivering or supporting education and learning programmes	38.0%	57
Engaging with visitors through interpretation, tours, or room hosting	46.7%	70
Engaging with visitors transactionally, e.g. ticket or cafe sales	22.7%	34
Engaging with visitors through another way (non-transactionally)	28.7%	43
Managing Health & Safety	28.7%	43
Marketing	24.7%	37
Pastoral roles (e.g. for staff, visitors, or other volunteers)	17.3%	26
Research / archaeology	35.3%	53
Technical skills – e.g. maintenance	42.0%	63
Security	13.3%	20
None of the above	17.3%	26

Clear perception of over-reliance on volunteers, but one in four think the sector could make more use of them

45% of respondents said that the sector is over-reliant on volunteers, but 24% think that there is an opportunity to make more use of volunteers.

Just under a third of respondents said they think the level of reliance is ‘about right’. Overall, smaller organisations tend to feel the overreliance more keenly.

Thinking about the heritage sector as a whole, please choose which of the statements below best reflects your opinion: 

Value	%	Responses
The heritage sector should make more use of volunteers	24.1%	45
The amount that the heritage sector relies on volunteers is about right	31.0%	58
The heritage sector is over-reliant on volunteers	44.9%	84

The sector has lots of ideas for making the most of volunteers

Respondents shared their tips for improving volunteer recruitment and retention. Advertising through social media featured highly, along with local events:

Particular schemes and organisations such as National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Make Your Mark Volunteer Participation Campaign and Volunteer Scotland were also mentioned.

When considering how to keep volunteers engaged and make the most of them, comments included recommendations of systems as well as tips for activities:

Case Study
For more ideas about how best to use volunteers, read our latest case study: The Courtauld’s Digitisation Volunteer Project.

What is your reaction to these results? Please let us know at hello@insights-alliance.com, or share on social media with the hashtag #UKHeritagePulse