Motivations and Barriers to volunteering

Great article published by NCVO/ UK Civil Society Almanac on 'Motivations and Barriers to volunteering' 

The data they collected was really interesting, including frequently reasons given for volunteering. Whilst many might think a big motivator is increasing skills and helping career progression (which it certainly does and is a very valid reason), the top reasons given were 'to improve things/help people' (59%) and the cause was important to me (40%).  The biggest factor (48%) that stopped people volunteering was a change of circumstances and the biggest barrier to volunteering was work commitments (59%).

An increasing number of organisations are supportive of skills-based volunteering and my hope is with their employers support that will drive down that 59% to a much smaller number in the future.