Skills-based Volunteering

Angela Schlenkhoff-Hus, Deputy Head of Employee Volunteering at Volunteering Matters wrote a piece on skills-based volunteering for the IFA recently:

“Across the different sectors in the UK, employee volunteering – where employees volunteer during their worktime, supported by their employer – has become increasingly important over the past decade. The private sector has long recognised the business and staff development benefits of such schemes, as well as the community benefits. The charity sector is also seeing the benefits of interacting more closely with the private sector – even more so in the current financial and political climate. The sector realised that, to remain sustainable and successful in a fiercely competitive funding environment, it must become more innovative and efficient. Yet many charities currently have significant skill gaps that prevent them from making good progress in these areas.

In all of this, the public sector is lagging behind. At a management level, the benefits of employee volunteering for public sector staff and the community are understood. However, in the context of severe funding cuts within the sector, it can prove difficult to find a budget for employee volunteering projects. In this political and economic context, skills-based employee volunteering is seen as the winner. It is here that many employers will focus their attention when it comes to designing and reviewing employee volunteering programmes.”

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