To mark the king’s coronation, people across the country are being encouraged to volunteer, starting on 8 May, a bank holiday Monday. An app has been launched for the Big Help Out (BHO) and organisers say tens of thousands of people have signed up to volunteer.
However, an Observer article on Sunday drew some debate after it suggested the participatory levels for the BHO may not be high amidst a volunteer crisis, and something was needed to address a deeper, structural issue.
In it, Richard Harries, associate director at the Institute for Community Studies at the Young Foundation, suggested the event could be a “damp squib” if participation falls short of expectations. Speaking to Civil Society, he says there is a “structural problem” in terms of a long-term decline in volunteering.
An additional concern from some is that the BHO’s bank holiday focus may be limiting, while some people may not want to volunteer due to the initiative’s royal connection.
As members of the public endure a cost-of-living crisis, the request for them to “help out” on the king’s multi-million-pound coronation weekend might not appeal.
BHO organisers have said that while the coronation offers a focal point, the initiative will continue through annual celebrations Volunteers Week in June and Thank You Day in July.
‘What we really need is long-term support’
Speaking to Civil Society, Sarah Vibert, chief executive of NCVO, also highlights the drop in formal volunteering and says BHO is an opportunity to highlight the different ways people can volunteer.
Many people stopped volunteering during the pandemic, she says, and this has been compounded by the cost-of-living crisis. Coupled with need rising, several of NCVO’s members are finding it difficult to recruit and retain volunteers – especially smaller organisations.
Ed Mayo, chief executive at Pilotlight, says projects like the BHO are welcome in their own right for the good that they can do, “but with needs so acute across the voluntary sector, it is vital that this doesn’t obscure the need for more radical action to nurture a more participatory and caring society”.
“Do we need more opportunities for volunteering? Or is the challenge a deeper one – that what we really need is long-term support for voluntary organisations, including their enabling infrastructure?
“I do not want in any way to devalue the efforts of those who have been working on this – all in keeping with a long tradition of association of many in the charity sector with royalty. But I would point to the opportunity for workplace volunteering, where employees are not just using their skills but developing them in the process.
“It is not core to the BHO, but the shift to skills-based volunteering may just turn out to be more significant for the charity sector in the long run.”
Harries says BHO “is a really helpful tool” for getting attention to what is an important problem facing volunteering “but it needs to be backed up” with further structural work.
“The only way of tackling it is if there is that sort of real determination to do so” and it would therefore “be wonderful if the king made volunteering a personal priority of his reign”, he says.
“If the royal family would get behind the idea of the country volunteering, that would undoubtedly stimulate a response from government and would undoubtedly stimulate a response from the public.”
‘There is a big appetite to volunteer’
Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, says her organisation has seen an increase in sign-ups this year, in contrast to the national picture.
“Our experience really diverges from the picture drawn by the [Observer] article. We know that colleagues in other organisations are struggling to recruit, and that there are widespread issues of burnout and people struggling with the cost of living so that things like transport costs have become obstacles. However, we have found that the picture is much more nuanced than that.”
She said her organisation has found that “there is a big appetite to volunteer, particularly during these challenging times”.
“The challenge is reaching new people, providing them with an opportunity to make a real difference, and one that matches what they have to offer. Important too, is to remove any barriers that prevent them from volunteering such as having to pay expenses up front or loading too much on one person. People want to help, we need to ensure we’re making it possible for them to do so.”
Harries also notes “historians of the voluntary sector will point out that levels of voluntary activity were high at times of previous economic strain in the country – so it doesn't have to be the case that economic strain reduces volunteering”.
‘We are hoping to create an unprecedented community mobilisation’
Vibert says the BHO is coming at a “really key time” and should “help raise the profile” of volunteering. She also sees this as an opportunity for NCVO to support smaller charities and engage with other stakeholders.
NCVO note 14% of small organisations say volunteer recruitment is one of their top concerns, compared to 2% of larger ones. Therefore, BHO is potentially responding to an “acute need” to focus efforts with small charities.
Vibert is excited about how quickly momentum has grown, which she says is “quite incredible” in terms of engagement, since it was only launched in January.
A BHO spokesperson says “the public response has already been fantastic”.
“In every corner of the country people are logging on to find local events to suit their interests with thousands of charities from household names like the Scouts, Royal Voluntary Service, Guide Dogs to smaller local groups all over the UK.
“We are hoping to create an unprecedented community mobilisation – not only to mark an event of national significance and underscore and celebrate the central role volunteering plays in our national story, but to create a real and lasting legacy for the coronation – a new generation of volunteers.”
How to keep the momentum?
Vibert tells Civil Society the coronation will only serve as the catalyst for volunteering action, and work is needed to keep the “momentum” going.
There are also challenges linked to the coronation being the focal point. Though this brings public and media attention, Vibert notes not everyone is a royal fan. It will, however, bring “extra profile” to the initiative.
The brand is already “powerful” and is garnering public attention, she says. Ultimately, Vibert says the sector can “capitalise on that” and use it for Volunteers Week and beyond. She says the point of BHO is not solely to encourage one-off volunteering, but to encourage people to get a “taste” for it, so it becomes a more long-term commitment.
The British public notoriously “step up in times of need” she adds, for example in the pandemic, and by hosting Ukrainian refugees – and the BHO aims to “tap into that”.
Given that some people are stepping away from volunteering because of the cost-of-living crisis, this serves as an opportunity to “highlight the many different ways” to volunteer. For example, walking charity the Ramblers are encouraging people to check their local trails, while other BHO initiatives such as befriending services do not require people to leave their homes.
Harries agrees there is a “potential real success” to embed the BHO, and even to make it into something that becomes an annual event “that really reminds the country of the importance of the role the volunteers play and build it into the national psyche”.
Related Articles
