Numbers are dropping year-on-year

Volunteering in Scotland is in crisis, warns a new report.

A trend of declining volunteer participation between 2022 and 2023 has witnessed formal volunteering fall four percentage points - the equivalent of a decline in 138,000 formal volunteers in a single year.

This followed a four percentage point decrease in formal volunteer participation between 2019 and 2022.

The report, from Volunteer Scotland, says that between 2019 and 2023 formal volunteer participation rates fell eight percentage points, the equivalent to a decline of over 335,000 formal volunteers in a four-year period.

“Not only does this have ramifications for the delivery of services by volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs), but it also means that 335,000 fewer Scottish adults are deriving the many varied benefits of volunteering. In addition to considering the decline in the number of adults formally volunteering, the decrease in the number of hours should be considered,” the report states.

Between 2018 and 2022, 28 million fewer hours were volunteered with a group or organisation. This equates to 79,000 fewer volunteer weeks (35 hours a week) or 18,000 fewer full time equivalent jobs annually, in terms of time spent volunteering.

The cost-of-living crisis is continuing to impact on third sector groups and volunteers. In autumn 2024, 79% of organisations faced issues with volunteer recruitment and 69% faced issues with volunteer retention.

The two biggest challenges identified in recruiting new volunteers are ‘Fewer people coming forward to volunteer’ (69%) and 'People have less time to volunteer’ (47%).

Volunteer fatigue and burnout (42%) and volunteer apathy due to a ‘perma-crisis’ are also highlight by organisations as challenges in volunteer retention and recruitment.

Mental health and wellbeing have been highlighted as ongoing issues among Scottish adults as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

“We argue that these issues increase the demand for third sector services while also reducing individuals’ resilience and capacity to volunteer. This is contributing to the crisis in volunteer participation,” the report says.

The research found a larger decrease in formal volunteer participation rates for men compared with women – which the report says continued a well-established trend.

Between 2022 and 2023, participation by men dropped by four percentage points, while in women it dropped by just two.

The report also found that during this period there was a five percentage point decrease in volunteering among Scotland’s ethnic minority populations, which the report suggests could be linked to the cost-of-living crisis. 

The report adds adults who are permanently retired from work have the highest volunteering participation rates by economic status for the first time.

“The decline in formal volunteer participation rates for adults in employment may, at least in part, be explained by the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.

“While the cost-of-living crisis may ease in the coming years, the potential impact on volunteer participation is unknown – we could see this trend solidified or an uptick in volunteering for working age adults,” the report says.