Results of annual volunteer centre survey

Volunteering England has published the results of its survey of 169 volunteer centres in England, which included that although 89 per cent of respondents received funding from local authorities in 2010/11, this had fallen by 12%, from an average of £32,000 in 2009/10 to £28,308 in 2010/11.

Other results from the annual survey, which Volunteer England jointly conducted with the Institute for Volunteer Research, are:

• The value of funds from grant-making bodies rose by 12 per cent from a median value of £29,000 in 2009/10 to £33,000 in 2010/11.
• Local government funding represented 42 per cent of the volunteer centres' income in 2010/11 and one-quarter of the centres' funding was from grant-making bodies.
• Central government provided 10 per cent of volunteer centre funding.
• 43 per cent of respondents generated their own income by charging for services in 2010/11, an increase from 37 per cent in 2009/10.
• A third of volunteer centres had been unable to meet demand for their services.
• 63 per cent of enquiries to volunteer centres came from women, 48 per cent from people who were not in employment and 28 per cent from ethnic minority groups.

To download the full report visit www.ivr.org.uk/images/stories/Institute-of-Volunteering-Research/ivr_annual_return_volunteer_centres_2011.pdf.