1. Voluntary action and the struggle for heritage
Dr. Andrew Curtis
Institute for Volunteering Research

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3. Outline Case study 1 Definitions of volunteering
Types of organisations
Types of volunteering activities
Who volunteers
Small and medium heritage organisations
Case study 2

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6. Of benefit to others or the environment
definitions
Many definitions of volunteering
Three defining principles
(Ellis Paine et al, 2010)
Unpaid
Of benefit to others or the environment
Freewill

7. definitions
Serious leisure: systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity sufficiently substantial, interesting, and fulfilling for the participant to find a (leisure) career there acquiring and expressing a combination of its special skills, knowledge, and experience.
Casual leisure: immediately, intrinsically rewarding, relatively short-lived pleasurable activity, requiring little or no special training to enjoy it.
Project-based leisure: short-term, reasonably complicated, one- off or occasional, though infrequent, creative undertaking carried out in free time, or time free of disagreeable obligation.
(Stebbins 2007)
(Ellis Paine et al, 2010)

8. Types of organisations
Source: NCVO/TSRC, Charity Commission

9. Types of organisations
Source: NCVO/TSRC, Charity Commission

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11. Types of ACTIVITIES
Source: Charity Commission

12. Types of ACTIVITIES
Source: Charity Commission/
Populus

13. Who volunteers?
All Volunteers: data from ONS 2017 (UK) which uses the over 55 category. Conservation: averages from Ockenden 2008 and Russell 2009 (two regions of England).

14. Who volunteers?
All Volunteers: CLS reported in UK Civil Society Almanac 2016 (England).
Heritage: averages of data from Rosemberg et al 2011 (England and Wales)
Holmes and Slater 2012 (UK). Conservation: averages of Ockenden 2008 and Russell 2009 (two regions of England).

15. Who volunteers? General Population, all Volunteers Harflett 2014.
Heritage: Rosemberg et al 2011 (England and Wales).
Conservation: averages of Ockenden 2008 (figure taken to be 95%, i.e. all those who reported their ethnicity,
and Russell 2009 (two regions of England).

16. Who volunteers? People from lower socio-economic groups and Black or
ethnic minority groups less likely to visit a heritage site or
museum, or engage with the arts than those in higher socioeconomic
groups and White people
(Taking Part Survey, Department for Culture Media and Sport, 2013)
People from lower socio-economic groups and Black, Asian
and minority ethnic groups less likely to visit the natural
environment than the rest of the adult population
(Natural England, Burt et al., 2013)
(From Harflett 2014)

17. Small and medium heritage organisations
Issue
Detail
Geography
Especially challenging in rural settings in the heritage sector. These included umbrella and support organisations not covering the UK uniformly
There were also issues around time, cost and travel as the main barriers to self-directed capacity-building in small local heritage organisations.
Aging workforce and volunteers
A growing challenge was the ageing workforce of volunteers and staff in the heritage sector and the related skills gap.
Therefore tailoring support could be vital. In certain cases respondents wanted to avoid the ‘same old training courses’, and explore alternative forms of training, such as peer support and mentoring.
Relationship with funder
The importance of a good relationship with the funder and flexibility from the funder.

19. Small and medium heritage organisations
Aspirations of organisations
Following three types:
‘happy with the status quo’ (little appetite to dramatically expand)
‘need to consolidate’ (maintaining current levels of capacity)
‘looking to expand’ (modest as well as fundamental expansion)

20. Case study
Challenge
Key learning points
Funding
Micro and small organisations are less affected by funding cuts
Medium-sized organisations are struggling due to the funding cuts
Larger projects need an organisation-wide capacity-building element
Limited staff capacity
Staff struggle to balance duties and bidding.
Funding that covers staff buy out in the development stage would be useful
Governance
A need for new trustees
Social media training needs of trustees were frequently identified
Volunteers
A need for more volunteers and training around volunteer recruitment
A need to train volunteers in different areas, including fundraising and social media
Dealing with large and unexpected repair bills
The need for organisations to build reserves for contingencies
The need to share learning around maintaining historic properties even if this is not the direct focus of their HLF grant
Started by one person walking and exploring the yard to stay healthy
Rescued vital materials from a skip
Others joined the group looking to make the activities systematic
Considering a charging model

21. Conclusion
Data capture: Categories of voluntary groups and volunteering not capturing heritage and/ or campaigning volunteering sufficiently
Diversity of volunteers: Research suggests that perhaps an issue with diversity of volunteers in heritage
Emblematic of the sector as a whole: Issues around organisational capacity and sustainability
Distinctive aspects: Include issues around geography and artefacts