Digital poverty is reducing the number of volunteers charities are able to rely on during the pandemic, a report has warned.

Many volunteers are struggling to adapt to new ways of working remotely and charities’ pivoting of support and fundraising online amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This is impacting on the demographic profile of volunteers and leading to some feeling excluded from being able to help charities.

The findings have emerged in the latest findings from a joint project into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on charities, being carried out the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and academics at Nottingham Trent and Sheffield Hallam universities.

This found that 35% of charities had seen a fall in the number of volunteers, compared to 20% who had seen an increase, since March 2020.

A key factor is digital poverty, warns the project’s latest report.

“With the shift to online provision the issues of digital poverty impact the availability and demographic profile of volunteers,” said the report.

“Many organisations have stated that they had volunteers who struggled to participate due to lack of resources or skills and therefore are excluded from volunteering opportunities. For others such interactions are not experienced as meaningful and therefore they have chosen not to participate. Finding the right volunteers with the right skills has been hard.”

One charity said: “Our volunteers have been unable to make the change to online support due to not having access to internet and digital media and having children at home during lockdowns has meant they haven’t been able to give time. Recruiting new volunteers with the skills we need has been difficult.”

Recruiting for ‘virtual’ roles

The report recommends adapting its volunteer offer to focus on attracting people with digital skills who are able to give up their time.

The report notes that already some charities are adapting successfully.

“Working digitally, where geography and for some roles set times are no longer as critical, has allowed organisations to experiment with different types of volunteering,” it adds.

One charity which spoke to researchers added: “We need to consider slightly more dynamic roles…more virtual roles so that we can maintain a presence and keep people active.

“So, that’s certainly something that we were reflecting on anyway but definitely the pandemic has sort of highlighted that and heightened that that needs to feature a bit more.”

The project’s next report will focus on finance and he pandemic. Researchers are keen to hear stories of how Covid-19 has affected charity income and lessons learned for the future. The project team can be emailed at CPWOP@ntu.ac.uk.

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