The volunteer crisis in charities: what the vanishing volunteer is really telling us

It’s 4:55 PM on a Friday. You’re scrambling, again, for an emergency volunteer. But what if that scramble isn’t just about resourcing? What if it’s a signal, a warning light we’ve learned to ignore?

I’ve lived that late-afternoon scramble, juggling urgent needs while protecting long-term sustainability. I’ve seen first-hand how once-reliable models now strain under new pressures, unable to resolve the tensions today’s charities face.

I have lived that late-afternoon scramble: juggling urgent needs while trying to protect long-term sustainability. Over the years I have watched once-reliable models bend under new pressures and struggle to resolve the tensions charities face today. Volunteers are not merely “extra hands.” In many organisations they are the scaffolding that holds together the informal work that never makes it onto the rota. When that pool shrinks, the problem is rarely just numbers; but a sign that the system underneath needs to be seen and protected.

ONS data for the UK shows formal volunteering has been falling for years. COVID-19 undoubtedly disrupted engagement, but the downward trend began earlier. This is not a temporary blip but a model under strain. As AI and automation begin to ease administrative burdens, the human system will matter even more. The relationships, trust and tacit know-how volunteers bring must not be automated away.

This article examines three places where that strain shows up and offers practical steps charities can take today.

What’s really holding your operations together?

Most charities run on two interdependent systems:

• the formal one: roles, rotas, budgets

  
  

• the people-led one: last-minute cover, small on-the-ground adaptations, the “I’ll stay on and finish this” moments.

I call the latter a charity’s relational core: the informal network of trust, intuition and human judgement that keeps services safe. Volunteers often carry critical components of that core, which is why a drop in volunteer numbers feels disproportionately large.

Take for example a community food programme. On paper volunteers pack boxes and hand out food; in practice they coordinate rota changes, adapt meals to meet client needs, unlock the building when staff are delayed and tidy up long after others have gone. As one volunteer put it,

“I’m not just packing boxes. I’m the glue holding this together.”

It is a sentiment we hear often but rarely capture formally. Without those informal contributions, our programmes and services would simply not run. The solution, then, is not only about recruiting more people but about building systems that reflect how work really gets done.

Try this

Goal: make invisible work visible so it is not lost when people move on.

• Dependency mapping: bring staff and volunteers together and map what actually happens when someone is off, late or a delivery changes. Ask, “Who steps in when X fails?”

  
  

• Volunteer-led insights: invite volunteers to record the small routines and practical adjustments they make. Treat these notes as insight, not instruction, and use them to update formal processes and procedures.

The crisis innovation loop: are you capturing the clever fixes?

Charities are excellent at improvising under pressure. When a funder pulls back, demand spikes or a key volunteer is away, someone finds a workaround. Once the crisis passes the organisation often snaps back to “normal,” and the clever fix disappears. I call this the crisis innovation loop: you solve a problem once but do not keep the solution.

One practical example from my past is in assistance dog charities. Faced with volunteer gaps during holiday periods, many organisations developed informal “holiday home” placements. These were short-term foster solutions that successfully stabilised summer operations across several organisations. Over time that workaround quietly evolved into a viable BAU model, helping ease future holiday challenges.

I've found that when you name a workaround, for instance, “the Holiday Home model”, it becomes more than a rescue. It becomes part of your standard playbook. While incredibly difficult at the time, valuable innovation often lives in those scrappy, front-line moments, but only if you notice, evaluate, test and refine them.

Try this

Goal: turn reactive, people-tested fixes into part of your playbook.

• Record the saves: start a simple “fixes we want to keep” note — a wall in the break room, a Miro board or a Slack channel — so that when the next crisis hits, you are halfway to a solution.

  
  

• Innovation spotlight: create an easy mechanism for teams to share “problem → fix → result” stories.

  
  

• Volunteer innovation ambassadors: appoint one or two volunteers who spot frontline fixes and collate them for staff.

Pipeline friction points: when more volunteers does not mean more capacity

Sometimes recruitment brings a wave of new volunteers, but the welcome quickly stalls because local teams are not ready, role descriptions are vague and training is patchy. Volunteers are left confused or underused, staff pick up the slack and trust between teams frays. That is pipeline friction. It is not about volume; it is about fit, clarity and follow-through.

Imagine a viral national campaign that floods you with offers of help while local teams are unprepared. Role descriptions are vague, training is inconsistent, and the pipeline stalls. Experienced volunteers leave amid the chaos and others remain confused and underutilised. Operational staff absorb the added work and begin to lose trust in the organisation’s ability to coordinate effectively. The cost is not only operational; it is relational.

Try this

Goal: protect the relationships that make volunteering work, instead of only chasing volume.

• Frustration check-ins: once a month ask staff and volunteers, “What made this harder than it needed to be?” Commit to acting on one issue and tell people what changed.

  
  

• Simple dropout alerts: if someone misses a shift or stops responding, trigger a human check-in. A short call often re-engages a volunteer or surfaces an issue you can fix.

Burnout does not begin with too many volunteers; it starts with misalignment between teams. That misalignment usually springs from eroded trust and weakened human connections, the very relational integrity relational integrity charities rely on. As technology reshapes operations, protecting those bonds is essential to sustaining volunteer impact.

What next for charities in a volunteer crisis?

This crisis is more than a numbers problem. It is a prompt to revalue and protect the trust and relationships quietly powering your work as the world changes around you.

The goal is not to do more for its own sake; it is to make what you are already doing visible, valued and sustainable.

You do not have to fix everything at once, most of these steps fit into existing meetings, check-ins or operational updates. Start with one team and one tool, learn from that work and then build outward.

Q&A for charity teams: Volunteer Crisis

Q1. Why are our volunteer numbers dropping?

You are not imagining it. In the blog I mention UK ONS data that shows formal volunteering has been falling for years, so it is not just your organisation. Covid made it more visible, but the downward trend had already started. The reason it feels sharper in charities is that many of us are still using a model that was built for a different reality. Volunteers are carrying an invisible second system (last-minute cover, small adaptations, “I’ll stay on”). When the overall pool shrinks and that model is under strain, those informal bits disappear first, so the impact looks bigger than “we lost two volunteers.”

Q2. How do we keep the volunteers we already have?

Start by seeing the work they actually do, not only the role description, and celebrating it. In the blog I suggest a simple dependency-mapping session with staff and volunteers: “who steps in when X fails?” and “what always happens but is never on the rota?” When people see that their quiet, load-bearing work is noticed and written down, they are more likely to stay. You can also let volunteers document their own routines and have staff review it, so it stays safe.

Q3. We can recruit in spikes, but teams can’t absorb them. What do we do?

I call this pipeline friction. The problem is not “not enough volunteers,” it is “not enough clarity.” Before the next wave, make sure roles, training and follow-up are ready. Then run a monthly “what made this harder than it needed to be?” check-in with staff and volunteers and fix one thing visibly. That protects the relationships that make volunteering work, instead of only chasing numbers.

Q4. We see clever fixes in a crisis and then they disappear. How do we stop that?I call this the crisis innovation loop. Charities are good at adapting under pressure, but the fix vanishes once things calm down. Name the workaround, write it up as “problem → fix → result,” and keep it somewhere shared. You can also ask one or two volunteers to spot these fixes and send them in. That turns scrappy, people-tested solutions into part of your everyday playbook.

Q5. Where does AI fit in with volunteers?

This will vary between organisations, but for most the answer is later. Keeping the human, relational system visible now is what lets you add AI and other small automations later, without breaking what volunteers already do. Tidy and protect the people-led system first, then add tech when the system is ready.

Change does not start with a workshop. It starts with one honest conversation that rebuilds trust.

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Note: Examples are for illustrative purposes only; no official affiliation with the organisations or tools mentioned is claimed. AI systems can be unpredictable, so always keep personal or sensitive data out of third-party tools and ensure your implementation follows your own organisation’s data protection policies.