Recruitment of fundraisers will become more difficult, survey says
Howard Lake | 1 November 2007 | News
Forty per cent of voluntary sector employers anticipate that recruitment will become more difficult over the next three years with half of those saying they expect the recruitment of fundraisers to become even more difficult than it is now.
At the same time, half recognised that skills gaps – fundraising being one of these – were caused by a lack of time and funding for training within their organisation.
These facts were revealed in the first UK Voluntary Sector Workfoce Almanac, published by the UK Workforce Hub and the NCVO.
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The Almanac also shows that there has been an increase of 26 per cent in the last 10 years to a voluntary sector workforce of 611,000 employees – which is now more than the number of people working for banks and building societies.
At the same time a quarter of sector employers report having hard-to-fill vacancies within their organisations and skills gaps in IT, legal knowledge and fundraising.
The research reveals that over two thirds of the voluntary sector workforce is female, that almost one in five employees in the sector has a disability and that part-time employees account for 39 per cent of voluntary sector employment. A third have a degree or equivalent qualification and between 1996 and 2005 this increased by 43 per cent.
Head of the UK Workforce Hub, Janet Fleming said: This rsearch reveals a voluntary sector workforce that is characteristically different to 10 years ago. We have a high proportion of employees who are female, working part-time hours and in small workplaces.
This presents both challenges and opportunities and means that it is imperative for employers to concentrate on the managemetn of human resources and individual development.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.