Inclusive volunteering in heritage and nature sectors

Being a volunteer helps people to learn new skills, meet others and feel better about themselves. Volunteering can help people in many ways, such as recovering from mental health problems and finding employment. Many organisations cannot operate without volunteers, who play an important role in their communities.

Some people with a disability or mental health problem may not consider becoming a volunteer because of low confidence or a lack of appropriate skills. However, it often takes just a little support to help people make the step into volunteering. Organisations which support people to volunteer make volunteering more inclusive. 

• Research aims

  During this research, we will aim to answer the following questions:

  • What works, for whom, why and in what circumstances when providing inclusive volunteering programmes? 
  • To what extent does receiving support to volunteer improve social and wellbeing outcomes for people, and reduce the need for formal social care?
  • What are the costs and economic consequences of inclusive volunteering for individuals, government and society?

  This study aims to evaluate:

  • how inclusive volunteering can be established or enhanced in different heritage and nature-based organisations to support people with diverse additional needs to volunteer;
  • outcomes for these individuals and organisations. 

  The study objectives are to:

  • establish a community of practice of organisations interested in developing inclusive volunteering;
  • use the community of practice to provide consultancy and support to organisations to achieve;
  • their own objectives around inclusive volunteering provision;
  • use observations and interviews to evaluate how organisational contexts influence processes and mechanisms associated with inclusive volunteering;
  • use structured measures to evaluate outcomes for volunteers;
  • calculate costs of inclusive volunteering and economic consequences;
  • refine the programme theory for inclusive volunteering and the guide produced from our earlier research.

• What we'll do

  This study will use a realist evaluation approach. That means we’re not just asking whether something works – we’re exploring how it works, for whom, in what circumstances, and why.

  We’ll start with a draft Theory of Change (ToC) developed in an earlier study. This sets out how inclusive volunteering is expected to make a difference. We’ll test and refine this theory by gathering data and looking closely at what helps or hinders change. We’ll focus on the links between context, mechanisms, and outcomes -known as CMOCs – to build a clearer picture of how inclusive volunteering works across different settings.

  This approach helps us explain why things happen, not just what happens. It also means our findings can be applied more widely across the voluntary sector.

  Six organisations from the heritage and nature sectors will take part in the study. They’ve been carefully chosen to give us a wide range of perspectives. These organisations vary in:

  • Location across the UK.
  • Type of work and audiences they serve.
  • Stage of developing inclusive volunteering.
  • Size, funding models, and accountability structures.

  All six are interested in improving or expanding inclusive volunteering, and have the capacity to do so. We’ve already met with them to confirm their interest and co-design the study. Each organisation has set its own goal for what it hopes to achieve by taking part.