Millions wasted on poor volunteering plans

The Times

15 January 2008

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THE Government has wasted millions of pounds on ineffective volunteering initiatives, reports Third Sector (Jan 9).

Research by nfpSynergy, a think-tank, reveals that the proportion of volunteers aged over 16 has fallen from 20 per cent to 19 per cent in the past three years. This is despite schemes such as the Year of the Volunteer in 2005 and the doomed Experience Corps, into which £20 million of public money was sunk trying to create a grey army of older volunteers. “Government’s broad message that volunteering is a good thing to do hasn’t been effective,” says Joe Saxton, a co-founder of nfpSynergy.

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