Funders should support the large-scale marketing of volunteering, a celebrity-backed report urges.

The London Vision for Volunteering, published yesterday, puts forward 36 recommendations to develop volunteering across the capital.

The report was produced with contributions from stakeholders in all London boroughs and high-profile names including the actor, broadcaster and writer Sir Stephen Fry, who is also president of the mental health charity Mind, and the chief scout Dwayne Fields.

It says funders should re-evaluate their support for volunteering costs from expenses to salaries of management.

It also suggests the creation of an independent body or initiative with a focus on raising the profile of volunteering and urges for more funding to support volunteer marketing.

Charities should recruit trustees through formal and open methods to help create more diverse and representative boards, the report recommends.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of not just the voluntary and community sector but play a key part in how London and British society functions,” the report says.

“If all people who volunteer, in whatever way, formally or informally, stopped giving their time, London’s society would very quickly grind to a halt.”

The London Vision for Volunteering initiative was established in 2024 to collaboratively produce a plan to tackle this decline in volunteering.

The programme has been led by Dominic Pinkney, chief executive of the social enterprise Works4U, and has been overseen by the London Volunteering Strategy Group. 

Group sessions, one-to-one interviews, workshops and tailored surveys were conducted to produce the report’s findings.

Andy Haldane, chief executive of the RSA and who contributed to the report, said: “Although the volunteer army is large, and its benefits enormous, it has been shrinking since Covid-19 and has been systematically underinvested in over many years.”

He said the report makes “some ambitious but practical recommendations for unlocking more of the deep untapped lake of potential in volunteering”. 

Fields said: “Across our communities, volunteers are making an incredible difference but we don’t have enough of them, 

“We need to make it much easier for them, such as helping them have time off work to volunteer, and help them see the impact they’re making.”

Debbie Weekes-Barnard, London’s deputy mayor for communities and social justice, said the report provided invaluable guidance and practical recommendations for how London’s voluntary sector could continue to grow and evolve.

“Supporting and expanding volunteering opportunities is crucial as we build a better, more connected and resilient London for everyone,” Weekes-Barnard said.