Latest news : Scheme to place thousands of volunteers

The voluntary sector needs more commercially skilled workers, as a new scheme aims to match 9,000 volunteers with 400 small charities. 19/09/2012

The programme, involving the government and national volunteering and learning charity Community Service Volunteers (CSV) , aims to get professionals involved with more than 400 local community groups.

These volunteers will contribute a variety of sought-after skills and knowledge to the organisations, including providing advice on recruitment and employment issues, support with IT and social networking, marketing and fundraising, or designing a website.

'Our findings reinforce that in the period of austerity we are all going through, charities need more volunteers with commercial skills,' said Lucy de Groot, chief executive of CSV.

As a result, Nick Hurd, minister for civil society, launched the volunteering partnership between CSV and National Grid in an attempt to plug this skills gap. The two organisations have teamed up to implement the Professionals programme, which has been backed by a grant of £705,603 from the Cabinet Office's Social Action Fund.

Mr Hurd said the campaign was a 'chance to inspire more people to use their talent and knowledge to put something really positive back into their community'.

A study by CSV showed that amongst 50 UK charities, nearly half have a need for skilled volunteers, with the key professional skills required being in business development (66%), marketing (61%) and accounting and finance (44%).

Almost 80% of organisations wanted to make their existing services more efficient and robust through using volunteers with professional skills.

Having volunteering experience on your CV could boost your employability, improving your chances of securing graduate jobs in a competitive market.