Completed Projects
All projects carried out by IVR are listed below according to the year which they were published. More details on all projects which are publicly available can be found in IVR's Evidence Bank. For more information on other projects please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
2012
Training Matters: review of volunteer training provision (Samaritans)
IVR undertook a major review of the training provided to all Samaritans volunteers, which included a survey of more than 3,500 individuals. The recommendations have informed the development of a revised training model.
Staff engagement with the third sector (UCL)
This review explores the level and nature of engagement of UCL (University College London) staff with the Third Sector.
Annual Return of Volunteer Centres 2011 (Volunteering England)
The Annual Return provides the most up-to-date data on the characteristics and behaviour of Volunteer Centres in England, and reports on the financial year 2010-2011.
2011
VALUE Network (European Commission)
The VALUE Network facilitated the development of cooperation between universities and volunteering organisations in the delivery of University Lifelong Learning (ULLL) to volunteers and volunteering organisation staff. Findings are presented on a project website.
Review of evidence to inform the Natural Connections Demonstration project (Natural England)
IVR, with Volunteering England’s Policy and Information team, undertook a review which explored the role and scope of volunteering in relation to the Natural Connections Demonstration Project. The project aims to reconnect children with their local natural environments by stimulating both the demand for and the supply of services to support learning outside the classroom in local natural environments.
Pathways through Participation (BLF)
This two and a half-year project was led by NCVO, in partnership with IVR and Involve, and funded by the Big Lottery Fund. It sought to explore: how and why participation begins and continues; whether trends and patterns of participation could be identified over time; and what connections, if any, exist between different forms and episodes of participation and what may trigger movement between them.
Formative evaluation of v (v)
IVR was part of an independent research consortium of organisations which was commissioned by v, the national young volunteers service to undertake an evaluation of the implementation, delivery and outcomes of its activities. The consortium was led by NatCen, and as well as IVR, the partners included the Third Sector Research Centre and Public Zone.
Volunteering and health: literature review on the evidence of impact and implications for policy and practice (Department of Health)
The review was conducted to inform the Department’s strategic vision for volunteering in health and care. The review explored literature in four key areas: health, public health, social care and the broader health and well-being impacts of volunteering.
Volunteering England Archives (Volunteering England)
Volunteering England was created from a merger of three organisations in 2004: the Consortium on Opportunities for Volunteering, the National Centre for Volunteering and Volunteer Development England. Student Volunteering England joined in 2007. A permanent home for the records of each of these predecessor organisations has been found at the London School of Economics (LSE) Archives.
2010
Scoping Study for Longitudinal Research on the Impact of Youth Volunteering (v)
This study scoped out the options for strengthening the evidence base around youth volunteering using longitudinal data.
Valuing volunteer management skills (Skills Third Sector)
This research study explores the skills gaps and development needs of people who manage volunteers and the volunteers they support in the voluntary sector.
Student volunteering and the community (NCCPE)
This research study looked at volunteering by university students in England. While volunteering by students in higher education has a long history, this study fills a gap in the evidence about the nature and extent of student volunteering and the impacts on students and the wider community.
Voluntary volunteer managers (National Trust)
This project developed for the National Trust a framework for planning for and then measuring the impact of involving ‘voluntary volunteer managers’. The project also brought out general learning points from the Trust’s experience of using them so far.
Second edition of the Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit (Volunteering England)
IVR published the second edition of the VIAT in October 2010. Full details can be found at Volunteering England's website and they provide training and support in England, with Volunteer Development Scotland doing the same in Scotland, WCVA in Wales and Volunteer Now in Northern Ireland. IVR coordinates the updating of the accompanying website.
Volunteer Management Literature Review (Volunteer Development Scotland)
IVR was commissioned to undertake a literature review on volunteer management. This work is part of the Volunteering Improvement Programme in Scotland that is funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
The impact of volunteering in Islington (Cripplegate Foundation)
This research assessed the impact of volunteering across projects in receipt of Islington Community Chest grants.
2009
Review of Crisis' volunteering programme (Crisis)
This review explored the difference volunteers make to Crisis, its clients and volunteers and makes recommendations on how the programme could be developed.
A review of the Compact Code of Good Practice on Volunteering (Commission for the Compact)
This literature review explored how changes in the legislative and policy environment since 2005 have impacted on the relevance of the Compact Code of Good Practice on Volunteering.
Environmental volunteering in the South West of England (Natural England)
This research explored environmental volunteering in the South West of England (replicating similar research undertaken in the North East in 2008). The research identified a body of highly active and committed volunteers and raised some challenges regarding diversity of volunteers and the barriers preventing non volunteers.
Evaluation of the New Horizons Programme (Groundwork UK)
The New Horizons programme sought to engage young (16-25 year old) ex-offenders in volunteering opportunities and so inspire them to make a lasting change. IVR was commissioned to carry out a piece of Action Research over 18 months to evaluate the New Horizons programme. In particular any relationship between volunteering and levels of offending was explored.
London Volunteer Health Check: All fit for 2012? (LDA)
The Olympics have sparked a new interest in volunteering while numbers of people getting involved are stagnating. The report looks at the barriers and also at the capacity of the existing infrastructure to develop volunteering to its full potential and more specifically to meet the requirements of 2012.
Volunteer impact assessment of student volunteering (Queen Mary, University of London)
This research explores the impact of volunteering on student volunteers at Queen Mary, University of London. The project was commissioned by Provide, the university’s student volunteering programme. The project looks at the benefits of participation and the barriers to volunteering amongst students who are not involved.
Volunteer Centres in Leicestershire: their role in supporting the volunteer journey (Voluntary Action Leicester)
This research explored the ways in which Volunteer Centres in Leicestershire can and do support volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations at different stages in the ‘volunteer journey’. The research also identified good practice case studies and provided recommendations for maximising the effectiveness and impact of Volunteer Centres in enhancing the volunteer experience in Leicestershire.
Volunteering and employability (Capacity Builders)
This study explored the role of Volunteer Centres in supporting the link between volunteering and employability and was carried out between February and April 2009.
2008
Assessing the impact of volunteering in the NHS
IVR undertook an impact assessment of volunteering within the NHS. The project provides evidence to senior managers, boards and trustees of the value of volunteering.
Environmental volunteering in the North East of England (Natural England)
This research explored current levels of volunteering within environmental organisations in the North East of England.
Impact evaluation of National Trust working holidays (National Trust)
This evaluation, completed in August 2008, measured and assessed the impact of the National Trust’s Working Holidays Programme on volunteers, properties and the National Trust as a whole.
The impact of public policy on volunteering in community-based organisations (Volunteering Hub)
This study was carried out in partnership between the Institute for Volunteering Research and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research between May 2007 and March 2008. The study’s key finding was that volunteering in these organisations is increasingly being moulded by external factors such as legislation, policy and funding programmes.
The impact of returned international volunteers (VSO)
This scoping review brings together research and evidence on the impact of returned international volunteers. Specifically, it looks at the impact of international volunteering on volunteers themselves and on their home countries and communities when they return from overseas.
Management matters: a national survey of volunteer managment capacity (Capacity Builders)
The study was undertaken by the Institute for Volunteering Research, with Carol Goldstone Associates and GfK NOP conducting the fieldwork. This study explored the capacity of organisations to involve and mange volunteers. It looked at the financial and human resources dedicated by organisations to supporting volunteers, and the roles and positions of those who manage volunteers.
Volunteering to lead: a study of leadership within small volunteer-led groups (Volunteering Hub)
This study was carried out by the Institute for Volunteering Research between May 2007 and March 2008. It explored issues of leadership within small, volunteer-led groups and the challenges associated with their growth and development.
2007
Evaluation of the Education Volunteering Programme (English Heritage)
An evaluation of the first year of its Education Volunteering Programme. The Education Volunteering Programme was launched in 2006 to support English Heritage's new Learning Strategy. The objectives of the evaluation were to evaluate the effectiveness of the first year of the Programme, to review its impacts and to make recommendations for its future development.
Evaluation of the Learning Volunteer Programme (Natural History Museum)
This report summarises the findings from the work and identifies key areas of learning and success for the initiative as well as guidance to other museums seeking to develop a ‘learning’ volunteer programme.
Evaluation of the MOVE Project (European Commission)
The MOVE Project by the European Volunteer Centre (CEV). IVR was responsible for the evaluation of the year long project which finished in September 2007. The project focused on the recognition of the skills and competences that can be gained through volunteering, stimulating a European wide debate.
Volunteering and the media (VAMU)
A literature review of published and current research explores the image of volunteering in the media and the power of the media to influence people to volunteer. A survey of volunteer involving organisations and volunteer development agencies was carried out in March 2006 to explore the ways organisations are liaising with the media on volunteering issues.
During 2006/7 VAMU and IVR worked with two organisations with limited media experience to help them work better with the media to promote volunteering and recruit volunteers. This report reveals how they got coverage in the local media and the problems they experienced along the way. It also includes tips for organisations on issues such as how to make contact with journalists, how to evaluate media coverage and how to write a press release.
Volunteering in the National Trust
The National Trust commissioned IVR to undertake a survey of its volunteers in 2007, building on a previous exercise in 2004 and 1997. The survey asked volunteers about their experiences of volunteering in the Trust and the benefits of their involvement.
Volunteering for Health promotion (Department of Health)
This report draws together the recurrent themes of the previous White Paper Choosing health: Making healthy choices easier (2004). Choosing Health is unequivocal in its commitment to push health promotion to the top of the agenda and produces a blueprint for a range of actions local agencies must take to get the ball rolling.
Volunteering in the natural outdoors in the UK and Ireland: a literature review (Countryside Recreation Network)
The Tomorrow Network has completed a piece of research on behalf of the Countryside Recreation Network (CRN) that explored volunteering within the natural outdoors throughout the UK and Ireland. This literature review was completed as part of this project.
2006
Assessing Voluntary Experiences (European Commission)
IVR worked with colleagues in a number of European countries on a Leonardo de Vinci funded project to look at the ways in which volunteering can be assessed and accredited, both informally and formally. The outcome of the project is a self- assessment tool, which aims to help those volunteers looking to enter or return to the workplace to reflect upon their experience and skill development.
Evaluation of the Diana Award (Diana Award)
IVR evaluated the Award over a period of three years. It explored the effectiveness of the Diana Awareness Project, an initiative designed to raise awareness of the Award and increase the number of nominations. It also made recommendations for the ongoing development of the Award and explored opportunities for its consolidation over the next five years.
Exhibiting Support: developing volunteering in museums (Baring Foundation)
IVR worked with three museums each funded by The Baring Foundation to develop their relationships with volunteers. The three musuems have each worked in different ways to enhance volunteering. IVR was commissioned by The Baring Foundation to review the learning across each of the museums. Exhibiting Support... Developing volunteering in museums summaries the findings of the research.
Retention and succession planning within Further Education Governance (Association of Colleges)
This study explored issues of retention and succession planning in Further Education governance. It worked with nine Further Education colleges across England as case studies to explore the factors that could affect governor retention.
Risk and volunteering (Home Office)
Volunteering England examined the issue of risk management within volunteer-involving organisations. The project, which involved consultation with a range of stakeholders, including the volunteering sector, the insurance industry, and national and local government, aimed to improve the way in which organisations manage the risks associated with the involvement of volunteers.
Student volunteering in the Open University (OU)
This study explored current levels of, and attitudes towards, volunteering among its students in London, and potential ways in which the OU could provide support.
Volunteering in Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA)
This research maps and evaluates the role and development of volunteers in museums, libraries and archives. It looks at a wide range of issues for the sector, including volunteer recruitment, barriers to volunteer involvement and volunteer management. The study builds on volunteering research undertaken in 2001 and assesses how volunteering in the sector has changed since this time. Download a copy of the report from the MLA website:
- Full Report
- Executive summary (MS Word)
Alongside this piece of research an additional study was undertaken in the North East , commissioned by the North East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (NEMLAC). This provides a more in-depth analysis of volunteering in the region and identifies the key issues for the North East specifically. Download the report from the NEMLAC website
Volunteering in the NHS
This work involves investigating the extent and nature of volunteering in one Primary Care Trust area, with the aim of mapping the extent and nature of volunteering within the health field beyond the idea of 'traditional volunteering' in service delivery.
- Download the report (MS Word)
Volunteer recruitment, management and support in Poole (Poole Volunteer Centre)
This research reviews the current provision and effectiveness of volunteer recruitment, induction and support procedures in five volunteer involving organisations in Poole.
Volunteers Can - a draft strategy for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
IVR produced the draft strategy on behalf of NOMS in 2006. It was informed by a series of meetings with key stakeholders, including voluntary and community sector organisations, prison and probation staff and volunteers. NOMS put the draft strategy out for public consultation in 2007.
Evaluation of the 'Unlocking the Potential Programme' (Wildlife Trust)
The 'Unlocking the Potential' programme aimed to diversify the volunteer base and to enhance the ways in which volunteers are managed and supported. The local Wildlife Trusts were involved directly in the programme, focusing on attracting different target groups of volunteers.
2005
Diversity and recruitment of Further Education college governors (Association of Colleges)
IVR was involved in three pieces of research about the recruitment and diversity of Further Education (FE) college governors. Recognising the current lack of diversity in some FE governing bodies, the aim of the first piece of research was to understand more about the issues that currently limit diversity within college governance, and subsequently to provide a series of recommendations for future recruitment strategies that will help to address the issues. The second project aimed to explore understandings of diversity and ‘representativeness' among FE college governors and the ways in which these understandings shape the recruitment and induction processes. The two project reports can be accessed below:
- Attitudes to diversity among governors in further education colleges PDF
- Recruitment and Diversity among FE Governors - PDF
Active Citizens in Schools (ACiS) (Department of Education)
IVR conducted an evaluation of the ACiS project over three years. ACiS aims to extend the principles of Millennium Volunteers (MV) to secondary school pupils through two pilot initiatives; one run by Changemakers the other by ContinYou.
Hospice Study (Help the Hospices)
This study applied the volunteer investment value audit (VIVA) to volunteering in hospices alongside a second study exploring the future of volunteering within the hospice movement based on surveys of volunteers and paid staff. The two project reports can be accessed below:
- Volunteering in UK Hospices (A survey commissioned by Help the Hospices)
- The Economics of Hospice Volunteering (A study commissioned by Help the Hospices)
IYV 2001 Revisited (United Nations Volunteers)
IVR explored the developments that have occurred in the world of volunteering since the International Year of the Volunteer 2001, and the extent to which the UN Resolutions that followed from the Year have been implemented. The aim of the research is to prepare a report for UNV to serve as the basis for the official report back to the GA of the UN on progress against the recommendations set out in two separate Resolutions following IYV2001.
Transitions to retirement (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
This project looked at the role volunteering plays in the transition from paid work to retirement. The final report was published during Spring 2005. The report's findings will feed into topical debates on how best to promote active ageing and active communities.
2004
Barclays Bank's employee volunteering programme
This evaluation explored the impacts of Barclays' employee-volunteering scheme on a range of stakeholders and to tease out the lessons for other companies.
Evaluation of the Neighbourhood Gardeners Initiative (BBC)
The BBC Neighbourhood Gardener initiative was based on a US programme called Master Gardeners, in which volunteer gardeners are encouraged to take a short course and then run gardening projects for the local community. n evaluation of this programme was undertaken through the use of questionnaires, interviews and focus groups with a range of key stakeholders.
Social exclusion and volunteering (Community Fund)
The project looked at the relationship between volunteering and social exclusion and concentrated on three groups for whom social exclusion can be an issue - people from black and minority ethnic communities, disabled people and offenders/ex-offenders.
Impact evaluation of student volunteering (University College London)
This impact evaluation explored the role of volunteering on students' employability and on the local community. As well as survey research, focus groups and telephone interviews have been undertaken.
Volunteering impact assessment toolkit (Global Services Institute)
Organisations in the UK and Sweden helped to pilot a range of tools such as pre-designed questionnaires which help organisations which involve volunteers measure the impacts of volunteering on volunteers, the organisation that involves volunteers, the people or things the volunteering aims to assist and the wider community.
2003
The development of volunteering in Samara (BEARR Trust and Povolzhe, Russia)
The project set out to promote capacity building for developing volunteering in NGOs and small projects in Samara , Russia . A group of practitioners and researchers involved in volunteering and community development visited Samara with the aim of sharing British experience in the field of volunteering. IVR was involved in the development of a concept of volunteering relevant to the situation in Russia .
Faith and Voluntary Action: communities, values and resources
This research explores how people relate their volunteering to their faith. It reports some ways in which voluntary action is organised in different communities and connects to other communities and networks , both faith based and secular. It also looks at the issue of how the government is trying to engage faith communities as service providers in some of its community initiatives.
Volunteering within planning aid (Royal Town Planning Institute)
This is a study of volunteering within Planning Aid, a voluntary service offering free, independent and professional advice on town planning matters to community groups and individuals who cannot afford to employ a planning consultant. The study looked at the profile of volunteers currently involved in the scheme and the suggested ways of encouraging RTPI members to become volunteers and how to better support and involve volunteers in the future.
School Governors (DfES)
A report on under-represented groups as school governors has been published. The groups investigated were: people from black and other minority ethnic groups, young people, disabled people, lone parents, people on low incomes and people who are unemployed, and business people.
2002
Investing in Volunteers (IiV)
IiV is a quality system being pioneered in four South London boroughs (the area known as Wandle Valley). In the same way that Investors in People scrutinises systems for managing and developing paid staff, IiV looks at how volunteer involving organisations can guarantee a quality experience for volunteers. The Institute worked with the Wandle Valley partners to provide an independent evaluation of the programme.
Millennium Volunteers Evaluation
IVR was commissioned to carry out an evaluation of the Millennium Volunteers (MV) programme. The evaluation suggested that MV could be judged a success on a number of counts. At the time of writing, over 50,000 young people had taken part in the programme, over 10,000 Awards had been issued and tens of thousands of new volunteering opportunities had been identified. The evaluation also found that successes could be identified against each of the key principles of MV.
While much success has been seen in the involvement of first time volunteers and achieving a good mix of ethnicity, it was felt that the programme has some way to go before it could claim to be truly inclusive.
2001
Able Volunteers
This project was established by The National Development Team, an organisation which works with people with learning difficulties, is engaged in some action research about supporting people with learning difficulties and mental health problems as volunteers. The project has European funding and will be looking to transfer lessons and good practice among European Partners.
Exploring different cultural concepts of volunteering
Volunteering is a culturally grounded concept with implicit cultural references. The term conjures up certain images in our minds, with limited transferability. The Institute undertook an exploration of the implications of the dominant Western construct of volunteering.
Global evaluation of International Year of Volunteers 2001 (United Nations Volunteers)
The evaluation was undertaken in association with the Development Resources Centre in South Africa. IYV was celebrated in over 130 countries and a two-tier methodology has been developed to ensure a balance is struck between breadth and depth of coverage.
