Global majority volunteers twice as likely to feel excluded, NCVO research finds

Global majority volunteers are twice as likely to feel excluded as volunteers overall (at 12% vs 6%), with feelings of exclusion particularly high among those who are disabled (21%), according to NCVO research, released today.

Global majority volunteers are also less likely to feel a sense of belonging to the organisation (77% vs 84%), the research found. And, while satisfaction of global majority volunteers is high, it is lower than volunteers overall (86% vs 92%). Younger and disabled volunteers from the global majority also report lower levels of satisfaction.

The findings come from NCVO’s Time Well Spent research, which focuses on understanding the experiences and perspectives of people from the global majority. This is the term NCVO has adopted to cover all ethnic groups except white British and other white minority groups.

However, the research also shows an ‘appetite for volunteering’ in the global majority. Just over two-thirds (69%) of global majority volunteers say they are likely to continue volunteering in the next 12 months, compared with 77% of volunteers overall.

In addition, one in five global majority non-volunteers have looked into volunteering opportunities in the last year, compared to 12% of non-volunteers overall.

The report includes recommendations for how to improve their experience. This includes:

• Considering motivations: Global majority volunteers, it says, are most likely to be motivated by a cause that is important to them. The research found they are over twice as likely to volunteer for a religious cause (21% vs 10%). As well as religious motivations, career-related benefits are a stronger motivation compared with volunteers overall (14% vs 9%).
• Starting the journey ‘right’: Global majority volunteers have higher expectations of the speed of the entry process. However, they are less likely to report a positive entry experience. NCVO says a quick and easy entry process is also a factor more likely to encourage global majority non-volunteers to take up volunteering compared to non-volunteers overall (16% vs 10%).
• Building belonging: A culture of trust and respect, recognition, and a sense of belonging are particularly important to people from the global majority, influencing overall satisfaction with volunteering.
• Flexibility is key: The main barriers reported by global majority non-volunteers relate to time and commitment (‘not wanting to make an ongoing commitment’ being the highest at 28%). Flexibility is the main factor that would encourage global majority non-volunteers to start volunteering. The volunteering opportunities which appeal to global majority volunteers and non-volunteers most are those they can dip in and out of (35%) or one-off opportunities (34%).

NCVO surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults from the global majority population aged 18 years or older in Great Britain, alongside a nationally representative sample of 7,006 adults from the overall population containing global majority respondents.

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