Volunteers serve a key role in our sector. They extend the capabilities of our SSAs to better support service delivery and expand capacities as “force multipliers” to augment manpower in the sector. Moving forward, volunteers will continue to be key enablers in transforming and adapting SSAs’ services.

With the increased focus in volunteerism since the launch of the SG Cares movement in January 2018, NCSS has increased efforts to oversee the readiness of SSAs to meaningfully engage and retain volunteers. Recent initiatives included the Volunteer Manager Funding Scheme to resource SSAs with dedicated volunteer managers, the development of resources like the Volunteer Continuity Planning Guide and the Enhanced Volunteer Management Toolkit to guide SSAs in their volunteer planning and engagement, and regular Volunteer Manager Network to encourage peer learning and innovation.

In addition, SSAs identified Volunteer Management as an opportunity area for development. Findings from the Social Service Sector Survey 2021 revealed that while 86% of SSAs surveyed viewed volunteers as essential to its function, only 62% of SSAs were able to recruit a sufficient number of regular volunteers.

2 questions

What are the objectives of CCT’s Volunteer Management pillar? How will NCSS ensure that the objectives in the area of Volunteer Management are met?

Why was Volunteer Management identified as a focal area?