Income pressure and a volunteer shortage has left a “significant question mark” over the future of many charities running community buildings, researchers say.
Analysis found that the number of paid bookings had dropped at more than one-quarter of community buildings since Covid-19, hitting a vital source of income.
The research also identified “a stark lack” of younger volunteers who could keep buildings running when older volunteers decided to step back from their roles.
Community Matters (Yorkshire), which published the analysis yesterday, described volunteers as “the lifeblood” of community charities and said the findings showed the importance of encouraging more people under 40 to give their time.
Its report, based on a survey of 146 charities involved in running community buildings, shows that 40 per cent have seen paid bookings rise since the pandemic but 27 per cent have seen bookings fall.
The researchers say of this second group: “Given the current financial pressures, there must be a significant question mark raised over their long-term viability.”
The survey also found that many charities had struggled to recruit volunteers in the past six months, with 11 per cent saying they had tried and failed to find volunteers and another 29 per cent saying they had recruited successfully but only after a difficult process.
Asked about the average age of their volunteers, just 4 per cent of charities said 30 years old or younger, compared with 70 per cent that said 50 or older.
“Although we were aware anecdotally of this, the research showed a stark lack of volunteers in the younger age groups,” the report says.
John Wilson, chief officer at Community Matters (Yorkshire), told Third Sector: “On the subject of volunteers, who are often the lifeblood of community buildings, the data on their age profile, while not unexpected, was useful to see in hard numbers.
“The extremely low numbers of volunteers below the age of 40 (about 12 per cent) is perhaps a worrying trend for the future.
“There perhaps needs to be some work to look at how to encourage younger, time-poor people to consider thinking about small amounts of volunteering in their communities to set patterns for later life.”