The merged organisation would be known as the National Council for Voluntary Organisations but with an additional "strapline". It will retain the brands for Volunteering England and Institute for Volunteering Research.
I believe NCVO are a great organisation and a very, very logical merger choice. There will be some things that will go, I suspect. Eventually, Institute for Volunteering Research will be integrated into the wider NCVO Research area. Policy issues around Volunteering will need to compete for space amongst the many good issues NCVO tackle. The voice of managers of volunteers will be less heard. Advocacy for volunteers needs to be considered amongst the backdrop that NCVO focuses on organisational issues. Funding applications for NCVO will need to consider a number of issues including volunteerism. If there is not strong advocacy internally for volunteering, the issue may have less impact than it currently does in the UK.
On the other hand, it could mean that something survives in a bleak economic environment.
I have been predicting for three years now, we will see wholesale consolidation of the Volunteering infrastructure" sector. We have seen:
- the almost complete disappearance of Volunteering Australia this month.
- the 2007 merger with Hands On/Points of Light in the USA
- Volunteer Canada's major funding challenge following the change of government there
- the merger of Volunteering Ireland/Volunteer Centres Ireland.
These mergers show us that volunteer infrastructure development is still not "sexy". We have not sold it well at any level. I wonder if Reimagining Service will help over in the USA. Otherwise, we are going backwards globally and the loss of VE will be felt widely.
