19th March 2026
The State of Scottish Volunteering 2025: What the Latest Evidence Shows
Volunteering in Scotland is shifting in important ways.
We publish a wide range of research and analysis on volunteering, drawing on national datasets and partner studies, including work with SCVO. This year’s evidence base includes the 2024 Scottish Household Survey, the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health and Wellbeing Survey, the Scottish Third Sector Tracker, and the 2025 Scottish Voluntary Sector Workforce Survey. Together, these sources provide the most up to date picture of volunteering across Scotland.
We’ve pulled all this analysis together into our second State of Scottish Volunteering report, which presents five headlines for the sector to consider.
The headlines: a brief overview
Fragmented communities undermine volunteering
Volunteering is closely tied to wider civic and community engagement. People who volunteer are more likely to feel connected to their communities, participate in local groups and take part in other forms of civic life. These social foundations – belonging, neighbourliness and trust – help create the conditions in which volunteering can grow.
However, the evidence shows that these foundations are under strain. Research into grassroots engagement under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 highlights that many volunteers encounter barriers such as limited influence, poor communication or negative experiences with local processes. These experiences can discourage future involvement and weaken confidence in local systems.
Alongside this, wider indicators of community cohesion show signs of pressure. Recent data on hate crime and discrimination suggests that some communities are experiencing rising tensions and reduced feelings of safety and inclusion. These patterns matter for volunteering: when people feel less safe, less welcome or less connected, they are less likely to participate in community life – including volunteering.
Deepening divides in who volunteers
Although volunteer participation is rising overall, gaps by deprivation and disability are deepening. Adults in the least deprived areas of Scotland continue to volunteer at significantly higher rates, and participation among disabled adults is increasing more slowly. Disabled volunteers are also more likely to consider stepping back from their roles, and informal volunteering has fallen slightly among disabled adults while remaining stable for non-disabled adults.
These trends mirror wider wellbeing inequalities in Scotland, where disabled people and those in deprived areas consistently report lower collective, social and economic wellbeing. The people who could benefit most from volunteering’s positive impacts are often the least able to access them.
Pathways to volunteering are under threat
Volunteering grows where people connect, join and take part – in clubs, hobbies, social action, neighbourhood groups and wider community life. But these everyday participation spaces are under pressure. Cost of living constraints and widening participation gaps mean fewer people have access to the activities that typically lead into volunteering.
These pressures are particularly acute in deprived communities, where access to leisure, social participation and community infrastructure is more limited. When pathways narrow, fewer people enter volunteering – especially those who could benefit most.
Rising participation, persistent challenges?
Formal volunteering participation (volunteering with a group, club or organisation) has started to rebound, increasing from 18% in 2023 to 25% in 2024 – the first clear recovery in several years. More organisations now report gaining volunteers than losing them, reflecting this wider upturn.
However, this recovery sits alongside significant pressures. Recruitment and retention challenges remain widespread, and many organisations continue to face capacity issues such as limited staff time, coordination demands and volunteer fatigue. These pressures are evident even among organisations whose volunteer numbers have increased, suggesting that growth in volunteer numbers alone is not easing operational strain.
Creating positive volunteer experience should be your priority
Across all demographic groups, volunteer experience stands out as the strongest predictor of whether people stay involved in volunteering. Volunteers who feel well supported report dramatically higher satisfaction, and those with positive experiences are far less likely to consider leaving their roles.
Younger volunteers and those from minority ethnic backgrounds show sharper drops in satisfaction when support is low, making high quality support essential for inclusion and long-term stability. Strengthening support is one of the most effective ways to improve retention across the sector.
Overall picture
Volunteering in Scotland is recovering, but the evidence shows that this recovery rests on uneven and fragile foundations. Pathways into volunteering are narrowing, participation is rising but not yet secure, organisations are under sustained pressure, and volunteer experience remains the strongest determinant of whether people stay involved. At the same time, widening inequalities and signs of strain in community cohesion – including rising hate crime and reduced feelings of safety for some groups – risk weakening the social foundations that volunteering depends on.
Taken together, the picture is clear: volunteering does not stand alone. It is shaped by the health of our communities, the capacity of our organisations, and the experiences of the people who give their time. Strengthening volunteering in Scotland means strengthening this whole ecosystem – widening pathways, stabilising capacity, improving support, and rebuilding the connections and trust that help communities thrive.
2025 marked the first year of Creating a Nation of Volunteers, Volunteer Scotland’s new strategy – and the evidence from this year’s research shows both real progress and real pressure. Across the country, organisations are working hard to widen participation, improve volunteer experiences and strengthen the culture of volunteering. Volunteers themselves continue to make an extraordinary contribution, often in challenging circumstances. Yet the wider ecosystem they depend on is under strain. Declining trust, rising social tensions, and uneven access to opportunities all risk undermining the gains made so far. The sector is moving forward, but the ground beneath it is shifting.
The final section of The State of Scottish Volunteering 2025 brings together the five headline findings to reflect on how participation flows from communities into volunteer‑involving organisations, and ultimately into the experiences of volunteers themselves. It highlights that strengthening volunteering requires action at every level: from volunteers and potential volunteers, to policymakers and funders, to the practice community of VIOs, employers and infrastructure bodies. Each group has a role in rebuilding the conditions that allow volunteering to thrive – safe, valued, supported volunteers; strong, well‑resourced organisations; and communities where people feel connected, empowered and able to take part. The message is clear: if Scotland wants a nation of volunteers, we must invest not only in volunteering itself, but in the social fabric that makes volunteering possible.
To launch the State of Scottish Volunteering 2025 report, Volunteer Scotland held a launch event, with 50 participants representing the Scottish voluntary sector. Participants shared their reflections on the findings, which broadly resonated with their experience on the ground. We ended the session asking people what words came to mind when they thought about the current state of Scottish volunteering – you can see the results in the word cloud below. There is so much hope for the future and appetite for growth in the sector, despite being under pressure and working in challenging contexts.
To find out about these headlines in more detail and what evidence supports these conclusions, please read our report.
Bethany Sikes
Research & Policy Manager
Debbie Maltman
Research Officer