"Should the salt of the earth be managed?" asked the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in 1983, referring to the trend for formalising the training of those who gave their spare time to help a worthy cause. The response to this question when repeated since has always been 'yes'. And the trend towards professionalism has continued and appears to be welcomed by volunteers.  Read article

Volunteering England supports the concept Cheryl Gillian raises of encouraging citizen volunteers to help decide the form public spending should take.  Read article

Non-profit organizations get inundated with prospective volunteers over the festive period, when most of them are shut. Mark Restall, from Volunteering England, says it's during the rest of the year they really need your help.  Read article

Hamilton, Bermuda: The Bermuda Volunteer Centre was launched yesterday by the Centre on Philanthropy to assist people in finding volunteer opportunities.  Read article

London, UK: The volunteering sector is begging the government for more funding for projects, finds a survey today by Volunteering England, the national development agency for volunteering. The poll, which is published to coincide with the International Volunteer Day (5 December), reveals the priorities of the volunteering sector – as experienced by those who volunteer themselves, manage volunteers, or work in England’s wide network of volunteer centres.   Read article

Edinburgh, Scotland: Scotland's first official strategy to encourage and structure volunteering is to be launched in the capital Edinburgh.  Read article

Edinburgh, Scotland: How often do you do it? As much as you’d like to, or can you just not get round to it with everything else going on in your life? Well, as Judy Vickers found out, for hundreds of Edinburgh people volunteering is a major part of their lives, be it working in a charity shop, feeding the animals or guiding visitors around a heritage centre.  Read article

London, UK: UK Chancellor Gordon Brown will call on employers and employees to work in their communities to provide a million new volunteers by 2012.  Read article

London, UK: Do you know someone who has volunteered their time and IT skills to help a charity or their local community? If so, you only have a short time left to nominate them for the 2006 IT Volunteer Awards, organized by the UK-based IT4Communities.   Read article

London, UK: London Olympic organizers have 100,000 volunteers interested in helping out at the 2012 games — 30,000 more than needed.  Read article