Although the work of the voluntary sector is growing the number of people volunteering is not increasing at a comparable rate. This paper argues that the key to an organisation"s success in recruiting and retaining its volunteers is to have an understanding of its target group. As a means to developing this understanding this paper reviews the prior research on volunteering and outlines the current situation in the voluntary sector with regard to the donation of time. The review shows that those who volunteer are an extremely diverse group active in a wide variety of contexts. This makes the definition of a volunteer a more complex task than one would expect. It also demonstrates that individuals and organisations may volunteer for reasons other than purely altruistic motives. Finally, the paper identifies gaps in this area of research and presents topics for further research.3

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In 2000 the UK Prime Minister pledged that employers should be encouraged to release staff for one day a year to undertake volunteering activity. Many and varied programmes are being set up to assist employees to volunteer, whether during work hours or in their own time. This is called employer supported volunteering (ESV). This paper discusses the increasing use of ESV and aims to provide an understanding of the key concepts of this phenomenon. An email survey was completed of all 122 universities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. University websites linked to volunteering for staff and students were also examined. Responses were received from 65 institutions (a response rate of 53%). This initial research reveals that university commitment to ESV varies across the sector. Many universities support staff volunteering and informally encourage links with the local community through voluntary activity but only seven institutions had developed a formal policy allowing staff time off work to volunteer. From this initial research, three best practice universities have emerged and their activities are discussed. The next stage in this project is to research the areas identified and to explore the extent of volunteering by university staff and staff attitudes to volunteering with a view to providing a full picture of ESV in the UK university sector