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Harnessing Voluntary Work: A Fourth Sector Approach

This paper evaluates critically the current UK policy approach that seeks to cultivate voluntary work through the 'third sector' route of developing voluntary groups. To do this, first, the results of recent nationwide surveys of volunteering are analysed. Revealing how informal volunteering (helping people on an individual basis) is not only of the same order of magnitude as formal volunteering (helping people via groups) but is also the predominant form of voluntary activity amongst deprived populations, this paper argues that the current third sector approach needs to be complemented by a 'fourth sector' approach that cultivates one-to-one aid. To reinforce this finding and to investigate how this can be achieved, case study evidence of the nature of volunteering amongst affluent and deprived populations in rural England is then reported. This reveals that while participation in voluntary groups in rural areas is heavily skewed towards the relatively affluent who use them as sociability vehicles, one-to-one aid is the principal type of voluntary work used by lower income populations to improve their material circumstances. The paper concludes by outlining possible policy initiatives that could be used to implement this fourth sector approach.