Working for a charity or social enterprise

Charities and social enterprises

These organisations are driven by values that benefit people and their communities. They principally reinvest any surpluses to benefit people, communities or animal welfare. These organisations are referred to as the voluntary sector and include charities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international NGOs, voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, community interest companies and co-operatives.

Who works for charities and social enterprises?

The voluntary sector’s workforce is made up of both paid staff and people who volunteer their time. Based on a total UK workforce of 29.5 million (as of the end of 2009), the voluntary sector workforce including social enterprises accounts for 2.9% of all employees - about one in every 35 employees and there are an estimated 14 million plus volunteers and trustees, according to the lastest research by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

How many charities are there?

In 2007/08 there were 171,000 general charities in England and there are 35,590 social enterprises employing 238,940 staff. On top of that the National Council of Voluntary Organisations also estimates that there were 600,000 informal community organisations in the UK in 2007/08.

What types of jobs are there?

There are a huge range of jobs in the voluntary sector and almost any skill or interest can be used in charities and social enterprises, including accounting, IT, HR, research, project management, engineering. And if there is something you are feel really strongly about like international aid, the environment, animals or children then the voluntary sector offers you the opportunity to do a job that matches your passions.

Generally, jobs in charities are split into ‘frontline’ services and ‘strategic development’ functions.

The frontline services involve all the jobs that are about working directly with the people that benefit directly from the charity’s work. These could be providing health care services, running projects for young people, campaigning to help a community get better services or providing aid to people affected by international disasters.

The strategic development functions are all the jobs that are required to enable to charity to provide its activities and services and include jobs like fundraising, marketing, communications, administration, HR and finance.

If you want to make a difference then working in the voluntary sector is a good step for you to consider.