Voluntary organisation

A voluntary organisation is a structured group of people who have come together of their own accord for a social rather than a commercial purpose. The structure may be of various legal forms,depending on the local legal framework. The term can include, for instance, sports clubs, welfare organisations, local interest groups and pressure groups. There is an immense range of sizes. Although the possible usage is very wide, it is often restricted to organisations in the welfare field.

This article lists some related terms.

Voluntary sector

The Wolfenden Report on the The Future of Voluntary Organisations brought the term voluntary sector into fairly common use, at least in the United Kingdom. Conceptually the term has proved useful by directing attention to possible areas of overlap between this and other sectors: the governmental, the business/commercial, and the informal.

Non-profit organisations

The wording non-profit organization is often regarded as the US equivalent of "voluntary organisation". Seeking a positive rather than a negative description, Peter Drucker wrote that "Non-profit institutions are human-change agents". This narrows the field somewhat. It would not, for instance, include a bridge club, or even, perhaps, an environmental body.

Civil society

Some definitions and descriptions of civil society appear to make it virtually identical with the voluntary sector. In general, however, civil society is seen as something both wider (as potentially including some activities of statutory bodies, and also unstructured groupings), and narrower (as being more purposeful). See the separate article.

Charities

The English legal system developed the legal concept of "trusts" and from it the concept of "charities" as a particular type of trust. Charities have objectives which judged to be socially desirable, and experience greater legal constraints in return for tax and other benefits.

Non-governmental organisations

The term non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is in theory identical to "voluntary organisations", but in practice it is mainly used for international bodies and those which have been granted consultation rights by inter-governmental bodies such as the United Nations.

Voluntary workers/volunteers

Voluntary workers, or volunteers, are usually defined as workers who do not receive pay for the work they do, though they may receive expenses. Many voluntary organisations make extensive use of volunteers, and may depend on them entirely, but such use also occurs in the statutory and commercial sectors. It is not unusual for the governing body of a voluntary organisation to be made up of unpaid members, and in charities this is normal. The voluntary sector is, however, a major employer of paid staff.