Founded in 1997 as an initiative of Volunteering England and University of East London, the NCVO is a specialist research and consultancy agency on volunteering.

It draws from the policy and practice experience of Volunteering England in producing independent rigorous research, further strengthened by academic partnerships with Birkbeck, University of London and Northumbria University.

This unique partnership ensures that the research carried out by NCVO is both academically robust and grounded in the wider policy and practice context of volunteering.

NCVO’s programme of work around volunteering in recent years has included high level consultancies for the UK government and the United Nations, as well as organisational consultancies for a wide range of voluntary, public and private sector organisations (including, for example, the National Trust, the Natural History Museum, the Baring Foundation, Barclays Plc and the Children’s Workforce and Development Council).

NCVO has both an expertise in a variety of research techniques, and strong grounding in the policy and practice issues facing the volunteering movement.