Moving pictures : Realities of voluntary action

Despite the growing significance of the voluntary sector in political planning, and despite increased research into the size, shape and structure of this sector, we still know little about its everyday dynamics.

Drawing on detailed case study research into eight organizations in the UK in 1999, this work seeks to fill this gap, providing an account of the working of voluntary sector organizations.

It identifies eight key dilemmas of voluntary action and explores how these are experienced and managed within particular organizations.

In addressing these issues through practitioners' voices, it highlights the human perspective on policy and practice.

The report hopes to improve understanding of how voluntary organizations are structured and evolve, and how they respond to, or resist, opportunities and constraints.

Issues covered include: the infrastructure of small- and medium-sized voluntary organizations, and how they achieve much with little; the values and dilemmas of volunteering; the dilemmas of strategic planning; and the issues and tensions associated with external agencies and partnership working.