This collection of papers combines practitioners’ responses to the Ten Talking Points (Saunders and Roth, 2026). Neate (Shelter) reflects on practices like subversive humanitarianism, useful for rebuilding trust in charities. Kogbara (Place Matters) discusses the role of formal institutions in social change ecosystems and highlights the need for hope. McCallum (Greenpeace) focuses on the diversification and localisation of Greenpeace’s activist base, which affects its decision making. Saunders and Roth reply to the issues raised by the practitioners.

This article summarises the opening plenary talk presented at the Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Network conference (September 2024). It takes practical lessons from Organising For Change (Bristol University Press), by the authors, and presents them as Ten Talking Points easily accessible to practitioners. It posits that careful resourcing, collaboration and multipronged tactical approaches are coconstitutive and crucial for delivering desirable, or preventing undesirable, social change. Panel respondents’ perspectives are presented in an accompanying article.

Digitally mediated engagement has impacted how charity professionals experience and manage donor relationships, particularly around trust, emotional connection, and presence. This phenomenological study, based on in-depth interviews with 14 UK-based non-profit professionals, explores how staff interpret and respond to the relational dynamics of digital fundraising environments. Although digital tools offer logistical advantages, they can also impact the depth of connection that is at the core of engagement with donors. The study introduces a phenomenological model of digitally mediated fundraising work, organised around three interrelated dimensions: experiencing presence, redefining relationality, and navigating trust and authenticity. These dimensions reflect the tensions that staff negotiate between continuity and transformation, efficiency and emotional resonance, and immediacy and mediation. The findings contribute a people-centred perspective on digital transformation, highlighting how charity professionals construct relational practices within digitally mediated contexts.

This article examines whether and to what extent advocacy activities of non-profit organisations undermine their financial performance. The analysis draws on a data set from a homeless assistance system of a single city that covers 22 non-profit organisations. Research findings suggest a link between advocacy activities and higher costs that can be related to the expressed needs of the clients. The article, however, demonstrates that advocacy is not exclusively limited to the non-profits’ self-interest to attract more funds for its financial stability. It reveals organisational desire and ability to ameliorate clients’ hardships. In this way, advocacy corresponds to higher levels of performance outcome, making them more effective.

Voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) play a vital role in supporting refugees’ social integration, by facilitating meaningful contact between refugees and local residents. Drawing on theories of social capital and intergroup contact, this article explores how VCOs create opportunities for the creation and maintenance of bridging social capital, based on a qualitative analysis of six VCOs in Vienna, Austria. The analysis finds three key pathways through which this occurs: though shared community spaces, organising group activities, and fostering one-to-one relationships through mentoring and buddy programmes. These pathways facilitate encounters between refugees and local residents, thereby fostering the creation of bridging social capital and supporting refugees’ social integration. The study highlights the importance of recognising social integration as a relational process and calls for policy frameworks that better support the informal, community-based dimensions of refugee settlement.

This article aims to assess how levels of self-efficacy, collective self-esteem, moral convictions, being bothered by heterosexism and psychological well-being change in relation to participation in an equality march. The study was conducted online using questionnaires. Forty-six polish LGBT+ individuals completed its three stages. Results show that after the event levels of self-acceptance (scale of psychological well-being), collective self-esteem and moral convictions were higher, while the strength of feelings of being bothered by experiences of heterosexism and the level of overall psychological well-being were weaker.

Drawing on social learning perspective, the current study conceptualised ethical leadership as a role model and examined the mechanism of public service motivation for the influence of ethical leadership on task performance. Volunteers are motivated to work with a commitment to the common good; thus, ethical leadership, which implies that leaders might affect perceptions of moral identity, might itself be partly constituted by introducing objective features into volunteers’ work that can increase motivation. Leader role identity strengthens ethical leadership’s function. The results revealed that ethical leadership was positively related to task performance indirectly through public service motivation. The analyses also showed that, with a higher level of leader role identity, the effects of ethical leadership were stronger.

Volunteerism serves as a cornerstone for societal progress, fostering personal development and community cohesion. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where volunteer engagement holds a cultural and institutional foothold, understanding its influence on the social values of youth is imperative. This empirical investigation delves into the relationship between volunteer work and social values among Emirati youth, exploring their beliefs, challenges and demographic correlates. Through a questionnaire distributed to 365 Emirati youth, the study provided insights into volunteer participation and its implications. Statistical analysis revealed the positive impact of volunteerism on individual growth and community well-being, alongside barriers limiting youth involvement. The study underscores the importance of tailored strategies to increase youth engagement in volunteer activities, including targeted awareness campaigns and educational integration initiatives. By fostering a culture of volunteerism among Emirati youth, societal cohesion and well-being can be further enhanced, contributing to the enduring development of the UAE’s community spirit.

This article examines the role of institutional and personal support in volunteers’ occupational quality of life and presents psychometric data from two new instruments: Support in Animal Care Organisations (SACO) and Support Towards Animal Protection Labour (STAPL). A total of N=130 volunteers (86 per cent female; M=42; SD=12.8 years) from animal shelters in southern Spain participated. The exploratory factor analysis of the SACO revealed a two-factor structure (perceived resources and communication), while the EFA of the STAPL recommended a single-factor structure (perceived social support) for both family and friendship systems. All scales showed adequate reliability (EAP Alpha >.850). The linear regression study found statistical evidence of the relationship between both organisational and social support and occupational quality of life. SACO and STAPL provide two valid and reliable measures for analysing the support received by volunteers in welfare organisations, thus helping to improve their monitoring and facilitating research with this group.