Reach Volunteering has announced its closure after helping place volunteers and trustees with charities since 1979.

The charity says that its closure “follows sustained funding pressures” and comes after the charity matched just under 6,000 volunteers and trustees with charities and community groups last year.

A “shifting funding landscape” has left the charity with "no sustainable path” to continue operating, it said.

“As funders have increasingly focused their support on particular places, issues and communities, funding has declined for national services that enable charities and groups of all kinds to strengthen their skills, capacity and connections,” the charity added.

The charity is to begin “a managed, solvent and values-led” 12-week closure process.

“This is an incredibly painful decision,” said Reach Volunteering chair Jane Ide.

“Reach has played a crucial role in the sector, enabling charities and community groups to connect with people beyond their networks, bringing valuable skills, experience and fresh perspectives into their organisations. At the same time, we have enabled volunteers to put their expertise to work on causes that matter to them.”

She said that the charity had “reached the point where a managed closure is the only responsible choice”.

According to the Charities Register Reach Volunteering’s spending outstripped its income for the first time in the last five years during the 12 months to December 2024, when its income was £489,000 and it spent £508,000.

Ide hopes that the charity’s closure “will prompt a serious and constructive conversation among funders, policymakers and sector leaders about how the infrastructure connecting people, charities and communities will be sustained in the future”.

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