Lithuania

• Insufficiently high-quality organization of volunteering (including virtual volunteering)

Amendments to the Law on Voluntary Activities that entered into force in 2024 define coordinating and hosting organizations as the main actors responsible for organizing volunteering. These organizations now carry differentiated roles and obligations to ensure the quality of volunteering. Prior to these amendments, organizations handled volunteering quality (including virtual volunteering) individually, without jointly analysing volunteer management principles, developing shared approaches, or allocating time for volunteer planning and strategy in their daily operations.

Existing voluntary service programmes in Lithuania — such as the Youth Voluntary Service (since 2018) and the European Solidarity Corps (since 2000) — have improved volunteer quality, but only in specific fields or in a limited number of organizations. Historically, volunteer activities (including virtual volunteering) were managed mainly by local NGOs and several key volunteering organizations, which ensured more or less inclusive and well-coordinated processes only in parts of Lithuania.

There is insufficient shared understanding of what constitutes high-quality volunteering (including virtual volunteering), as well as a lack of agreements, clear boundaries between appropriate volunteer engagement and overuse, or excessive accommodation of volunteer expectations. Without investing in a volunteer coordination quality standard, accessible tools for coordination (e.g., an appropriate website, defined participation conditions, a database of organizations), volunteering would remain fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult to represent nationally. It would also hinder volunteer retention, coordination quality, and cross-organizational cooperation.

The absence of a quality standard creates confusion and miscommunication among organizations. Without establishing volunteer coordination quality nationwide, volunteers may continue to be overburdened or insufficiently supported. Within the Project, a national volunteer quality standard and a virtual volunteering platform on savaplatforma.lt will be developed to ensure accessibility for all coordinating and hosting organizations.

• Separation between different types of organizations (e.g., NGOs, public institutions, businesses) in the field of volunteering

Volunteering takes place in various sectors — NGOs, public institutions, corporate volunteering initiatives, etc. Due to the lack of cooperation and shared understanding of what quality volunteer coordination entails, misconceptions arise between sectors. For example:

• assumptions that corporate volunteering exploits NGOs,
• beliefs that public institutions assign “fake tasks” to volunteers,
• perceptions that NGOs pay staff while calling them volunteers.

Without cross-sectoral agreement on what volunteering is and how it should be coordinated, volunteering risks being devalued, and mistrust persists—especially towards NGOs coordinating volunteers.

Cases such as the public statement by the Figure Skating Federation claiming that a poorly paid worker was actually a volunteer behaving inappropriately during an event further erode public trust in volunteering. Without agreed principles, there is no basis for addressing such organizations regarding improper volunteer management.

• Lack of capacity and insufficient skills among coordinating and hosting organizations in managing volunteers

Although many Lithuanian organizations aim to ensure high-quality volunteer management, some still do not recognize volunteering as a distinct organizational domain requiring specific knowledge and skills. With the new legal requirements for voluntary activity, both hosting and coordinating organizations face increased demand for competent volunteer coordination and long-term volunteer engagement processes.

Shared principles are needed to ensure common standards across organizations, sufficient competencies to guide volunteers, and the appropriate allocation of resources. The training programmes developed under the Project aim to standardize volunteer coordination principles, provide necessary tools, and enable organizations to strengthen internal capacities through peer learning.

Without a unified national training programme and dedicated training for volunteer coordinators, organizations risk lacking the tools, skills, and resources required for effective volunteer management, resulting in inconsistent practices and reduced ability to work with volunteers.

Project Results

• Public Institution Actio Catholica Patria
• Public Institution Sava visiems