Volunteering Matters is a UK charity focused on "the advancement of citizenship and community development for the public benefit through the promotion of volunteering". It was founded in 1962 as Community Service Volunteers (CSV) by Mora and Alec Dickson. In the 2018/2019 financial year, Volunteering Matters engaged around 20,000 volunteers through its hundreds of voluntary projects across England, Scotland and Wales. As of 2021, the president of Volunteering Matters is Lord Freud. He succeeded Lord Levy, who had been President from 1999, in 2019. The charity is led by a Trustee Board headed by Anne Heal. Its Chief Executive since 2019 is Paul Reddish. History In 1958, Dr Alec Dickson founded Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) which focused on international volunteering projects. After leaving VSO, in 1962, Dickson and his wife Mora Dickson formed Community Service Volunteers, which focused on UK-based volunteer projects. Elisabeth Hoodless was appointed Assistant Director of CSV in 1963, becoming the only paid staff member, since the founding director Alec Dickson (1914–1994), and his wife, Maura, were volunteers. Hoodless became CSV's Deputy Director in 1972 and Executive Director in 1975, a role she held until 2011. In 1995, CSV launched Make A Difference Day, billed then as the UK's biggest day of volunteering aiming to "create a wave of kindness throughout the UK - to bring people together…and help build stronger, happier and safer communities". Make a Difference Day also exists in the USA. In 1996, CSV began offering Employee Volunteering Programs. Oonagh Aitken, who had been with CEO since 2012, became CEO in October, 2014. She had led the organisation through a significant transformation which resulted in CSV becoming Volunteering Matters in April, 2015. Paul Reddish became CEO in July, 2019 moving from ProjectScotland. In January, 2021, the trustees of Volunteering Matters and ProjectScotland agreed for both charities to merge. The charities announced that the two brands would continue to operate under one charitable organisation. Both brands would continue their existing programmes and current volunteers and the people they support would not be directly affected by the proposed merger. In June, 2021, Reddish rode 1000km by bicycle from Edinburgh to London via Wales with his father Paralympian Tim Reddish to say "thank you" to people across the UK who volunteered in their communities during COVID19. Programs Around 20,000 people volunteer with Volunteering Matters each year from various demographics and backgrounds. Volunteering Matters pioneered the idea of