The objective of the Future Skills for the Third Sector (FUTUR3) project is to help third-sector employers (associations, NGOs, foundations etc.), employees and educational organisations that train professionals in the field to identify future skills needs in the sector and to prepare for them.This project focuses on organisations with volunteering activities, and the main target group is professionals working with volunteers: volunteer managers, coordinators and so on. Throughout Europe, third-sector employees’ educational and employment backgrounds are diverse. Employees performing similar tasks with volunteers have a wide educational background ranging from vocational qualifications to research degrees, and differences between EU Member States are vast, as the third sector is more structured in some countries than others. Occupational standards for professionals working with volunteers have been developed in some countries (e.g. the UK), but in most countries they do not exist. The growing importance of the third sector as an employer has been emphasisedf throughout Europe due to, for instance, a reorganisation of welfare services, which places growing pressures on the sector to provide effective professional services and for its HR capacities. This also means the greater involvement of volunteers. These factors make knowledge management in the sector challenging as the need for growing professionalisation has not in all cases been met by professional development opportunities or codified standards that display the level of professionalism required of personnel. Third-sector employees in some countries have identified e.g. ICTs and social media, cooperation with a range of partners and dealing with uncertainty in e.g. funding and volunteering as the most pressing future skills needs. Universities, VET centres, and other educational institutions need information on future skills needs to prepare students for employment in the third sector. Both the personnel and volunteers of third-sector organisations make a significant contribution to inclusion, well-being and social cohesion in all European countries. Through its future-oriented outlook and by engaging a wide range stakeholders and experts, the FUTUR3 project shall address these needs. It aims to increase understanding of skills needs in the third sector on a European level and to discuss them from a future perspective. The project will discuss education-work life correspondence in this field of employment, combining the macro-level (the European thrid sector as an employer) with localised peer learning activities for meeting future needs in supervising volunteers. FUTUR3 aims to: -Increase knowledge about the educational paths, qualifications and careers of volunteer managers and similar third-sector professionals in Europe. -Increase understanding about future skills needs in the third sector to help stakeholders, especially educational institutions and third-sector organisations, to manage and respond to these needs -Increase the ability of European third-sector organisations to cooperate on volunteering issues. The working methods of FUTUR3 include: -Benchmarking process to collect and publish information about employment and work-education correspondence in 10 countries, incorporating discussions with third-sector and futures specialists in order to gain insight about the current situation and future needs of the sector. This will result in a downloadable report. -Peer learning model tested locally by e.g. volunteer managers. It includes activities that prepare third-sector employees to identify skills gaps and make joint plans for professional development that meets future needs. -General awareness-raising As a result, staff in third sector organisations will be better equipped to manage their duties and to support volunteers at the grassroots level; third sector organisations will have a better understanding of professional development needs and can improve their performance as employers; local education providers can also use the new information to review their curricula. There will also be increased cooperation between third sector organisations on the local level. In each country the project's outputs and results will help educational institutions and policymakers in the fields of education and labour to understand changing skills demands in a growing employment sector. The desired long-term impact is an increased ability within the third sector and VET and other educational institutions educating or training third-sector personnel to tackle growing demands of professionalisation. Enhanced management of staff competencies will help both organisations and their staff to reach their targets.