This paper examines the trend towards flexible, episodic volunteer opportunities, which impacts on tourism organisations who are dependant on volunteers to deliver their services. Tourism organisations have to compete with personal, work and leisure commitments for volunteers’ time. This paper is conceptual and brings together the literatures on flexibility, work life balance and leisure constraints to develop the concept of the Volunteer Life Balance (VLB). Using the idea of the VLB we examine which factors spill over into the time available for volunteering and we present the key barriers to volunteer participation. These barriers can be intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural and can also vary according the volunteer’s life stage. By identifying these barriers we are able to suggest factors which would facilitate volunteer participation and increase volunteer retention.