value of volunteering july 2010

Diane Rutter / BAB/ Milton Keynes / 5 July 2010Diane Rutter / BAB/ Milton Keynes / 5 July 2010

The Value of Volunteering

Diane Rutter

(Heads up the Volunteer Centre for Buckinghamshire)


What Volunteer Centres Do

• Encourage people to volunteer• Help charities & community groups to find the

right volunteers for their needs. • Match up individuals with volunteering

opportunities that they will enjoy.• Provide support, advice and training to

voluntary groups• Help get the volunteers voice heard


Did you know?

¾ of all people in Britain volunteer


Reasons people give for volunteering

• To improve things

• To help people

• Feel that the cause is important

• Had time to spare


Most common reason given for not volunteering

• Not enough spare time

• Put off by bureaucracy

• Worried about risk and liability


Why me?

• The social responsibility gene?

• Volunteering gives balance to my life

• I enjoy it !


Did you know?

• The number of full-time equivalent volunteers across the globe is approximately 140 million people;

• if volunteers were a nation, they would be the 9th most populous country in the world.


Value of volunteering Who benefits?

Volunteering is immeasurably valuable to:

• The individual or organisation helped

• Society

• The volunteer themself


Value of volunteering

to the individual

helped


Did you know?

90 million hours of formal voluntary work takes place in UK each week


Value of volunteering to

the organisation helped


Did you know?

Over ¾ voluntary organisations are entirely run by volunteers


Value of volunteering to

Society


Quality of life

• Places that report the highest quality of life also have the highest levels of informal volunteering

• Places with high levels of volunteering suffer less crime, enjoy better health and students achieve higher GCSE grades

Economic and Social Research Council 2004


"A relatively poor community with lots of voluntary activity can do better in

relation to health, crime and education than a relatively affluent community

which lacks such activity"

“It seems that when we focus on the needs of others, we also reap benefits

ourselves.”

Professor Paul Whiteley


Did you know?

Volunteers make a $400 billion contribution to the global economy


What is the “economic value” of your volunteering?

Individually• Hours per week X appropriate hourly wage

wage

And the Value to BAB?• Number of vols X Hrs per week X average

hourly wage.


But volunteering isn’t about money…


Value of volunteering

to the volunteer


Volunteer to spice up your sex life!

When asked, volunteers said that volunteering helped them…

• 20% cut down on alcohol• 21% smoked less• 20% lost weight• 9% men and 8% women said it improved their

sex life

CSV survey of over 600 volunteers 2004


If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.

If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.

If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody

Chinese Proverb


Thank You !

To all of you who volunteer!

value of volunteering july 2010

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