Not to be surprised that volunteering ha fallen since the pandemic?

[antelopevalley]

Since the pandemic ended, volunteering levels are far lower than they were before the pandemic.
I have a personal interest as I used to do lots of volunteering but no longer do and I am not sure I ever will again.
I have just seen a rise in selfishness and self-centredness and I no longer want to volunteer for local community projects to benefit those families who would not give a damn about me and my family.

My dad volunteers for the local hospice, I did for a period too also. Most of the volunteers are retirement age and there has been a waiting list in the past to volunteer there. Since covid most of the volunteers just haven't come back. I don't know if it's fear of catching it. Filling up their time with something else or sadly that they are no longer well enough.

Volunteering aside I have noticed a shift in the population with regards to selfishness and the sense of entitlement.

So true, I worry for the future generations. I was planning to do a volunteer role, but have just had to take on a full time role as we need the money.
I think everyone is worried for the future and it has made the general public anxious and stressed. Lots of pent up anger about 😞

Agree with this completely.
I have done plenty of volunteering in past years. But my last place, a charity shop, treated us like paid staff. Without actually paying us. I got so fed up I left. I didnt ask for much, I think I said the next time I was due in I had a medical appointment and would try to make it in after. You would have thought the world ended. The pressure I was put under to cancel or change the appointment was stupid. In fact it's easier at my workplace to go to a medical appointment in working hours and that's saying something. My workplace not being known for kindness to staff.
I wouldnt mind but the appointment was a last ditch attempt to find a reason for my symptoms before it was declared cancer.

I was so pissed off by the way the manager talked to me, I never went back no warning to them. And they never called me to see if I was ok. So in fact they didnt care a jot about volunteers or probably paid staff.
I wont ever volunteer again. It put me right off.

Serial volunteer and continue to do so. I have done a wide range of volunteering and do think that some volunteering can be v stressful and you need me to take a break. I also concur that organisations need to reimburse expenses.

I think there's a tipping point. We see the way the government and big businesses behave, abusing power, awarding themselves big pay rises and essentially not even trying to understand the people they are supposed to support. The government gets away with it because they know people will pick up and help for free. We are now at the point where all that help for free isn't enough and people have had enough. People will stop volunteering and I actually think this might be a positive because all that help is masking the depth of the issues. It will be very very painful but something big needs to happen to force change.

Pre-covid, I volunteered for Homestart. I had to shield so couldn't go back straight away when everyone else could. Then my sister died very shortly after a cancer diagnosis and I fell apart.

I was just about ready to go again when we lost my dad and my mother-in-law within 10 days of each other.

I just don't have anything to give strangers. My family need me. I need to spend time with my mum, my nieces, my own children. I can't afford to give a bit of myself to another family.

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for everything you've dealt with and all your losses. Keep looking after you and yours

In some sectors there has been too much reliance on a pool of older, wealthier, retired volunteers. They've fallen into a assumption there is an endless supply of people with availablity and flexibility to be treated as paid staff. COVID showed why charities shouldn't assume the baby boomer generation will be around and willing to volunteer forever.

I've done lots of volunteer roles around a paid job over the years. Met new people, got a sense of purpose out of helping out, tried new things. Would definitely recommend it to people.

Some years ago my son had some spare time on his hands and made enquiries to several organisations regarding voluntary work. Not a single one had the courtesy to even reply so he gave up and plugged his Xbox back in 😉

I’m just about to give up running our local community centre on a voluntary basis. It takes huge amounts of time each week as there are three halls nearly fully booked every day. The amount of hassle and abuse I get for it it not worth it. People expecting me to reply within minutes of an email, drop everything despite working to hand deliver keys to their house.

I also help to run a childrens clothing exchange which is much more worthwhile. People are usually a lot kinder and grateful, although you get the odd few annoyed that what they specifically want isn’t there or donating dirty clothes.

Similar to other posters I’ve been a serial volunteer over the years with different charities sometimes more than one at a time. I’m late 50’s so should have retired at 60 now it’ll be when I’m 67. Delayed (because of Covid) medical treatment means I’m not as fit as I was, helping out with childcare for my grandchildren, helping elderly parent ( who is also on an extremely long wait list for treatment) all means less time available. I currently do a little volunteering with a local organisation who asks for help occasionally rather than a weekly commitment which works much better for me. I actually recently made enquiries about a short term volunteering opportunity in an area of particular interest to me. Got an email inviting me along to a 2hr session to find out more, went along there were 5 of us in total. No one at the venue knew anything about the session, the person who sent the email was on holiday, the other staff acted like we were a huge bother. I’ve not had any communication from them to apologise or offer another session. It’s the type of organisation that really should do better, needless to say I won’t be volunteering with them.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I think your post adds something very important here though. People have lost a lot, loved ones, livelihoods etc. Many are running on empty and have nothing more to give.

I've just stopped volunteering at an animal rescue because of an injury.

My friend who is exactly the energetic type to volunteer can't because besides working part-time in her late sixties she sees to her very elderly mother every day, as well as having grandchildren to stay some weekends.

I used to volunteer for a food bank. I don’t anymore.

I would get verbally abused on a daily basis because people were coming in like it was a local shop and acting like they were entitled to free stuff.

The pandemic definitely made me care less as people were hoarding toilet roll and food so no one else could have any. Then people were hoarding petrol when they thought there was a shortage.

It showed me how many selfish and entitled people there are in this country.

I remember reading threads on here about someone going to the shop for 1 chocolate bar when it was the proper lockdown and loads of MNers were congratulating her for doing so and saying all the rules they’d broken that day.

I still volunteer for a DV charity but I refuse to spend the little free time I have being verbally abused and treated like shit by people who think the world owes them a favour.

Sorry for your loss PiggyPlumPie

I've volunteered at loads of things in the past. During covid most of it stopped and a lot of it didn't start back until recently. People have moved on to new things. I took it as an opportunity to step away from the volunteering I didn't like but felt obliged. Although I have taken on new projects.
There is a specific skill set needed to work effectively with volunteers and a lot of places are dreadful at it and I say that as a volunteer coordinator and a volunteer myself.

I used to do a lot of volunteering but have less time for it now that I’ve had to increase my working hours just to be able to afford to live.

Also depending on the job, it can cost money to be a volunteer. I’ve spent a fortune in the past on travelling to events that need volunteers or paying for my own accommodation but like others, I can’t afford it any more and have other priorities for my money. It’s nothing to do with people becoming more selfish.

I remember reading threads on here about someone going to the shop for 1 chocolate bar when it was the proper lockdown and loads of MNers were congratulating her for doing so and saying all the rules they’d broken that day

It's not for anyone to tell anyone else what's a necessary purchase or not. We now know that a lot of the lockdown rules were pointless at best and actively damaging at worst (eg stopping people (women) going out exercising).

Anyway, I digress. In terms of volunteering, I usually officiate at athletics events. I've done very little this year because I was away a couple of times when local events were on and then my husband had an operation so I wasn't sure if I would need to be around for him. I only do local events because I won't pay for fuel to the further flung ones (some events do reimburse, but most don't because they can't afford to). But I also saw so much moaning in a Facebook group about officials that I thought why should I bother when people are so precious (and this was other officials moaning, not athletes). You just think life is too short.

Years ago I was a school governor but gave it up after two terms (so 8 years) as I started running and wanted to run with a club instead of going to meetings.

My current volunteering role has brought me close to a major breakdown twice in the last two years. The real problem as I see it is that there aren't enough people with time to give and/or willing to give it so it leaves those who do have some completely stretched and then they don't want to carry on...leaving the others completely stretched. And so it goes on.

Aren’t you being hypocritical and adding to the cycle of increasing selfishness? Lol

I relate to the feeling guilty if leaving issue making me reluctant to volunteer.

Right now I work more than full time with a parent in nursing home and a teenager still at home so don't feel much pressure to volunteer. But as those responsibilities settle down I might feel it. The last big volunteering job I did (leading a youth group) lasted 3 years and frankly although it had some good moments it was essentially an endless burden. I kept saying all the way through that I was only doing 3 years max which was how I got out of it - if I hadn't been clear about that I might still be doing it. It's put me off tbh.

People have made good points about volunteering costing money.

We did a charity day with work and someone went out and bought paint and - without having agreed it in advance- expected us to each chip in a tenner. Couple of years ago, I'd probably be fine with that but even though we're comfortably off we're watching our discretionary spending like hawks, so I asked him to see if he could claim it back from the company instead. Was also slightly annoyed at his presumption- he's on a higher grade and earns a lot more - one of the people helping out is on a very low salary.

Another thing I'm doing requires an hours drive each way to donate something- again through work. Previously wouldn't have bothered but whilst I'll give my time for free I will ask for mileage and parking costs again from my company.

@EmmaGrundyForPM I could have written your post word for word! I coached girls rugby for seven years but couldn't cope with the increasing demands from 'new' parents coming through for impossible to achieve (at the time) targets and fixture information. None of them would take on any responsibility to help me as they didn't have the time!! Recently I've had a relationship end so I'm thinking I ought to give up some of my newly free time to help others but don't know where to start.

Volunteering often isnt valued as much as it should be. I've seen a lot of women volunteering as a way to get back into work and it often doesn't have the desired effect. Some employers just dismiss their volunteering work as 'just a volunteer'.

I'm involved in a complex volunteer led project at the moment, where all the volunteers have specific and sought after skills in that field and they still manage to get patronised and treated slightly shabbily by the volunteer coordinator. It's very frustrating.

I volunteer for a weekly activity with kids. It's very rewarding and I have given a lot of time and energy to it. However, we have had to reorganise how often we meet and are reducing it. Partly due to other commitments but also some of the other volunteers were getting close to burn out from the huge work load associated with running this club and a handful of difficult and demanding parents..
Volunteers need to be looked after by the organisations that need them, they need to have interesting and rewarding work to do and shouldn't be plugging the gap for paid staff. When this doesn't happen you lose them. People's lives change too and so do priorities.

Think all charities are struggling for volunteers and will only get worse.

The Charity I work for will probably lose millions this year because of lack of volunteers.

As the older generation are getting too old to volunteer, the people my age who are ready for retirement just don't want to!

If you're in your 60/70s now, most are still travelling or looking after grandkids. They don't have the time or inclination to volunteer.

Very bad times ahead.