Volunteering

[rattymol]

The number of people volunteering has really fallen. I am interested in why. So
Yalu = I don't volunteer and won't
Yanbu = I do volunteer or would

Interested as well to know why people volunteer or don't volunteer.

I work for a charity which relies on volunteers working alongside paid staff to run its activities. We have a Volunteer Coordinator whose job is to take care of our volunteers, and ensure that they have a positive experience, whether they volunteer very regularly (we have some committed people who come in two days/week) or much more infrequently (we have some volunteers who can only do one day/month).

All of our volunteers are appreciated and thanked, given birthday cards, invited to (free) meals and events throughout the year. We also offer training opportunities, and qualifications which would be useful if the volunteer went on to seek paid employment (with references from us).

They are provided with uniform clothing (and boots and waterproofs if working outdoors in our gardens), fed and offered travel expenses. Any organisation that cares about its volunteers really should cover their out-of-pocket expenses, as a minimum.
In my experience, it's quite easy for charities to get funding to cover volunteer expenses, so there's no excuse for not doing so.

I've volunteered myself since I was a teenager, including many projects set up and run entirely by volunteers. I've been lucky to learn a lot from these very varied volunteering positions and been able to put the skills I've acquired to use in my career as well. I currently volunteer one morning a week at a feminist project very close to my house, and feel appreciated and well-treated there.

At least if you don't enjoy the volunteering you're doing, you can just leave! (preferably after telling them why). And find something that suits you better.

If you would like to donate specific useful skills to an organisation, you might find https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/ interesting.

We now live in a society where a mortgage can be 8x salary rather than 4x salary. I consider volunteering an indulgence I can ill afford given high housing costs. If you want me running a brownies club or running the PTA then build a time machine and give me the society of thirty years ago!

I’ve done a lot for my children’s’ school and scouts in the past. However I’m now a single mum to 2 DDs one of whom has SEN and I work full time so it’s no longer as easy as when I was married.

I've always done some form of voluntary "work", but very different types at different points in my life.

In my 20's I was a special police constable for several years. Obviously, very strict adherence to rules/laws, attending obligatory training courses, but very flexible as to what work you actually did. I could (and did once) literally turn up unannounced and unplanned in the parade room at 10pm on New Year's Eve to do a night shift - the sergeants were always fine with an extra pair of hands! But, if you'd put your name down for a specific duty, then you'd be expected to be there (barring sickness of course).

I've also been a long term "observer" for our local group of advanced motorists (now in my fourth decade doing it), where you go out with a "normal" driver to help them learn advanced driving techniques and help them prepare themselves for the advanced driving test. At different times, I've been treasurer or secretary of the local group.

Currently, my main focus has been on our village library. I started a group about 20 years ago when it was first closed, initially to get the council to re-open it, which we achieved, but then it was closed again a couple of years later, so we took it over and now operate it ourselves, no paid staff at all, just a group of volunteers from the village. In particular, it's been very useful for our village teenagers to get work experience to count towards their cv, uni application, DofE award scheme, etc. All our volunteers do the "proper" job, i.e. they're trained to learn and understand the computer systems, and other procedures/rules, work on the desk, supervise/train people using the computers, etc, certainly not just to brew up or tidy up etc.

My family love things like that. I am really grateful to people like you who volunteer their time to do it. Thankyou.

I volunteer most weekends for various running events including parkrun, plus I help local theatres regularly and, while I'm not on the PTA, I help at most events.

I volunteered at a Family centre. Helping the leader run her sessions for 2 days and then running a toddler group by myself. Then one of the people on the board got involved and insisted I start taking the Centres trash home with me (on my toddler session day) and not using the centres wheelie bins! Bear in mind, I don't drive, had my potty training toddler in a buggy and it took 20 minutes to walk home. I threw the trash in their wheelie bins and got told off for it! Just wasn't worth it. The actual workers missed me and I genuinely enjoyed helping out but treat your volunteers with respect.

I volunteer in a charity shop: great team, regular drinks/meal out (foc), and at the end of the shift am always thanked for my contribution. I am also a parish councillor and charity trustee.

I volunteer but it’s on an as and when they need me basis. So some weeks it could be 4-5 hrs including travel, other weeks I don’t do anything, or just do a bit on the phone. The phone stuff I never turn down as I can always fit that it but I will sometimes say no to the in person stuff because I’m just too busy and they are fine with that.

Since Covid I really think that we as a society have become a bit more insular.

My friends don't want to come out and do things as much as before, and I think this drop in volunteering is coming from a similar place.

We haven't really recovered from lockdown - people are wanting to stay home in their little bubbles.

I volunteer once a week for a few hours, but to be honest I do it for career progression because it's in an industry I'm interested in breaking into and I am learning skills. It's also WFH/ desk based volunteering.

Until recently I volunteered for a local charity, have done for 2 years but dhs working hours now make it very hard to continue.

I used to volunteer but I was treated as an unpaid employee ( told to do more hours, given appraisals, refused a holiday as "too many people were off at the same time" etc), so I stopped. Won't put myself forward for any volunteering again.

CoL must be a factor in that too though? I've barely been out out socialising for much of the last year but that's because my living costs were sky high and I couldn't afford it. Thankfully we've switched to having friends round for meals rather than going out for a meal and drinks which is cheaper.

My husband and I have been members of initially Round Table followed by Rotary for over 30 years. Both organisations are struggling to get new members, as are all service clubs. I think younger people see them as old fashioned and not fir them. I originally joined RT as we had just moved into the area, which was where I grew up, my husband knew 3 people, who were all the husbands of my old friends. Round Table gave him a group of 40ish people to meet every couple of weeks. We have had a brilliant social life through the clubs, found out loads about the local area, organised loads of fund raising events from Beer Festivals. Quiz nights, dinners, street collections, Santa floats and a series if Pop concerts - all things we would not have dreamed of being involved with. Away from fund raising we have been involved with the local Spinal Unit taking people with long term injuries out, helping them by building raised beds for them to garden, involved with local schools with various projects, involved in International projects with other Rotary clubs from building school rooms in Africa, supporting artificial limb project in India, raising thousands for the 2004 Tsunami victims. I would be lying if I said that the volunteer work is the driving force for our Rotary Club, but it is the glue that keeps us together, and working on these projects is very satisfying. It is a shame that the organisations do not seem to appeal to 30 somethings, I know that older clubs can seem old fashioned in their ways, but I have met some inspirational people through my membership and have enjoyed some great times, as well as helping hundreds of people over the time we have been involved.

I volunteer, I am a Scout Leader, Charity Trustee for two places as well as Safeguarding Officer and Lead Recruiter for the Parish Church. I also volunteer in the local Churchyard which I really enjoy as it's Ad Hoc and a beautiful place to be.

I agree @Lincslady53 - Round Table and Rotary do so much good in communities across the UK. When I was looking to volunteer I was open to the idea of being a part of my local Rotary Club, have skills and expressed interest, but was left with the impression that my face didn’t fit.

I don't volunteer, frankly because I'm a lone parent working full time and I don't want to spend my precious free time doing it. I do have regular charity donations set up though.

I have volunteered most of my life apart from when my children were very young and I didn’t have time .

Mainly fund raising and committee work. Peaked when I helped set up a charity, that was really hard work. Just believe in helping others, instilled by my Mother, her favourite phrase was ‘there but for the grace of God go I’

I am Treasurer for our local Scouts and a co-opted member of the Audit & Risk Committee for a local school. DH is a governor for the Primary DSs attend. We both work FT. I would love to be able to volunteer for the cricket club that DSs go to but I don’t have enough time.

I volunteer at my local hospital, I'm retired so can fit this in. I get a generous mileage allowance, free parking and a free lunch. My role is a "nice to have" rather than a necessity, but there are some roles, office based which to me should be a paid role.

That is fantastic @Longtimelurkerfinallyposts . I have volunteered in a variety of roles for the past decade or so and the only places that have been really consistently grateful/managed their volunteers well have been schools. It sounds like your organisation does brilliantly.

I see my volunteering as an enjoyable hobby that happens to help people - I definitely wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it and find it rewarding. I’m your classic older part-time-working middle class volunteer.

My organisation struggles to find volunteers because
a) nobody knows we exist (and our organisation doesn’t advertise for volunteers)
b) it’s not a role many people would want or feel able to take on and
c) their recruitment programme is poor - they apply the same criteria as to a paid employee but fail to check whether people are likely to actually have the time to volunteer or will stay the course. So they recruit and train the wrong people, who never get going but hang around on the books doing nothing.

They also tend to think of all volunteers as low-grade staff when many of us have had careers and jobs that far outstrip theirs in qualifications, experience and seniority.

Luckily for them the role is unique, so if you enjoy it you have to put up with the pretty poor management.

I have both a paid (part-time) and volunteer hat for a charity. The trustees and managers are all voluntary positions. We need volunteers with particular skills - especially digital, social media input, and fundraising. Many role profiles have a lot of views but no applications, until they carry some kind of payment such as a set amount for a project. The current senior volunteers seem to have no comprehension of the time demands of the roles above, nor the actual amount of time or skills that it would take, operationally, to improve the current portfolio of what we do, before taking leaps into new directions. They see it as dull, easy grunt work that they don't need to engage with. Half of what I have discovered is actually on my plate was not even in the job description when I applied; I think they simply did not know it's crucially behind the scenes of a website, event, etc. As the senior vols are working around paid jobs, bank holidays, school holidays etc. are often times when floods of work or organising comes through, and I often have to respond even when I want to be on leave (especially if there is more than one person who is away at the same time). The quietest period so far has been a few days in the middle of February.

For a long time I have balanced part time work and parenting, and even committing to something for relaxation like a choir has not really been possible. I'd see volunteering as more like work, and would probably be more attracted to one-off things such as helping with an event, cooking, or similar.

I think there is a big divide between life stages. I couldn't possibly have found time to volunteer when I was younger. But now, in my 60s I do several volunteering roles.
But what they all have in common is that I enjoy them.
I've tried some volunteering roles where I was either bored or I felt unappreciated. So I gave up on them.

I recently started volunteering as a virtual buddy for a socially isolated disabled person through Sense. 1 hour a week Zoom call plus a small amount of prep sometimes. It makes a huge difference to the person I call, and I really enjoy it too as they match you with someone you've got common interests with. We're currently reading through a book and then discussing it at each session, as well as general chat. It suits me as it's not too much of a time commitment and no travel.