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Source: Community Life Survey 2023/24
Community Life Survey 2024 - Deciphering the Latest Trends in Volunteering
The latest Community Life Survey data offers a mixed bag of news for the volunteering sector. While the rate of decline in volunteering appears to have slowed, the overall trend remains concerning.
Key Trends and Insights:
Declining Participation: The proportion of adults volunteering at least once a month has continued to decrease, especially among younger demographics. This decline is likely influenced by factors such as the rising cost of living, increased work pressures, and changing societal expectations.
The Role of Faith: Faith continues to be a significant motivator for volunteering. We volunteering professionals need to ensure we offer inclusive and welcoming experiences for people of faith.
Socioeconomic Disparities: Volunteers tend to come from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. This disparity highlights the need to create more accessible and inclusive volunteering opportunities, particularly for those from disadvantaged communities. As a sector its is essential that we include all communities, and especially build in lived experience into our work.
Urban-Rural Divide: Volunteering rates are much higher in rural areas. For many of us, demand for services may be higher in urban areas, so it is especially concerning if there is a growing demand and declining supply of volunteers.
What Can We Do?
To address these trends and encourage more people to volunteer, we must:
Innovate and Adapt: Offer flexible volunteering opportunities that cater to different lifestyles, pressures and schedules. Consider virtual volunteering, micro-volunteering, ad-hoc volunteering and time-banking models.
Provide Support: Offer financial support, training, and recognition to volunteers. Emphasise volunteering as a route to better social mobility and health. This can help to alleviate barriers and make volunteering more rewarding.
Build Strong Relationships: Foster strong relationships with community organisations, schools, and businesses to create a network of support for volunteering.
Promote the Benefits of Volunteering: Highlight the positive impact of volunteering on individuals and communities. Emphasise the social, emotional, and personal benefits of giving back.
Diversify Recruitment Strategies: Explore new ways to reach potential volunteers, such as social media, email marketing, and community events, and target your approach to key audiences (don't assume they are all the same).
Focus on curating exemplary volunteering experiences: Especially, when recruitment is tough, focus on keeping people engaged.
Major on inclusivity: We all need to feel that we belong and are welcome. Beyond, that inclusive and diverse volunteering communities are far more effective at meeting our needs.
Leverage technology: Explore how you can modernise your volunteering to make your interactions with busy volunteers slicker and attuned to their life-styles.
Be data aware: We all need to understand our local data, it provides clues on where we can improve.
By understanding the underlying trends and taking proactive steps, we can inspire more people to volunteer and create a more engaged and compassionate society. No-one is going to reverse these trends for us. The onus is on us to navigate such challenges and reverse the downwards trend in time giving behaviour.
What are your thoughts on the latest volunteering data? How is your organisation adapting to these trends? Share your insights in the comments with us.