Volunteering - A Powerful Force For Change

Volunteering Merseyside believes that “volunteering is freely given, but not cost-free”.

Volunteering is a fundamental part of life in the United Kingdom. Over three-quarters of the UK population are involved in volunteering, either through an organisation or group, or on a more informal basis. Volunteers make a rich and diverse contribution to today’s civil society.

Volunteers are engaged in mutual aid and self-help, participation, advocacy and providing services, as well as helping others. If volunteers stopped giving their time, then many vital services would collapse, including hospital transport, sea and mountain rescue, magistrates’ courts and children’s panels. Communities would also lose their voice to influence the social, environmental and political structures around them.

- Research suggests that some 23 million people volunteer each year, providing a workforce equivalent to 180,000 full-time volunteers. The economic value of formal volunteering in the UK has been estimated at more than £40 billion per year, or 7.9% of GDP. For every £1 of public funding spent to support volunteering, volunteers give £30 worth of work.

- Over 20% of adults volunteer at least once a week and 74% regularly help out in their communities on a more informal basis.

- More than 75% of voluntary and community organisations are entirely run by volunteers.

- In 2002 at the XVII Commonwealth Games over 10,000 volunteers took part in a wide range of activities. An estimated 70,000 volunteers will participate in the 2012 London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

- An estimated 1.5 million volunteer coaches and trainers, drivers, umpires, fundraisers and others create enjoyable sports and exercise opportunities for millions.

- Volunteers handle over 6.5 million advice service enquiries every year.

- Twenty million volunteer teachers, producers and activity organisers enable more than half the population to exercise their creative talents and brighten their lives in voluntary arts.

Looking for more statistics?

For further information check the Institute for Volunteering Research. The Institute for Volunteering Research aims to develop knowledge and understanding of volunteering in a way that is relevant to practitioners and policy makers. Their website provides an overview of the work of the Institute as well as detailed summaries of research that it has undertaken.
Website: www.ivr.org.uk/