Research on Volunteering

Have you ever wondered where researchers find the statistical data that allows them to determine the long-term effects of volunteering on one's health or on one's career?  Or questioned how frequently the Independent Sector or the Bureau of Labor Statistics conduct surveys on volunteering among Americans? Or, more to the point, have you ever wondered why the research that is published about volunteering never seems to really answer the questions that most concern you as as a manager of volunteers?

The RGK Center on Philanthropy and Community Service, a Center at the University of Texas at Austin, unveils the first of its Investigator series of Fact Sheets to e-Volunteerism readers in advance of release to the general public.  Designed to encourage graduate students and others to consider research in volunteerism, the first issue in this quarterly series identifies some of the more commonly used survey instruments that collect data on the volunteering behaviors of Americans.  The Fact Sheet provides information about the type of questions asked, the frequency with which these questions are asked, and how to secure the findings from these instruments.  Developed by economist and Ph.D. student Mark Pocock, in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Jane Rehnborg, the director of the Center's volunteerism initiative, the Investigator series will address topics important to volunteerism at the University level.

The current UK government has often re-iterated that its policy is 'evidence led'. Whether this happens in practice is for others to decide, but a useful spin-off is that research has become more prevalent in areas interesting government.

This Research into Practice focuses on a report reviewing how volunteer-involving organisations attract and involve older volunteers. Between 1999 and 2003, the UK Home Office spread £1.5 million between 26 projects with the aim of looking at how to involve more older people in volunteering.

The report is a summation of the experiences of those projects, highlighting some well-trodden issues: what volunteers have to offer, what volunteers want and the barriers that need to be overcome to involve more older people. It also tries to distil lessons that are transferable.

Earlier this year, Elisha Evans and Joe Saxton of 'NFP Synergy' in the United Kingdom, released a report titled 'Five key trends and their impact on the voluntary sector'. The report looked at five demographic trends and explored their likely impact on the voluntary sector.

The five trends the report examined were:

• The ageing population
• The changing structure of families
• Diversification of households
• Educational levels
• Changes to financial independence

The report offers many valuable insights into possible future trends affecting volunteering, a topic in which e-Volunteerism is clearly interested.

Rather than simply present you with the NFP Synergy document, we decided to invite several international leaders in volunteerism to review the report and add their thoughts, comments and opinions to those expressed in the report.

This Research to Practice article examines how Five Key Trends and Their Impact on the Voluntary Sector (a feature article in this issue) can be a model for interpreting data in a practical, put-it-to-use way.

The "Five Key Trends..." article is itself an example of translating research into material useful to practitioners.  The article includes the original report by Elisha Evans and Joe Saxton, along with special comments on the implications for volunteering by an international panel of responders. 

Here, new Research-to-Practice feature editor Steven Howlett (UK) adds his perspective on how "trends" literature can be applied.

Victoria is a fascinating city nestled in the westernmost portion of British Columbia. It is a city which is known for being “more English than the English” and a great place to have afternoon tea in the old style.

You wouldn’t think they’d be producing material on the cutting edge of volunteer involvement, but this is the second research project I’ve seen from them in the past ten years that takes a very interesting and in-depth look at some area in volunteer management -- in this case, using volunteering as a way to connect isolated individuals back with society.

World Leisure, an international organization devoted to the scientific study and promotion of leisure, has as part of its structure several commissions devoted to matters consistent with this mission. One of these – the Volunteerism Commission – was founded to organize and encourage research in all countries on all aspects of volunteering that relate to leisure and, to the extent they are deemed useful there, to disseminate to the applied sector the world over relevant research findings in this area. The socio-economic context of leisure and volunteering is explored and a case made for viewing volunteering as leisure activity. The structure and programs of the Volunteerism Commission are then examined. A selected bibliography of theory and research in this area is presented as part of the reference list.

An analysis of the volunteer service and community engagement efforts in eighteen selected Texas state agencies and commissions, with particular examination of their volunteer management practices.

At the recent Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City many non-Canadians would have heard our national anthem, "O Canada," for the first time. Of course, it is a young anthem, adopted only 35 years ago. Canada is a young country but we have a long history of volunteerism. During 2001, the International Year of Volunteers, I had the privilege of co-chairing what was called the National Volunteerism Initiative Table. This gave me the opportunity to examine volunteerism, to take flight and travel this young and beautiful country from coast to coast. The flight had its spells of turbulence along with periods of very smooth skies. It was really a privilege to be able to view volunteers in Canada from a position way up in the clouds. I listened to volunteers and those who work with volunteers. I had a most unique opportunity to learn about this country and its volunteers. They have many differences and much that is incredibly the same.