Research on Volunteering

In this issue of “Along the Web” we’ll look at Internet resources for volunteers in arts, culture, museums, and heritage programs. This is all part of an effort to lend a bit of class to our otherwise pedestrian existence. Items are grouped into sections:

• articles and technical assistance materials
• research studies
• sample forms and materials
• resource organizations

Readers in settings other than cultural arts will find the Sample Forms and Materials section universally applicable.

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.

One of the fastest growing areas of volunteer involvement is that of the participation of youth.  This area, however, has its differences from traditional management of adults.  In this issue of Along the Web we'll look at studies on what motivates youth to volunteer, how to work effectively with youth volunteers, and some innovative programs offering models and support for youth volunteer involvement.

This issue of Along the Web deals with a phenomenon that has gained much more attention in the past two years - volunteers who respond during disasters. As publicity about this surge of what has been called "spontaneous volunteering" grows, we can expect the phenomenon to continue. Organizations that work in disaster planning and recovery are now attempting to devise systems for managing such volunteers. The results of this planning will be applicable to every community, whether in response to natural or human-made disasters.

We've divided the Web sites described here into three sections:

• articles and manuals about disaster volunteers
• organizations and groups that respond to disasters
• useful sample materials

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.

The emergence of employee volunteer programs has been one of the most significant developments in volunteerism in the past 20 years. In this issue of “Along the Web,” we look at 42 resources from six countries with solid information to help both businesses and charities make use of this new approach to volunteering.