The Volunteers of 2056

2056 may turn out to be a year of celebrations. It will certainly be the 300th anniversary of the birth of Mozart and might even see England end its long footballing drought with victory in Euro 56. But will it be the Year of the Volunteer?

For Maggie’s Children, the question is vital as they will be both prospective providers and users of the services of the voluntary sector. By 2056, many of them will be in an age group that makes a significant contribution to voluntary activity; only the oldest of them will be over 75, the age at which – as will be shown below - this appears to fall off (although with longer and healthier old age, this may have changed by 2056). Above them, there will be an older cohort – including, in many cases, their parents – who will be in need of voluntary sector care. And below them will be another generation that - as they approach the age at which they may need such services themselves - they will hope will sustain the volunteering ethos.

We need to answer these questions for the sake of older people in 2056 but also to recognise the fundamental role the voluntary sector plays in creating a stable and more unified society while also benefiting volunteers personally. Voluntary sector provision represents a return of £30 for every £1 invested. The National Centre for Volunteering describes volunteering as, ‘an important expression of citizenship and is essential to democracy. It is the commitment of time and energy for the benefit of society and the community and can take many forms. It is undertaken freely and by choice.’ This paper asserts that the civic engagement of the whole community today is vital for the sake of a flourishing free society where families are strong and voluntary associations vibrant in 2056. It shows that Maggie’s Children are not detached and apathetic, but have a commitment to altruism and to voluntary work that is an important social asset for the coming decades. It also looks at the policy measures necessary to sustain and enhance that volunteering commitment.

In 2002, there were an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 organisations in the charitable and wider not-for-profit sector in the country. Over half of all registered charities have an annual income of less than £10,000 . These organisations do not necessarily attract the attention of politicians but are rooted in the communities from which they draw support and to which they give service. Greater attention is often given to the emerging group of ‘super charities’ with an income of over £100 million . However, the challenge for charities both large and small is to remain true to the unique quality of the voluntary sector – the volunteer, who can provide the personal care and service which is largely unmatched in the private or public sector. Volunteers provide the vital connection with a local community and enable a voluntary organisation to retain its distinctive mission and character.

Some 23 million adults are involved in formal volunteering each year, at an annual economic value of around £40 billion. In 2005, 44% of the population had volunteered formally at least once in the last 12 months, which was a 5% increase from 2001. The number of people who volunteered at least once a month also rose, from 27% (2001) to 29% (2005). These numbers strongly suggest that many people have already taken on the volunteering challenge.
We must avoid restricting our idea and definition of volunteering. For example, there are approximately 350,000 school governors, 12,500 special constables and an estimated 10,000 volunteers working with offenders either in prisons or the community. There are also approximately 151,000 voluntary sports clubs in the UK, with an estimated 5.8 million adult sports volunteers providing opportunities for an estimated 10 million players and participants.
But how involved are young people in the voluntary sector? Is there a gap between younger and older volunteers that needs filling? Politicians risk taking a jaundiced view, seeing the world through the looking glass of elections where young people are increasingly turned off politics. However, as the Power Report recently demonstrated, this does not mean that young people are not involved in society: among those who do not vote in general elections 37% are members of, or active in, a charity, community group, public body or campaigning organisation.

In February 2005, ‘Make Poverty History’ mobilized many young volunteers. Eighty-four percent of 16- to 25-year-olds – in other words, members of our target generation - said the campaign and the Live8 concerts had had the biggest impact on them last year, ahead of London's Olympic bid victory and the general election. Two-thirds of respondents said they had worn the white bands last year and a similar percentage intended to support charities by signing petitions or joining email campaigns as a result. Nearly half said they would attend rallies or events this year, and 45% said they would donate money or goods to charity. At a deeper level of commitment, more than half of the 97 million Red Cross and Red Crescent members and volunteers worldwide are young people.

The 2003 and 2005 Home Office Citizenship Surveys show that 50% of all young people (aged between 16 and 19) are likely to participate in informal volunteering at least once a month compared to 29% of the older generation (aged 75 and over). Although most young people volunteer informally, a significant number spend time volunteering formally. ‘Almost a third (32%) of 16- to 19-year-olds undertook formal volunteering at least once a month but this fell to 26 percent among 20- to 24-year-olds and 25 per cent among 25- to 34-year-olds. Participation levels then rose again to 32 per cent among 35- to 49-year-olds and remained stable before falling to 21 per cent among those aged 75 or over’.

Evidence therefore suggests that contrary to many people’s perception, young people are increasingly volunteering and in the case of informal volunteering, at a higher rate than older people. However, it is young people from higher income/ social/ educated groups who are more likely to volunteer. According to Caroline Diehl, chief executive of Media Trust, "It's easier for the middle class because there's probably a parental expectation, it's easier because there may be parental support, it's easier because of the networking, the access and the knowledge will be there. It's not about a lack of interest among disadvantaged young people; it's more a lack of knowledge and financial resources. In communicating volunteering opportunities we haven't really reached out to those young people."

We therefore need to look at policy initiatives, both those that are working and new projects, which will further increase and broaden youth volunteering.

The issue of youth volunteering is already high up the agenda leading to a number of recent initiatives:

• The Russell Commission was set up by the Government in May 2004 in order to increase the level of youth action and engagement in the voluntary sector. The Commission made a number of recommendations which the Home Office is charged with delivering centred around ensuring that young people are themselves engaged in partnerships to create new volunteering opportunities for young people

• In January 2006, David Cameron outlined proposals for a National School Leavers Programme, providing the opportunity for 3-4 months voluntary work in the community.

• The Commission on the Future of Volunteering was established by the England Volunteering Development Council in March of this year. It is the first independent commission on volunteering and will present a final report by June 2007.

• In May 2006 the charity “V” was launched. This was created in order to attract a million new volunteers between the ages of 16-25. Up to £150 million pounds has been set aside from both public and private sectors in order to recruit at least a million volunteers.

• Also in May 2006, Prince Charles suggested a commendable plan to attract more young volunteers, including reducing university fees as an incentive for volunteers.

There are inspiring examples of projects that have successfully engaged young volunteers. BBC Breathing Places, a new environmental campaign to build 50,000 wildlife oases in cities, towns and villages, silenced cynics when 200,000 volunteers showed up to pilot events over 3-4 June 2006 alone. Time Bank UK, which uses units of one hour as a community currency, has matched 50,000 young people to local volunteering opportunities since its launch in 2000. Local schemes can point to similar successes. YAVE (Youth Action Volunteering in Enfield), which offers a variety of community placements and was used by six hundred young people last year, has been praised by Ofsted for offering a “unique” service. Christian volunteers in Norwich provide a remarkable 154,555 hours of social action services within the city every year, while in London some 25,000 young people have participated since 2004 in SOULINTHECITY, a faith-based organisation that sends volunteers to support projects within the local community.

However all these efforts amount to small change when compared to the USA. The 1960s Peace Corps developed under President Clinton into the Americorps and has been built upon by President Bush in creating the Freedom Corps. As a result of these organisations, the number of young volunteers has quadrupled since the 1960s. In America, corporate giving of time and money is on a different scale to the United Kingdom. For example, ‘VolunteerMatch’ is an internet based network which resourced 2 million users last year to match volunteers, both individuals and businesses with appropriate projects.

There is also sobering evidence that efforts to broaden the volunteering base in the UK have run into difficulties. The Young Volunteer Challenge Pilot Programme (YVCPP), introduced in 2003, offered young people from low-income backgrounds £45 a week if they were willing to dedicate a year to volunteer work. However, it did little to boost take-up and the pilot highlighted that ‘more work needs to be done to widen both the profile and understanding of what volunteering can offer young people’.

Thus, to sustain – and even more to enhance – commitment to volunteering and to the growth of the voluntary and community sectors, a major shift of policy is needed. This will include both incentives for voluntary activity, and measures to facilitate participation. However, more fundamentally, there must be a recasting of the relationship between government and the voluntary and community sector.

• Government should work for the voluntary sector not the voluntary sector for government. It is time to revive a number of the important proposals developed in the Conservative Party’s Green Paper of three years ago, Sixty Million Citizens. The need to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get access to funding, following politicians’ and officials’ frequently-changing priorities is both a time drain on the voluntary sector and can threaten the original insights and commitment that are its most distinctive features.
• Accountability mechanisms must change and funding made simpler and more predictable. Funding should increasingly follow the choices of people, not politicians, and the sector should be redirected towards its stakeholders: volunteers, the communities they serve and those who use or depend upon the sector’s work. Measures to encourage this could include gift tokens, by which council tax payers can direct part of their tax demand to a local charity of their choice, and matched funding by government of charitable donations, with the degree of ‘match’ in inverse proportion to the wealth and resources of the community served. This could contribute to the growth of sources of funds – such as those built up and supervised by the Community Foundation Network - serving good causes in hard-pressed communities.
• Rules should also be simplified. There should be a single application form for those seeking funds from Whitehall; a one-stop website explaining government funding opportunities; and a simplified ‘passport’ to public funding streams for organisations that belonged to approved umbrella groups. To reduce regulation and empower the sector, there should be more self-regulation based on indicators designed by the sector itself. Government’s role should be one of occasional but intensive audit, and investigation of specific claims of abuse.

• Policy should sustain the distinctive quality of volunteering. The voluntary sector has to be professional and its employees properly paid, but increased rates of volunteering are essential if we are to expand the sector’s capacity to reach vulnerable people and if we are to build a culture of active citizenship. A key proposal of the Sixty Million Citizens Green paper was a Volunteer Bounty, money paid to ‘charities addressing high priority social needs’, which came via the volunteers recruited by that organisation. The more volunteers recruited and the higher the quality of the volunteering experience, the greater the reward.

Secondly, ease of access is critical for the individual volunteer. Here the lessons of YVCPP are salutary: the project foundered not through a lack of funding but a lack of communication and understanding among young people. There needs to be a single portal which enables young people to access volunteering information. The Year of the Volunteer 2005 website encouraged people to use the site to find out about volunteering opportunities. Ironically, the site is now closed and the user is invited to look elsewhere among a list of organisations.

Government led initiatives also risk ignoring local volunteering opportunities. Time BankUK is a good example of an organisation which is encouraging flexible solutions by creating local hubs of information and assistance. A central point of communication like www.do-it.org.uk is required for information, linking the user to local volunteering opportunities.

A common obstacle for a volunteer is the bureaucracy and red tape needed to get in through the door of a voluntary organisation, a process that can be repeated with each organisation they might volunteer for. A ‘volunteer passport’ would enable the volunteer to go to different organisations without enduring repetitive checks during the lifetime of the passport.

Thirdly, there should be more support and incentives for volunteering. According to a survey done by the Institute for Volunteering Research, there were several things that young people said would give them more incentive to volunteer. These included: payment of expenses; more support; more time; more rewarding and appropriate opportunities, and more encouragement from a range of people.

The American system of education credits provides an example of incentives for younger people to volunteer: those who do so can earn a certain number of credits towards either their undergraduate or graduate degree. This means that volunteering is seen as a learning experience, and even though many are unpaid, it means that they are still putting something towards their education. We need to consider a similar policy to create an incentive for those who are going to University or who are currently at University, to participate in charity or volunteer work. Tapping the large and growing university population more effectively in the UK would provide an obvious link between young people volunteering and developing a desire for that work to continue upon graduation.

Incentives can also apply during working life. The example of Volunteermatch in the United States could be replicated in the UK, particularly in promoting and developing corporate responsibility in business, encouraging them to actively support local causes. Without requiring further legislation, companies could be encouraged to integrate employee and community involvement initiatives into their business strategy. For example, companies can give back to their local community by allowing their staff to volunteer in company time. The growing evidence of volunteerism increasing employee productivity should be an incentive enough. Experience in the United States has seen quantifiable benefits to the company and to the individual.

Taken together, these measures could sustain and extend current patterns of youth volunteering, and either retain these young volunteers over the next 50 years, or more likely, will be receptive to reawaken their volunteer spirit on retirement. In addition, many individuals may not have been involved in any voluntary activities throughout their working lives but on retirement have the capacity and health to contribute to their local community. The voluntary sector needs to be equipped to give such individuals a ‘second chance’ to engage. With a large part of the population likely to be enjoying a healthy and active old age in 2056, they will be a critical resource.

Lastly, it is important to be clear about the relationship of volunteering to two important institutions: the family and the state.

It is in a strong family that people first learn the concept of consideration of others and learn to be good citizens. Ideas of responsibility and civic engagement are much easier to develop if modelled well by parents. In the modern age, it is increasingly easy for families to become isolated and self-concerned. Promoting the community engagement of the whole family, parents and children, will ensure the modelling of civic responsibility, whilst also helping to strengthen family life. Encouraging families to volunteer together could have vast benefits to the local community and to the family itself.

Any promotion of volunteering should go hand in hand with policies which stem the tide of fragmenting families and isolated individuals. Given that the predicted future fall in marriage rates will equate to an increase in those who never marry in the age range 30-64, it will be harder to recreate the moral sentiments of commitment and formal responsibility naturally found in marriage. Housing policy often encourages households to become smaller, making it harder for the family to have the capacity to care for an elderly or infirm relative. If a young person does not learn to freely give up his or her time to care for others in the family, it becomes harder to gain that understanding of responsibility outside the family. Strong families provide a basis for good citizens who will sustain their volunteering spirit into older age.

The plethora of recent initiatives to promote youth volunteering, and the steps taken to engage with the voluntary sector in the commissioning of services are welcome, but government involvement has its dangers. The history of voluntary organisations in the Victorian era reminds us of the risk that the sector will be crowded out by an over bearing State. Government must restrain its interference and respect the distinctive character of the sector; in return, there is a responsibility on the part of voluntary organisations to invest adequately in their volunteers.

Engaging more young people in the voluntary sector is important as we come to terms with an aging population in need of care. It is vital for the care of the elderly, but also fundamental to a flourishing free society which, “depends on strong families in which children are raised to be good citizens of a liberal society and on a vigorous civil society of voluntary associations of every kind in which people work with others to achieve common ends and to promote virtue in one another.”

If you would like a copy of the full article including footnotes, please email david@davidburrowes.com