• Nesta’s survey shows people spend longer watching TV and in the pub than volunteering
  • A third say nothing would incentivise them to spend more time supporting public services

A survey1 from innovation foundation Nesta shows a lack of motivation and a misunderstanding of the opportunities for volunteers, particularly volunteering roles working alongside public services.

From a list of pastimes, the survey found that, on average, the public spend 1 hour 47 minutes volunteering each week compared to 12 hours 40 minutes watching TV and 1 hour 59 minutes in the pub. The survey respondents say they only spend less time in the gym (1 hour 28 minutes) and queuing for coffee (45 minutes) than they do volunteering.

The survey showed:

  • Respondents believe the average volunteer to be female, over 60 years old and a grandparent;
  • Yet in fact it’s the 25-34 year olds who say they spend the most time volunteering each week (2 hours 5 minutes), followed by 18-24 year olds (2 hours 3 minutes);
  • Indeed, the over 55 year olds said they spend only 1 hour and 5 minutes per week.

The survey respondents also said volunteers have an important role to play in supporting public services (69 per cent). Almost half (49 per cent) said volunteer efforts should be focussed on the elderly, followed by hospitals (42 per cent) and homelessness (25 per cent). This echoes Nesta’s work which shows that public services can work best where skilled professionals, people who use the services and volunteers work together - a concept known as ‘people helping people’.

Yet, survey respondents felt that there is a lack of visibility about volunteering opportunities: a fifth (21 per cent) said more details about local opportunities would incentivise them to volunteer.

There are many extraordinary new ways of people giving their time to help others, alongside public services. These are often opened up through digital technologies to make it easy for people to get involved. Examples include:

  • Get Connected: a helpline for young people, where volunteers provide support from home via texts and webchats
  • Casserole Club: matches people with spare portions of home cooked meals with elderly people in their community
  • Shared Lives Plus: a network for family-based support of vulnerable adults through homeshare programmes
  • GoodGym: a group of runners that combines regular exercise with helping communities

Despite acknowledging the role that volunteers play in their communities, a third (34 per cent) of survey respondents said nothing would incentivise them to spend more time volunteering. This increases to 41 per cent of men and almost half of over 55 year olds (47 per cent).

An apparent lack of motivation to volunteer could be a result of many volunteer roles not being associated with them.  The survey showed:

  • respondents were least likely to match volunteers to roles as health and exercise coaches (7 per cent), tutors (8 per cent), park/street maintainers (9 per cent), jury members (11 per cent) and magistrates (12 per cent)
  • but saw youth club leaders (52 per cent), first aiders (45 per cent) and ‘dementia friends’ (42 per cent) as the most recognisable volunteer roles.

Dan Jones, Director at Nesta, comments: “Nesta’s evidence shows that volunteering alongside public services brings about real change: patients get better faster, children do better at school and elderly people are less lonely. From special constables to school governors, volunteers have provided valuable public services for centuries.  Today there are more ways than ever for people to give their time and expertise to help others, but this survey shows that all too often these opportunities are missed. We need to grow new models for volunteering that are fit for purpose today and help to sustain the future of our public services.”

The survey was commissioned by Nesta which is looking at the ways in which citizens can play a role in public services. Nesta is supporting 57 projects using different volunteering models across a range of public services including how volunteers can help older people and those with long term health conditions to live well, how young people can volunteer to help themselves and others, and how digital technology can facilitate volunteering.

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Footnotes

  1. Censuswide surveyed 2,319 members of the public aged 16+ between 25 and 30 October 2015. The responses have been weighted.

About Nesta: (www.nesta.org.uk) is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833

For more information contact Laura Scarrott at Nesta on 0207 438 2697/[email protected]