Standing in the afternoon sun next to a noisy kennel at Leybourne Animal Center in Kent, southeast England, John Golding explained he decided to volunteer to the first time to avoid feeling lonely during the holiday weekend.
“It’s quite therapeutic,” the 32-year-old said, as other volunteers enjoyed cakes and scones while others stood in a circle digging grass before sprinkling seeds of wildflowers in the ground. “It’s a community atmosphere, everyone comes together.”
The activities were organized by the RSPCA as part of Big Help Out, a national initiative of 55,000 charity events to mark the coronation of King Charles III. Organizers expected around 6 million people to attend.
The aim was to highlight the importance of volunteering to UK society and economy, with data showing a decline in formal participation in England in the voluntary sector following the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to government community life Investigation volunteering habits, only 17% of respondents said they participated in formal volunteering at least once a month in 2020/21, the latest year for which data is available.
This figure was the lowest recorded by the survey and marks nearly a decade of long-term declines in rates: in 2013/14 the monthly volunteering figure was 10 points higher at 27%.
The importance of the charitable sector has been highlighted by both the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis which has triggered a surge in demand for food and clothing banks, and other forms of ‘assistance.
Earlier this year, the government announced a community wealth fund which will draw £740million from long-forgotten bank and building accounts for ‘social or environmental causes’.
Brendan Cox, co-founder of Together Coalition, an alliance of community groups that helped organize the Big Help Out, said the day was designed to draw attention to the benefits of volunteering for people who have given their time and for the community at large. . He plans to make Big Help Out an annual event.
“We know from the social science literature that the first step is the hardest for people to take,” Cox said. “Once they show up and try something, it’s very likely that they’ll stay involved.”
The Big Help Out also aims to tackle one of the biggest barriers to volunteering – access to information about opportunities. Survey data shows that about one in five people don’t volunteer “because they don’t know how to get involved,” Cox added.
To help address this issue, a smartphone app has been launched to coordinate Monday’s events, giving local charities and organizations a way to advertise volunteering opportunities in their communities.
Nicole Sykes, Director of Policy at Pro Bono Economya charity providing advice to the sector, said volunteering plays a ‘serious role’ in the UK economy.
Andy Haldane, former chief economist at the Bank of England and co-founder of PBE, estimated the voluntary sector contributes over £200 billion in social value each year, equivalent to around 10% of the UK’s gross domestic product. But only a tenth of this enters the official data, because 90% of the value is made up of 2 billion hours of unpaid volunteer work every year.
Sykes suggested that the overall decline in volunteering could be exacerbated by a shift towards more people working for free in public services, including schools and hospitals, at the expense of traditional charity work.
More women are also volunteering their time than men, and the drop in the overall volunteer rate could be explained by their increasing numbers in the workplace, she added.
Sykes warned that the fall could have serious implications for charities, especially smaller ones. “If you’re a very small charity and you can’t find a trustee who’s great at finance – a big skills shortage in the sector – you’re going to struggle,” she explained.
At the event in Kent, people of all ages enjoyed a range of activities, from planting silver birch trees and collecting twigs to filling a “bug house” Bugingham Palace”.
Like Golding, Nicola Hamlin is also volunteering for the first time. The 44-year-old full-time mother brought her three daughters – Lilly, Anna and Charlotte – with her. She hopes to teach them a lesson that “sometimes you just have to do things because you want to help”.
Roger Brown, who has volunteered with animal charities for around 30 years, said it was great to see so many young faces. “What I love is that all the children are involved,” said the 78-year-old retired landscaper, adding: “They are actively involved, they are not just passive here with their parents, they lead.”
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