If you know anything about the Essex Wellbeing Service you’ll know how much we appreciate the significance of volunteering - and just how much we value our volunteers. But have you read these statistics before?
In 2020/21, Statista reported “64% of people aged between 65 and 74 volunteered at least once in England, compared with 53% of over 75s. Throughout this time period, the 35-49 age group has been the most active in terms of volunteering”.
The Community Life Survey found that “Informal volunteering at least once a month in the past 12 months increased in 2020/21 (33%) from 2019/20 (28%), the highest that it has been recorded in the CLS”.
The Time Well Spent (TWS) national survey says: “The most common reason overall for volunteering is wanting to improve things or help people (42%”).
“Among those who have never volunteered, one of the most frequently cited reasons for not volunteering is that they have never thought about it (19%)” - reveals the TWS survey.
The Time Well Spent Survey also found “...the more recently people had volunteered the more interested they are in future opportunities to get involved... ...but over a quarter (27%) of those who had never been involved were interested in giving time in some way.
In 2017-2018, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport discovered that “15% of those living in the most deprived areas of England volunteered regularly, whilst in the least deprived areas, this increased to 29%.
When comparing rural to urban areas overall, we see that 29% regularly volunteer in rural areas, compared to 21% in urban areas”.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport also asked people what their motivations were for volunteering, these were the top three reasons:
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I wanted to improve things/help people – 46%
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The cause was important to me – 31%
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I had spare time to do it – 25%
If you’d like to learn more about volunteering with EWS, click here to find out more.
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With busy lives, it can be hard to find time to volunteer. However, the benefits of volunteering can be enormous.