Facts and Figures: Volunteering

Key facts

 Over 21 million people formally volunteer in the UK at least once a year1

 9% of the adult population account for 51% of all volunteer hours2
 Volunteering rates have remained relatively consistent over the past ten years

Introduction

Volunteering can include any activity that ‘involves spending time, unpaid, doing
something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups)
other than, or in addition to, close relatives.’3 At nfpSynergy we have been tracking the
proportion of the UK public that volunteer for over ten years. This report reveals some of
our most interesting findings.
“The absence of well-
How many people volunteer? understood and widely-
agreed concepts of
Statistics measuring how many people volunteer in the UK vary voluntarism in the
depending on what exactly is being measured. Roughly one public mind introduces
fifth of respondents in our surveys have given time as a uncertainty in people’s
volunteer in the last three months for an organisation or in the responses.”
local community, but a smaller proportion volunteer specifically (Staetsky and Mohan)
4
for charities (13% annually in 2015) . In comparison, the
Community Life Survey reports much higher proportions of the UK
population formally volunteering (27% monthly and 41% annually 2015-2016)5. This
could be due to their face-to-face interviews which explicitly list different activities that
could count as volunteering (e.g. hobbies, recreation/arts/social clubs). The difference

www.nfpSynergy.net 020 7426 8888 insight@nfpsynergy.net

this makes to self-reported volunteering rates suggests that many people may be
undertaking voluntary, unpaid activities which benefit others without considering
themselves to be a ‘volunteer’.

Consistent rates of volunteering over time

As figure 1 shows, the proportion of the UK population that volunteers over a three-
month period has remained relatively consistent since 2003, at around a fifth. This
finding is supported by data from the Community Life Survey and its predecessor, the
Citizenship Survey, which show little long-term change in both annual and monthly
volunteering rates over ten years, other than a slight dip in annual volunteering rates
2009-2011 following the economic crash.6 Our trend data indicates a very slight increase
over time; although this difference could be attributed to our change in methodology
from telephone to online surveys in 2011. Interestingly, it does not appear that the 2012
London Olympics have had a long-term effect on volunteering rates, as discussed in our
2015 Report7. Even if the 2013-14 peak in volunteering at 26% was a delayed knock-on
effect of the raised profile of volunteering during the Olympics, this has not been
sustained in the last few years.

Figure 1: Consistent proportions volunteering over time

Volunteered (telephone) Volunteered (online)

26%

21% 22% 23% 22% 21%

20% 20%
19% 21%
19%
18%
16%

Who volunteers? “People in the civic core

are more likely to be
In the UK, certain demographic groups volunteer significantly middle-aged, have higher
more than others, as shown by figure 2. 9% of the UK adult education qualifications,
population forms a ‘civic core’ which accounts for just over actively practise their
half of all volunteer hours, and over two fifths of charitable religion, be in managerial
giving8. People who have given money to charity in the last and professional
three months are much more likely to have volunteered occupations, and have
(23%) in the same period than those who have not (10%). lived in the same
People from a higher social grade continue to be much more neighbourhood for at
likely to volunteer. This is consistent with the greatest least 10 years”
proportion volunteering from the highest income bracket (Staetsky and Mohan)
(25% of those from £40,000+ households).

2 |
NCVO 2012
Figure 2: Volunteer Demographics: social grade, age, charity donor,
worshipper (August 2014 – July 2016)
43%

32%
27%
25% 25% 26%
21% 19%19% 18%
19%
15%15% 16%

10%

Social Grade Age

Religious volunteering

Another noticeable difference is that regular worshippers are more than twice as likely to
have volunteered in a given three month period (43%) than the typical individual
(21%). The higher volunteering rate of regular worshippers compared to non-regular
worshippers has been identified in our data consistently over the last decade. By
contrast, various studies that identify whether people are simply ‘religious’ rather than
‘regular worshippers’ find little difference in volunteering rates9. The fact that doing
unpaid work for a religious group or place of worship could count as volunteering may
partly explain the stark differences we find between volunteering rates of regular and
non-regular worshippers, and this difference might not be replicated to the same extent
in rates of volunteering specifically for charities.

Diminishing gender gap

Figure 3 shows that the gender gap in volunteering has closed over the last decade.
Until 2009, women consistently volunteered more than men, but this trend has not
persisted over the last five years. We identified the closing gender gap in our 2015
report10, and results from our most recent data (2014-2016) show that the proportion of
men and women who have volunteered in a three month period is the same, at 21%.
However, this does not necessarily mean that there are no gender differences in
volunteering patterns. There may still be differences in the kind of volunteering men and
women tend to undertake or the organisations they are likely to volunteer for; this was
found to be true for 1994, with men more likely to do voluntary work related to sports,
rather than areas like health, education, and social services which more women were
involved in.11

3 |
Figure 3: Closing gender gap

Males Females
Linear (Males) Linear (Females) 29%
27%
25%
23%
23%
21%
17% 18% 18% 18%
14%
12% 12%

Young people volunteering more and more

Students in higher education are the most likely group to volunteer, and are twice as
likely to have volunteered for a charity in the last four weeks compared to other
groups.12 Figure 2 shows that young people aged 16-34 and over 65s are more likely to
have volunteered over a three month period than other age groups. This shows a
change from our 2011-2013 data presented in our 2015 report, when about the same
proportion of 25-34 year olds (19%) volunteered as 35-54 year olds (18%). Figure 4
shows the increase in youth volunteering since 2004, however this long-term trend is
not demonstrated if data from the last five years is isolated.

Figure 4: Increasing youth volunteering (16-24 and 25-34 year olds)

16-24 year olds 34%34%

25-34 year olds 32%
Linear (16-24 year olds) 29% 30%
Linear (25-34 year olds)
22% 21%

16%
15%
12%
11% 11%

4 |
Predictions for the future – how will volunteering patterns change?

In July, we asked respondents whether they expected to volunteer more or less in the
coming year. In general, groups who were already volunteering the most (see figure 2)
expect to increase their volunteering more than others, including regular worshippers,
charity donors and those of a high social grade, as shown figure 5. The two youngest
age groups are two times more likely to expect to increase their time spent volunteering
than the average individual. This is largely due to greater uncertainty amongst other age
groups, rather than expectations to decrease their volunteering hours. The most notable
exception to the pattern is the over 65 age group, only 6% of whom expected to
increase their volunteering hours, despite around a quarter already volunteering in a
three month period. However, this does not necessarily indicate that this age-group as a
whole will reduce their contribution to volunteering, but may instead represent individual
life-cycle changes that come with ageing.

Figure 5: Expected increases in volunteering

28% 28% 27%

22%
20%
17%
14% 13% 11%
10%
8% 7%
7% 6%
3%

Social grade Age

Zoe Carmichael, September 2016

5 |
nfpSynergy is a research consultancy that delivers the research, the insights and the
expertise to help non-profits understand their audiences and make informed strategic
decisions. Our Charity Awareness Monitor (CAM), on which much of the data in this
research is based, enables charities to find out how they are perceived by the most vital
of audiences; the general public. It also gives an insight into what the public think about
volunteering, campaigning and donating to charity, whilst providing an accurate
benchmark for charities to measure themselves against.

For more details, please email our team at insight@nfpSynergy.net, or call on 020 7426
8888.

1
Kristen Stephenson, NCVO (2016), Volunteers’ Week: The Big Celebration [online]
http://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2016/02/02/volunteers-week-the-big-celebration/
2
NCVO (2012), Who Volunteers in the UK?, [online] https://data.ncvo.org.uk/a/almanac12/who-
volunteers-in-the-uk/
3
NCVO, Volunteering, [online] https://www.ncvo.org.uk/policy-and-research/volunteering-policy
4
Charities Aid Foundation (2016), UK Giving 2015, [online]
https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2016-publications/uk-giving-report-2015
5
Cabinet Office (2016), Community Life Survey 2015-2016 Statistical Bulletin, [online]
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539102/2015_16
_community_life_survey_bulletin_final.pdf
6
Nick Ockenden, NCVO (2016), Community Life Survey Results Show No Change In Volunteering
http://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2016/07/20/community-life-survey-results-show-no-change-in-
volunteering/
7
Joe Saxton, Tim Harrison and Mhairi Guild (2015), nfpSynergy, The New Alchemy: How
volunteering turns donations of time and talent into human gold
8
Professor John Mohan and Dr Sarah L. Bulloch, Third Sector Research Centre (2012),
The idea of a ‘civic core’: what are the overlaps between charitable giving, volunteering, and
civic participation in England and Wales?, [online]
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/generic/tsrc/documents/tsrc/working-papers/working-paper-73.pdf
9
British Humanist Associatoin (2010), BHA Briefing 2010: Religion, belief & volunteering [online]
http://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/1bha-briefing-volunteering-12-10-final.pdf
10
Joe Saxton, Tim Harrison and Mhairi Guild (2015), nfpSynergy, The New Alchemy: How
volunteering turns donations of time and talent into human gold
11
Lowndes, V. (2000). Women and Social Capital: A Comment on Hall's 'Social Capital in
Britain', British Journal of Political Science, 30(3), 533-537 [online]
http://www.jstor.org/stable/194007
12
Charities Aid Foundation (2016), UK Giving 2015, [online] https://www.cafonline.org/about-
us/publications/2016-publications/uk-giving-report-2015

6 |