This research focuses on more than 400 volunteers aged 50-plus involved in the fields of social welfare, education, heritage and environment, throughout the United Kingdom. It uncovers diversity beneath earlier global findings, explores the somewhat neglected territory of frustrations and tensions experienced by volunteers and staff, and identifies numerous examples of successful and innovative practice. With society waking up to the enormous potential of older people , the report contains valuable information and insights for organisations, funding bodies and government departments concerned to increase and enhance opportunities for third age volunteers.

Findings

Who are the volunteers?

• 44% of the volunteers were in their 60's. Compared with other categories, volunteers in the education and environmental groups were more likely to be in the 50-59 age band, while heritage volunteers were more likely to be in the over 70 age group.

• There were more women than men in the education, social welfare and heritage groups, but more men than women in the environmental category.

• People from middle class occupational backgrounds were more likely to volunteer, especially in the education, heritage and environmental organisations, but some of the social welfare groups had been very successful in involving people from more working class backgrounds.

• 52% of the sample started to volunteer after they were 50 years old - a welcome challenge to the view that 'third age volunteers are second age volunteers grown old' (Davis Smith, 1992 Widening Horizons in the Third Age).

How and why they got involved?

The three most common routes into volunteering were through:

• talking to people;

• having an existing contact with the organisation;

• responding to advertisements and publicity.

Advertisements and publicity were more significant in this study than in previous research findings. They were particularly important in the education category. Some groups had developed successful recruitment strategies - 'You've got to be varying things. That's the key.' They put up posters and left leaflets 'anywhere the people sit'. 'Excellent' relationships with local newspapers yielded good results.

The four most common reasons for deciding to volunteer with a particular organisation were:

• to put skills and experience to good use;

• because the organisation had a good reputation;

• because the organisation was known to be short of volunteers;

• because someone asked.

Why do they stay?

There were big differences between organisations in terms of their policies and practices in relation to older volunteers - training , payment of expenses, supervision, social activities etc. There were big differences in the types of work volunteers were undertaking. In spite of the differences:

• 93% thought voluntary work in the organisation was very well or well organised;

• 90% enjoyed the work and 85% thought it was very worthwhile;

• 73% planned to keep on volunteering with the organisation until ill-health or age caught up on them.

Three interrelated strands of commitment were analysed:

• Commitment to the organisation or the project

• Commitment to the task

• Commitment to the people

Commitment to the organisation - For some volunteers and in some organisations commitment to the organisation was enormously important. It was often rooted in a prior connection to the organisation (eg a church, a heritage property) or to the local community. Organisations had fostered this commitment by clearly acknowledging the importance of volunteers, by listening to their suggestions, by keeping them informed of developments and by involving volunteers on the management side of the organisation. Several organisations in the study has effectively strengthened this commitment by giving a group of older volunteers considerable autonomy to run their own project. 'We seem to have this almost fanatical commitment to the project', said a volunteer in one such group.

Commitment to the task - 78% of the volunteers found the work very interesting. Many of the organisations commented positively on the attitudes of older volunteers to their work: 'they take something on and they see it through', 'they pace themselves and can ultimately achieve more'. Organisations had enhanced commitment to the task by providing relevant training, easy access to advice and assistance, ongoing feedback and appreciation, and by building in opportunities to review the interests of volunteers. Practical support could also be significant - expenses, insurance, help with transport, meetings organised in convenient places at convenient times etc. Some small projects had gained access to training and other supports through partnerships with larger organisations.

Commitment to people - Asked what they would miss most when they stopped volunteering, 59% identified the social aspects including contact with other volunteers, staff and service users. The social aspects were more likely to be missed than the task-related aspects or the satisfaction of feeling useful. They were particularly important for volunteers in the social welfare organisations; they were less important for volunteers in the education category. Volunteers were mostly positive about relationships with staff, other volunteers and service users. Social activities could strengthen commitments to other volunteers when the volunteers already knew each other through working together or attending regular meetings. For volunteers whose main contact was with staff or service users, social events for volunteers could appear contrived.

Frustrations and difficulties

The study identified some dissatisfactions and frustrations for volunteers and staff, and occasional 'crusty' relationships which could undermine commitment to the organisation, the task or the people.

• more than a third of older volunteers wanted better opportunities to use their skills;

• about a fifth worried about their ability to do the work;

• some volunteers were reluctant to train - some lacked the confidence, others believed that their existing skills and experience equipped them adequately for the tasks;

• there could be tension between caring about the volunteers and caring about the quality of the work;

• problems were sometimes difficult to handle in an open way; 'respect for one's elders' could reinforce a tentative approach;

• staff could feel challenged, even occasionally threatened, by the experience and manner of some older volunteers;

• a strong commitment to the organisation, the task or to the people could make it difficult for a few volunteers to let go as they became less able.

Conclusions

In spite of the frustrations and difficulties, the finding paint a very positive picture of volunteering by older people. It enriches the lives of volunteers, it benefits the volunteer involving organisations and it makes a valuable contribution to society. It is well worth promoting and supporting. However, given the variety uncovered, their can be no tidy blueprint for enhancing existing opportunities or unlocking new ones. Instead, organisations need to reflect on their own policies and practices and integrate the findings in ways which are right for their culture, their volunteers and tasks being undertaken.

A checklist for organisations

• Check out the profile of older volunteers - do recruitment strategies need to be adapted?

• Check out the tasks older volunteers undertake - to they capitalise on the skills and experience of older people?

• Check out the training and support offered - are they adequate for the task and the individual volunteer? Remember the practical support - out of pocket expenses, insurance, transport etc.

• Check out the opportunities for volunteer to have a say in the way the organisation or project is run.

• Check out the relationships between staff and volunteers.

• Check out the way inadequate standards, problems and tensions are handled.

• Check out the way volunteers are helped to adjust and to retire as they become less able.

• And finally don't forget to step back from time to time, think creatively and maybe risky - check out whether there are tasks within the organisation which individual older volunteers or a group would be able to undertake and run as their own project with background support.

Implications for other groups

The findings are of most direct relevance to organisations which involve or wish to involve older people as volunteers. But organisations need support, in particularly reliable funding and access to up-to-date information about relevant developments. There are implications for funding bodies, for government and for researchers.

Methods - 449 postal questionnaires were completed by volunteers in 25 organisations (72% of those distributed); someone in each organisation completed a questionnaire about the project. In the second stage, 20 of the 25 organisations were visited.

The Carnegie-TSB Foundations Third Age Volunteering Project formed part of the Carnegie Third Age Programme and was generously funded by the TSB Foundations.