PDF format. Articles
Abstracts from Volume 8 Issue 1
Volunteering, lifelong learning and community cohesion:
an evaluation model of a national demonstration project
Karen Harlow-Rosentraub, Center on Aging and Health, Case Western Reserve
University and Laura B. Wilson and Jack Steele, Center on Aging, University of
Maryland
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This article describes a series of demonstration projects in the USthat aimed to recruit ‘baby-boomers’ (aged fifty plus) as volunteers toprovide respite care to the care-givers of dependent older people. In return, the volunteers were offered lifelong learning, meaningful activity and the opportunity to build new networks and social capital. The
volunteers (one third of whom had never volunteered before) reported increased attachment to their community and better understanding of its needs, as well as enhanced expectations of finding full or parttime paid employment or continuing their education. For their part, the care-givers were overwhelmingly positive about the respite services
provided. And the organisations taking part in the projects were inspired to improve the way they managed their volunteers.
Social participation and social capital in South Yorkshire coalfield communities
Jan Gilbertson and Julie Manning, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffiled
Hallam University
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This article draws on responses from a 2004 survey of 3771 residents in nine South Yorkshire coalfield communities to explore levels of social participation and the relationship between social participation and social capital. The survey provides a relatively unusual data source as, in addition to collecting information about levels of participation, it elicits the type(s) of groups residents are involved with. The article provides two key messages for policy-makers and practitioners. The first relates to the findings and indicates that particular components of social capital are associated with particular types of social participation. The second relates to the survey methodology and demonstrates the importance of establishing the type(s) of groups that residents are involved with when examining levels of social participation.
Space and place in Scottish voluntary service delivery
Helen Timbrell, Department of Geography, University of Dundee
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Using data from four case-study sites, this article explores the geographical variations in Scotland’s service volunteering and considers their impact on the volunteer and wider community. In the context of ongoing concerns about the ‘shadow state’ and the potential for increased government funding to affect the culture of voluntary service delivery, the article asks if services provided by volunteers always represent the ‘plus’ of increased user choice or whether there is a greater potential for problems in some communities less able to cope with increased service demands. How the experiences of volunteers involved in service delivery differ from those of volunteers involved in other forms of activity is also explored. The article concludes by considering what these findings may mean for the development of policy and resources to support service volunteering, and for people involved in the design of voluntary opportunities and subsequent volunteer recruitment and retention.
Research into sports volunteers: reviewing the questions
Geoff Nichols, Sheffield University Management School
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This article reviews research questions concerning volunteers in sports clubs run by their members. In terms of numbers of volunteers, these clubs are the most significant context in which formal volunteering takes place. Important questions include: changes in the number of volunteers; understanding the key volunteers who give a large proportion of the time; understanding how the motives of volunteers change with involvement; mapping a typology of management systems of clubs; and using this typology to understand how best clubs can be supported. These questions are placed within the context of the challenges clubs face and the contribution of academic theory to understanding this. Lastly, an example is given of research which aims to produce both practical results to support the voluntary sector and output of a high academic standard.
On the safe side: volunteering and risk in England
Katharine Gaskin, Institute for Volunteering Research
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The subject of risk and volunteering has become a major focus in recent years. This article reports results from research funded by the Home Office. It shows that there has been a dramatic increase in risk management in volunteer-involving organisations and that there is much good practice across the sector. However, this is not without its costs. The amount of bureaucracy and the pressures to be risk-averse limit the capacity and scope of organisations and have negative effects on the willingness of volunteers to become involved. Unless risk management is stabilised at a reasonable and proportionate level, we may be putting the future of the volunteer sector at risk.
Participation for health
Pat Gay, Institute for Volunteering Research
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In recent years the National Health Service in the UK has made considerable efforts to involve patients and the public in shaping, guiding and monitoring the services it provides. But can this ‘participation’ be regarded as a form of volunteering? This article looks for the first time at the policy and practice relating to patient and public involvement in the NHS, exploring attitudinal and behavioural changes and the conditions necessary for successful implementation. It concludes that participation has changed the landscape of volunteering in the NHS, opening up opportunities that go beyond service giving. Properly conducted, patient and public involvement can lead to ‘a loosening of the bureaucratic grip, resulting in policies that are more public-friendly and which empower local people’.
Assessing the impact of volunteering in a London borough
Brian Thomas, Centre for Non Profit and Voluntary Sector Management, Roehampton University
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This article reports on a study carried out to assess the scale and scope of volunteering in the London Borough of Merton. Using existing sources, the local voluntary sector was first mapped; a sample of local groups was then asked to use the IVR’s Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit to gauge the effect of local volunteering on volunteers, users and other stakeholders; and finally, the Volunteer Investment and Value Audit (VIVA) tool was used to place an economic value on this contribution. Despite some reservations about the effectiveness of using the VIAT and VIVA tools in a community as large and diverse as Merton, enough data was generated collectively to make a significant impression on the community leaders and representatives of the borough.
