Tags: Volunteering , Big Society

A recent survey for BBC Radio 5 Live (http://www.bb c.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11001175) has found that many of those aged 25 to 54 say their lives are too busy to volunteer. In contrast, young people and the elderly were keener to volunteer, with 71% of 18 to 24-year-olds saying they would not be too busy to volunteer. But is it good news for Cameron’s Big Society plans?

 

The Big Society is all about giving communities power to make their own decisions and fostering a culture of volunteering. Cameron’s vision is that volunteer groups will, amongst other things, run post offices, transport services and shape housing projects.

 

The survey shows that amongst the 18 to 24 age group, 60% would consider cleaning up a local park/community area, 67% would consider coaching a youth sports team, and 78% would consider helping at a soup kitchen/homeless shelter. Only 32% would consider helping manage local transport services e.g. buses. However, just because x% would consider it, does not mean that the same percentage would actually do it! Words are, after all, much easier than action.

 

The image of volunteering has to change if more people are going to consider volunteering, especially in less traditional areas. The Big Society relies on people becoming more involved in all aspects of their communities, and if 18 to 24-year-olds are amongst the most likely to volunteer, but won’t consider a wider mix of volunteering opportunities, where does that leave Cameron?

 

The world is full of change, and change can be good, but does Cameron think that a number of younger volunteers will not see through his plans as being yet another smokescreen to cuts, cuts and more cuts? Ultimately it’s about saving money: if people do things for free, then the Government doesn’t have to pay people to do them! There is a fine line between what we expect to be provided as part of our taxes and what we are happy to volunteer for. If volunteering is seen as a substitute for services we as taxpayers believe we should be receiving, there is always going to be some difficulty getting people to change opinions and jump aboard.

 

Many of us might volunteer because we are passionate about a cause…but our motives are rarely purely altruistic and we will still have jobs to do as found with the existing middle age groups, with children to look after, houses to run and all manner of time pressures. Even if we start off with good intentions between the ages of 18 and 24, how long will we continue to volunteer?

 

Whilst many 18 to 24-year-olds are skilled and resourceful, people don’t suddenly become amazingly qualified volunteers, able to deliver projects off the cuff, especially in some of the areas Cameron envisages. Many volunteers need support to build their capacity and skills to enable them to provide strong services. Where is the money coming from for this?

 

I’m all for volunteering: having turned 25, I probably volunteer far more than I’ve ever done and would hope to continue volunteering in some shape or form for a long time to come. However, working in community development, one thing I notice is that people who volunteer often seem to do so with more than one project and hence there are a small number of people providing a large number of volunteer services. These people only have so much capacity. Securing buy in from the rest of the population is not going to be an easy task as without this, there will be no Big Society, just a number of Big Individuals.

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