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Home > Latest News > Trends of Volunteering

Trends of Volunteering

NEWEST TRENDS

• In-House or In-Home volunteering becomes popular as the population gets older and non-profit organisation need to decrease their resources.

DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

• Volunteers now represent diverse ethnic and socio - economic backgrounds
• the senior population is growing and tends to be heathier and more able to accept paiid employment and/or pursue leisure time activities.
• the sandwich generation is beeing squeezed between the needs of their adult children and aging parents and has les time to volunteer.
• A large population of highly educated and professional Baby Boomers...many lookig for meaning, values and enrichment in their lives.

WORK VALUE TRENDS

• There is a growing number of skilled unemployed. Some may be in between jobs and want to keep their skills polished.  Others may be early retirees looking for the esteem of offering their experience.
• Younger volutneers are looking for jobs that will increase their skills and enhance their resume.
• More volunteers have 'high tech' skills learned at the workplace.

EDUCATIONAL TRENDS

• Career experience is a major motivator of youth  volunteers.
• The need for internships for work experience is growing.
• Training is a major motivation for most volunteers, especially if the training increases their job skills or enhance the CV.

VOLUNTEER EXPECTATION ISSUES

• People are mire interested than ever in issues and causes.
• People are more demanding about the nature of their volunteer work adn want meaningful, challenging projects.
• Professional volunteers want to be treated professionally.

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Volunteer Centres: Changing Rationale and Roles

An Extract from e-volunteerism -     http://www.e-volunteerism.com

Common Issues and Emerging Trends - The Internet has profoundly and universally changed what volunteer centres do.

Ten years ago, most volunteer center members spent the majority of their time collecting information on available volunteer opportunities and helping individuals connect with them. This was done first through paper records, then by computer programmes that people could access by coming to the centres' offices. No more. Today, organisations can post their opportunities on their own Web sites or dozens of general and specific online registries; individuals can browse such listings from their homes or offices at their convenience, 24/7.

The change to Web-based volunteer matching was met with some resistance; some volunteer centres wondered what their purpose would be if freed from the work of compiling and update these local lists. But the change came very quickly and it soon became apparent that there was no going back. The most resilient centres have responded by re-focusing on developing the volunteer management skills of agencies; running special projects for students, court-ordered service, and people with disabilities; and becoming engaged in disaster response or local priorities such as working with the unemployed. Now the evolution of Online's social media is having a large impact, with volunteer centres developing online communities on forums such as Facebook and Twitter. Read more....