Policy and campaigns > Measuring the Value of Volunteering

In collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and an International Technical Experts Group (TEG), the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies (CCSS) developed the first-ever internationally sanctioned approach for gathering official data on the amount, character, and value of volunteering. In March 2011, the ILO adopted the Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work.

Launched during the European Year of Volunteering 2011, CEV is a partner in the European Volunteer Measurement Project — a coalition of European volunteer promotion organisations and the authors of the ILO Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work which aims to disseminate this Manual and promote its implementation throughout Europe.

CEV joined the project because we recognise that without accurate measurements of volunteer effort, opportunities to assess approaches to volunteer management and promotion are being lost, and volunteering remains under-valued and its potential under-realised. CEV encourages its members to learn more about the project and to join us in this effort by signing the Declaration of Support.

BACKGROUND

Volunteering is a crucial renewable resource for social, environmental, humanitarian crisis and other problem-solving the world over, but its effective management requires better information and an enabling policy environment. Existing CCSS data give an appealing taste of the truly enormous impact that volunteers can and do have on the economic life of a country. For instance:

Approximately 140 million people in the 37 countries engage in volunteer work in a typical year.

If those 140 million volunteers comprised the population of a country, it would be the 8th largest country in the world.

Those 140 million volunteers represent the equivalent of 20.8 million full-time equivalent jobs.

Volunteers make a €277 billion contribution to the global economy; that would make it the 7th largest economy in Europe.

Volunteer input represents 68 percent of total private philanthropy in the countries studied.

Volunteers represent 44 percent of the nonprofit workforce in those countries.

These data were obtained through two CCSS Projects. The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector has been collecting data on the size, scope, and contours of the nonprofit sector in countries around the world for over 25 years, providing some of the earliest rigorous data on this important sector. However, a more systematic way was needed to ensure that comparable data continued to be gathered regularly.

To that end, in 2003, CCSS joined with the United Nations Statistics Division to develop the UN Handbook on Non-Profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts. This Handbook provides the guidance and tools needed to allow National Statistical Agencies to produce and publish regular statistics on the nonprofit sector, the way they do for most other sectors of the economy. It also calls on governments to include data on volunteer workforce in the nonprofit sector, which comprises 44 percent of the civil society workforce on average. However, it soon became clear that, in all but a handful of countries, no reliable data exist to gauge the extent and character of volunteering, and what data do exist have been assembled through one-time surveys utilising diverse definitions and approaches to data-gathering. As a result, the findings are inconsistent and no systematic comparisons are possible either across countries or over time. This realisation drove the development of the ILO Manual.

EU Endorsements

Improving the measurement of volunteering has been endorsed by numerous governing bodies and policy makers throughout Europe, including the European Economic and Social Committee, which in 2006 asserted that “at [the] European level we need reliable and comparable statistics on the scale, importance and socio-economic value of voluntary activity.”

The Committee of the Regions concurred. Its 2008 Opinion on the Contribution of Volunteering on Economic and Social Cohesion highlighted “the need to immediately address the lack of complete and accurate EU wide or national statistics on the economic contribution of volunteering,” encouraged “Member States to collect accurate statistical information on volunteer involvement at a local and regional level, [and] to support the development of appropriate initiatives at both levels,” and called on the European Commission “to develop more systematic data collection on volunteers and the services they provide…to accurately assess the economic value of volunteering.” In addition, the Opinion recommended that “comparative research on volunteering be carried out across the EU to obtain data on its development trends, scope and characteristics at national, regional and local levels,” and “ research be carried out EU-wide to identify best practice experiences in promoting and supporting volunteerism on a local and regional basis.”

On 20 September 2011 the European Commission issued Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of Regions on EU Policies and Volunteering and Promoting Crossborder Voluntary Activities in the EU. One of the recommendations made by the Commission, to address needs in the volunteering sector is: “Research and data collection on volunteering should be encouraged at the national level. In this context, the use of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work and the United Nations Handbook on Non-Profit organizations is recommended.”

Following on the heels of the recommendation of the ILO Manual by the European Commission, on 3 October 2011 the Council of the European Union officially invited Member States to measure volunteering and recognised the ILO Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work as a useful tool for the European Commission to consider. In the Conclusions on the Role of Voluntary Activities in Social Policy, the Council, while considering that voluntary activities “need to be clearly distinguished from paid employment and should by no means replace it” and “cannot replace the overall responsibility of the state to ensure and provide economic, social and cultural rights”, invited Member States to “consider encouraging production, publishing, and sharing of research tools/methodologies and results concerning voluntary activities and active citizenship, along with statistical data including studies on the impact of voluntary activities on the economic and social condition of the Member States and social well-being, also taking into account the gender dimension”.

2006 the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Voluntary Activity: its role in European Society and its Impact [2006/C 325/13]

1.8. 'At European level we need reliable and comparable statistics on the scale, importance and socio-economic value of voluntary activity.

2.5 Voluntary activity also makes an essential contribution to our economies' output. This contribution is often overlooked in national statistics, as it does not always involve the exchange of goods of monetary value and because there is no single accepted method for measuring its economic value. Where it is measured, however, the economic value of voluntary activity and its contribution to the economy has proved considerable (5). For example, in the United Kingdom the economic value of voluntary activity is estimated at 7.9 % of GDP, with 38 % of total population engaged in voluntary activity. In Ireland and Germany more than 33 % of the population are involved in voluntary activity in one form or another, compared to 18 % in Poland.’

4.3 To the generally used quantitative indicators for a country's development (essential economic indicators like economic growth and financial balance) new, alternative indicators need to be added, which measure social capital and social cohesion as well as the contribution of voluntary activity. The economic value of voluntary activity should also be quantified, as proposed by the United Nations in its Handbook on Non-Profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts.’

Opinion on the Contribution of Volunteering on Economic and Social Cohesion, Committee of the Regions, Rapporteur: Councillor Declan McDonnell ECOS-IV-017

Policy Recommendations:

Lack of research and statistical data on volunteering

'15. highlights the need to immediately address the lack of complete and accurate EU wide or national statistics on the economic contribution of volunteering. The Committee of the Regions therefore welcomes the Belgian, French, Czech Republic, Italian and Slovakian commitment to implement the UN Handbook on Non-Profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts;

16. encourages the Member States to collect accurate statistical information on volunteer involvement at a local and regional level, also to support the development of appropriate initiatives at both levels;

17. calls on the European Commission to develop more systematic data collection on volunteers and the services they provide and supports the inclusion of volunteering as a specific category in the Statistical Accounts of EUROSTAT to accurately assess the economic value of volunteering;

18. recommends that comparative research on volunteering be carried out across the EU to obtain data on its development trends, scope and characteristics at national, regional and local levels. This would enable a clear indication of cultural similarities and differences in relation to volunteer activity and infrastructure;

19. recommends that research be carried out EU-wide to identify best practice experiences in promoting and supporting volunteerism on a local and regional basis. Depending on research findings, areas with more historical experience of volunteering could support other regions and localities to develop new initiatives'.

2008 Report on the role of volunteering in contributing to economic and social cohesion [A6-0070/2008] European Parliament, Committee on Regional Development , Rapporteur: Marian Harkin

'(…) volunteering not only has a measurable economic value but may also lead to significant savings for public services; whereas, in this context, it is important to ensure that voluntary activity is additional to public services and not a replacement of them,The Economic Value of Volunteering According to the Johns Hopkins University Report, 'Measuring Civil Society and Volunteering', released on September 25th 2007, the Non Profit Institutions N.P.I sector contributes about as much to gross domestic product in a wide range of countries as do the construction and finance industries and twice as much as the utilities industry. This means that it accounts for 5-7% of the GDP in the countries surveyed. These findings emerge from data generated by official statistical agencies in eight countries, (Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States). It is worth noting that twenty additional countries, both developed and developing, have committed to issuing these satellite accounts and a number of others are about to begin implementation. This clearly indicates that more and more countries are recognising the importance of including volunteering in their National Accounts'.

2011 European Commission Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of Regions on EU Policies and Volunteering and Promoting Crossborder Voluntary Activities in the EU

“1.2. On the basis of a study of eight industrialised countries by the Johns Hopkins University and the experience of the European Year 2011 so far, we have identified the potential obstacles to volunteering, in particular across borders, as the following: [...] Insufficient data: Better comparable data on volunteering in the Member States can help identify best practices and improve policy making.”

“3. [...] the Commission recommends that Member States make better use of the potential of volunteering in the following ways: [...]: Research and data collection on volunteering should be encouraged at the national level. In this context, the use of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work and the United Nations Handbook on Non-Profit organisations is recommended.”

2011 Council of the European Union Conclusions on the Role of Voluntary Activities in Social Policy

“13. There exist barriers limiting voluntary activities and the full use of their potential, including: [...] Lack of accessible information on voluntary activities, their value, possibilities and importance for individuals and the society”.

“24. Consider encouraging production, publishing and sharing of research tools/methodologies and results concerning voluntary activities and active citizenship, along with statistical data including studies on the impact of voluntary activities on the economic and social condition of the Member States and social well-being, also taking into account the gender dimension“.

“37. Analyse the system of existing indicators concerning voluntary activities and their role in relevant EU policies, taking into account the gender dimension, and consider where appropriate to look for statistical tools, e.g. the ILO Manual on the Measurement of volunteer work, to ensure comparable data and indicate, where appropriate, current or new areas of voluntary activities which require closer cooperation within the EU”.

THE EUROPEAN VOLUNTEER MEASUREMENT PROJECT (EVMP)

The ILO Manual answers these calls by offering the first official, permanent system for the collection of cross-nationally comparable data on volunteer work. It is being issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to provide national statistical agencies with a common definition and methodology for measuring the amount and economic value of volunteer work through regular labour force or other household surveys. It has been developed with the help of an international Technical Experts Group to be efficient, feasible, and cost-effective to implement in the widest possible range of countries, and to generate the most comprehensive, comparable, reliable data possible.

The ILO Manual has now been endorsed by the 18th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, the Statistics Department of the International Labour Organization, the European Commission unit in charge of the European Year of Volunteering, and the European Parliament Volunteering Interest Group, and the statistics offices of Norway and Poland have already agreed to implement it. However, implementation in the rest of Europe is not guaranteed; this is why the EVMP exists.

The project is a collaboration between CCSS, the European Volunteer Centre (CEV) and Centro di Servizio per il Voluntario del Lazio (SPES), aimed at bringing all interested parties together to push for implementation of this Manual in Europe. Because 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering, we currently have a unique opportunity to take advantage of existing momentum and interest in the vital role that volunteers and volunteering play in Europe to put into place a permanent system that will keep those issues in the forefront of policy circles and public debates long past the end of 2011. And momentum is building:

November 2008.
18th International Conference of Labor Statisticians votes approval of draft Manual.

October 2009.
Poland becomes the first country in Europe to announce plans to implement the ILO Manual.

January 2011.
EC endorses adoption of the Manual as a major goal of the European Year of Volunteering.

February 2011.
Associazione Di Fondazioni E Di Casse Di Risparmio Spa (ACRI) agrees to fund the planning stages of the European Volunteer Measurement Project.

March 2011.
The International Labour Organization approves the final language of the ILO Manual.

May 2011.
The EVMP conducts its first training session to prepare volunteer leaders to promote implementation of the Manual in Europe.

September-October 2011.
The use of the ILO Manual is recommended in key European Union policy documents. Technical Workshop with representatives from Statistical Offices in Europe organised in Warsaw, Poland, in September and EVMP Supporters Meeting taking place in Berlin, Germany, in October.

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