Why volunteering matters!

More than 100 million Europeans engage in voluntary activities, live solidarity and through this make a difference to our society. A Eurobarometer survey in 2006 revealed that 3 out of 10 Europeans claim to be active in a voluntary capacity and that close to 80% of respondents feel that voluntary activities are an important part of democratic life in Europe.

There is a vast array of notions, definitions and traditions concerning volunteering. However, what is common throughout Europe is that wherever people engage together in activities to help each other, support those in need, preserve our environment, campaign for human rights, or to initiate actions to help ensure that everyone enjoys a decent life - both society as a whole and the individual volunteers benefit and social cohesion is significantly strengthened.

Why volunteering matters

Volunteers mirror the diversity of European society with people of all ages, women and men, employees and unemployed, people from different ethnic backgrounds and belief groups and citizens from all nationalities being involved
Volunteers are engaged in a diverse range of activities, such as the provision of education and services, mutual aid or ‘self-help’, advocacy, campaigning, management, community and environmental action. Volunteering is one of the ways in which people of all abilities and backgrounds can contribute to positive change
Volunteering is a means of social inclusion and integration. It contributes to a cohesive society creating bonds of trust and solidarity and, thus, social capital. It is a powerful source of reconciliation and reconstruction in divided societies
Volunteering plays an important role in finding solutions to societal issues. Volunteers and their organisations are often at the forefront of developing innovative actions to detect, voice and respond to needs arising in society. Volunteers help to improve the quantity and quality of services and to creatively develop new services
Volunteering is an significant economic factor. The voluntary sector contributes an estimated 5% to the GDP of our national economies (according to a recent Johns Hopkins University Study) and many voluntary sector organisations depend heavily on the work of volunteers to carry out their activities
Volunteering helps create of innovative partnerships between businesses, public authorities and voluntary sector organisations. Such partnerships, coupled with the pioneering nature of many volunteering actions, can lead to the creation of new employment opportunities
Volunteering provides informal and non-formal learning opportunities and is therefore a crucial instrument in life-long learning. Through volunteering, people gain knowledge, exercise skills and extend their social networks, which can often lead to new or better employment opportunities, as well as personal and social development.

Why volunteering matters to the European Union

At the most fundamental level, volunteers are the agents of European values and objectives as laid down in the Treaties, in particular in terms of promoting social cohesion, solidarity, and active participation – theirs are the hands that translate these values into action, day after day.

Thus volunteering contributes to building a European identity rooted in shared values of democracy, solidarity and participation. It promotes mutual understanding between people in society and across Europe and stimulates active and responsible European citizenship, which is central to European ideals.

On a more tangible level, volunteering in all its diversity is indispensable in a wide range of EU policy areas:

Social inclusion
the Life-long learning agenda (see CEV’s MOVE and LACE projects)
Policies affecting young people (see CEV’s YOU::VOL project and cevYOUTH seminar)
Inter-generational dialogue (see CEV’s ELLA project)
Active ageing (see Spes’ ‘Think Future, Volunteer Together' project)
Integration of migrants (see CEV’s INVOLVE project)
Intercultural dialogue (see CEV's 2008 General Assembly Luxembourg "Volunteering and Intercultural Dialogue")
Civil protection
Humanitarian aid and development
Sustainable development and environmental protection
Human rights
Social service delivery
Raising employability (see CEV's 2007 General Assembly "Volunteering as a route (back) to employment")
Bridging the 'digital gap' (see CEV's "Volunteering and the new technologies: initaitves, opportunities and challenges")
Corporate social responsibility (See BITC and IBLF's ENGAGE campaign)

For all the reasons given above, voluntary action is an important component of the strategic objective of the European Union of becoming “…the most competitive and dynamic, knowledge-based economy in the world…” as adopted by Member States at the European Council in Lisbon in March 2000.

Why the European Union matters to volunteering

While 30% of Europeans are part of the volunteering family, 7 out of 10 people do not volunteer. For many of those people, it is because they face barriers to volunteering, such as a lack of information on how to become involved; time pressure; scarce economic resources and the feeling of not being able to “afford” to volunteer; a negative image of volunteering stemming from times where volunteering was a rather “compulsory duty”; discrimination; discouraging legal provisions and an absence of a legal status; missing protection against risks involved; visa or other barriers for non EU citizens – to name just a few of these obstacles.
Volunteering is freely given, but not cost free – it needs and deserves targeted support from all stakeholders – volunteer organisations, government at all levels, businesses and an enabling policy environment including a volunteering infrastructure.
While the EU has increasingly paid attention to volunteering in all its forms over recent years, we are still far from a comprehensive strategy and action at the European level to promote, recognize, facilitate and support volunteering in order to realize its full potential.