Time Well Spent 2023: Volunteering Among The Global Majority
22/11/2024
Published by NCVO, UK
Publication Date: November 2023
Researcher: Rei Kanemura
Time Well Spent is NCVO’s major volunteering research programme. The research is based on survey data of adults in Great Britain. It:
- looks at people’s experiences of volunteering and barriers to volunteering
- aims to provide rich and practical insights that will inform practice and policy, address knowledge gaps, and generate new evidence.
The survey was undertaken between Dec 2021 and Nov 2022. It asked about ‘unpaid help’ to capture different types of volunteering.
‘Global majority’ means all ethnic groups except white British and white minorities, specifically, people from black, Asian, mixed, and other (including other Asian, Chinese, and Arab) ethnic groups who make up a large majority (c. 85%) of the world population. The use of this term is intended to reframe the conversation. However, it does not remove people’s experience of being minoritized and discriminated against.
Key findings
The global majority volunteers are less satisfied, feel more excluded, less sense of belonging and are less likely to continue volunteering than volunteers overall. Additional intersectional barriers exist (eg for younger and disabled global majority volunteers).
Appetite for volunteering existing in the non-volunteering global majority in fact they are more interested than the non-volunteering overall population.
Recommendations to improve their volunteering experience:
- Respond to their motivations
- Have a quick and easy entry process
- Build belonging, a culture of trust and recognition
- Flexibility is key (in time and commitment) so offer one-off and dip in/out opportunities
The website report delves more deeply into:
- Volunteer participation
- Volunteering motivation and values
- Volunteer satisfaction and impact
- Experiences of volunteering
- Key factors influencing volunteer satisfaction
- Volunteer retention
- Barriers and enablers to volunteering.
It also provides a useful list of practical implications for volunteering practice and policy:
Recruitment and entry into volunteering
- Engage enthusiastic non volunteers
- Offer equitable and engaging volunteer roles
- Start the journey right
During volunteering
- Listen to your volunteers
- Build a culture of respect, trust, and inclusion
- Make inclusion a priority
- Value and develop your volunteers
Retaining volunteers and ending the journey well
- Improve volunteer experiences
- Think bout the long-term volunteer journey
Consideration for policy makers
- Champion volunteering
- Build understanding of intersectionality
- Engage global majority non volunteers
- Remove barriers to volunteering
Watch a short video of key findings (4:15)