Volunteering in NI 2007 - It's all about time

The benefits an individual accrues from being involved in voluntary activity are well documented but the wider; often less tangible impacts of volunteerism are not as well developed. The Volunteer Development Agency's report into volunteering, It's All About Time, found that as a consequence of volunteering an individual's circle of friends and their engagement with individuals from the opposite community demonstrably increased compared to non-volunteers.

This report describes the extent and scale of volunteering in Northern Ireland in 2007 as well
as describing the experiences of volunteers, the impact of volunteerism on organisations and
why some individuals choose not to volunteer. It is based on the results from face to face
interviews with 1,020 individuals across Northern Ireland and the responses from 745 (24.4%
response rate) organisations that involve volunteers.

Volunteering in Northern Ireland

• 21% of individuals surveyed are formal volunteers (in 2001 this figure was 29% and in
1995 it was 18%). This equates to an estimated 282,067 individuals aged over 16
years old who have volunteered for an organisation over the previous 12 months.
• Informal volunteers accounted for 35% of the individuals surveyed of which almost a
third were also formal volunteers (31%). This equates to an estimated 470,111
individuals who over the last twelve months have been engaged as informal
volunteers. An estimated 145,734 individuals are both formal and informal volunteers
• In 2007 the overall economic value of formal volunteers, based on the Northern Ireland
average hourly wage, was £504 million per year. This equates to an average of 13.4
hours given by formal volunteers each month.
• In 2007 the number of hours informal volunteers gave has increased from eight hours
to nine hours per month when compared to 2001. The overall economic value of
informal volunteers was £433 million.
• Almost three quarters of all formal volunteers have stated that their circle of
friends/networks have increased as a consequence of formal volunteering.
• 56% of formal volunteers have attributed an increased contact with other
communities/religions to their engagement in volunteering.
• 15% of formal volunteers have attended a public consultation event/meeting/forum
whereas only 2% of non-volunteers stated they had done the same.
• Just under one third of all formal volunteers are engaged with a voluntary or
community organisation which equates to an estimated 87,723 individuals. The next
most common type of organisation volunteers are engaged with is the church or
religious bodies (70,799).

For more details, see the full report attached below.