International Volunteer Day will be celebrated on Saturday 5th December. International Volunteer Day (IVD) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985. IVD is now celebrated worldwide with thousands of volunteers involved in a range of IVD initiatives in their communities.
To coincide with IVD Volunteering Australia will release the National Survey of Volunteering Issues, the annual survey of volunteers and volunteer organisations that looks at issues that affects volunteering in Australia.Volunteering Australia CEO, Cary Pedicini, said that the survey attracted a record number of participants.
“The interest in volunteer issues was highlighted by the record number of people who participated in the survey. More than 3,700 respondents took part ensuring a wide cross section of opinions was received.”
The costs of volunteering remains a significant impost with 44% of volunteers who flagged this concern reporting that out of pocket expenses affected their ability or desire to volunteer. The most common cost problems were fuel (84.6%) and telephone charges (65.4%). Only 17% of volunteers reported that their organisation offered full reimbursement of their out of pocket expenses. 27% of organisations said that out of pocket expenses had a negative impact on their ability to attract, recruit, train and retain volunteers.
“Volunteers also reported that volunteering increased their health and well being (71%), while 82% reported that volunteering increased their sense of community belonging. However it was disappointing to note that 36% of volunteers surveyed had not received any recognition or appreciation for their work in the previous month.”
“Many volunteers do their good work for nothing more than the satisfaction they get from knowing that they are helping others in their community, but organisations must work harder to ensure that they recognise and thank their volunteers regularly. 34% of volunteers reported that their organisation did not have, or they did not know whether their organisation had a formal recognition process.”
“IVD is a great time to say thank you to all of Australia’s 5.4 million volunteers and recognise the extraordinary contribution they make to Australian communities. For many volunteers a simple thank you is all they need.”
More information on IVD is available now on the Volunteering Australia website.