Eurofound,
the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions, is a European Union body, one of the first to be established
to work in specialised areas of EU policy. Specifically, it was set up
by the European Council:
Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1365/75 of 26 May 1975, to contribute to the planning and design of better living and working conditions in Europe.
Please click on the links to access the Eurofound resources pack on “Volunteering - A force for change”
Volunteering in Europe
The extent of formal volunteering
varies between European countries, depending on the available
organisational setup and infrastructure to facilitate and encourage
volunteering. Since the rules and incentives for registering voluntary
organisations vary between Member States, however, comparing the extent
of even solely formal volunteering across countries is difficult. Data
from both Eurostat’s Standard Eurobarometer 2010 and Eurofound’s
European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) cast more light on the phenomenon
of volunteering.
Older people and volunteering
Older people have typically been seen
as the beneficiaries of voluntary activities. Indeed, the role of
voluntary services is likely to become increasingly important in the
context of cuts in state-provided welfare services and payments as a
result of the economic crisis. However, increasing attention is also
being paid to the contribution and potential of older people as
voluntary workers.
Volunteering - What's different in the new Member States?
The formerly communist countries of
central and eastern Europe provide a good example of how strongly
volunteering is influenced by political and social traditions. These
countries’ communist legacy did not favour a culture of volunteering and
influenced the emergence of such a culture after the collapse of the
regimes. First, the very notion of volunteering as an activity arising
from grassroots level challenged the power of the communist state, which
claimed to have the capacity to provide for all citizens. Secondly,
‘voluntary’ work in these countries was – in reality – compulsory unpaid
work in schemes initiated by central authorities, resulting in negative
connotations for the term ‘volunteering’. Nowadays, however,
participation in voluntary and charitable activities in some of the new
Member States (NMS) is above the EU average.
Is volunteering for everyone?
Although the Eurobarometer surveys in
2006 and 2010 show relatively little change in the level of
participation in volunteering, recent Eurofound research points to a
general upward trend in many Member States. The growth in volunteering
of the last 10 years is partly attributed to public initiatives to
promote volunteering, an increasing number of voluntary organisations
(perhaps reflecting greater awareness of social and environmental
problems) and growing needs for delivery of public welfare services. The
upward trend may reflect an increasing involvement of older people and
more positive public perceptions of volunteering, particularly in some
of the new Member States.
Companies and volunteering
In most Member States, no legal
provision or specific support schemes exist to facilitate private sector
companies’ engaging in corporate volunteering. Nonetheless, more
companies are introducing such initiatives. CSR Europe, the European
business network for corporate social responsibility, and its
national-level partner organisations such as Business in the Community
(in Ireland and the UK) are actively involved in promoting volunteering
by staff in companies.
Participation in volunteering and unpaid work (February 2011)
Just over 20% of Europeans take part
in voluntary and charitable activities, though there are wide
differences between Member States. The highest rates are seen in the
Nordic Member States (Denmark, Finland, Sweden) and the lowest rates are
in Bulgaria, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain. People with a
high level of educational attainment are more likely to be volunteers,
as are those who attend religious services regularly. Based on data from
the second European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), conducted by
Eurofound in 2007, this report examines the factors underpinning
people’s decision to volunteer, the amount of time devoted to
volunteering among those who participate and whether participation is
associated with greater life satisfaction. The study also looks at
unpaid work (which includes caring and housework), the amount of time
spent on it and the characteristics of those who do it frequently. An executive summary is available.
Measures for social inclusion of the elderly: The case of volunteering - Working paper (September 2010)
Europe is facing unprecedented
demographic change including a previously unknown ageing of the
population. In view of these demographic and societal changes, social
inclusion of the elderly is of growing importance. In searching for
measures to promote the social inclusion of the older population, EU
policies give special attention to encouraging volunteering. This
working paper looks at experiences in 5 EU countries (Denmark, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands and Poland) and draws some interim conclusions.