What are the benefits of volunteering?

Volunteering supports our Mental Health through:

• Increased self-worth
• Improved confidence
• A sense of purpose
• Building new skills
• Social connectedness
• A reduction or alleviation in depression
• Reduced anxiety and stress
• Reduced loneliness and social isolation
• Alleviation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Alleviation of other serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia
• It gives structure to the day
• Through giving back

Volunteering creates connections, especially for those who: 

•       Are retired, don’t have a job or other role identity.

•       Are marginalised in society, for example asylum seekers and refugees.

•       Have low wellbeing and mental ill-health.

Volunteering can even support our Physical Health:

•       Healthy behaviours – this includes the adoption of healthy lifestyles and practices also, an increase in physical activity.

•       Improved daily living – volunteering can help maintain independence; or reduce the level of dependency for longer than would otherwise be the case.

•       Ability to cope with personal illness – volunteering can help individuals to manage and/or alleviate their symptoms.

•       Volunteers can live longer than non-volunteers.

Volunteering helps Employment/Career outcomes:

• Volunteering is credited with improving job prospects for over half, helping 1 in 3 young volunteers (16-19) get their first job.
• It boosts confidence and communication skills.
• It can be a catalyst for education ambition.
• Volunteering benefits mid-life work progression and career change.

It can improve community wellbeing:

•       Improved social integration – people work together, help each other and draw from resources within the local community.

•       Improved community health outcomes - community capacity building and volunteering can bring a positive return on investment in community health.

•       Community cohesion - volunteering enables people to integrate more and become involved in the local community. It helps them connect with people who value them and treat them well.

•       Youth community engagement – how young people can act as a catalyst for wider community engagement.

The ‘Young People in Scotland’ research on secondary school pupils shows that wellbeing factors such as ‘having fun’, ‘feeling happier’, ‘feeling appreciated’, ‘feeling part of a team’, ‘making new friends’, ‘feeling better about myself’ and having ‘increased trust in others’ are actually cited as benefits most frequently by 11 – 18 year olds.

The specific volunteering benefits linked to older age include:

•       Mental health benefits – volunteering generates strong mental health benefits for older people. Indeed, some of the research which compared differential impacts across the age range showed that the mental health benefits for mid-age adults/younger age groups were more limited compared to older age volunteers.

•       Combatting social isolation and loneliness – volunteering helps people to build connections and relationships and develop friendships. Social capital increases and this is particularly important for those in older age who are more likely to be subject to multiple ‘role absences’ such as not being in paid employment, losing a partner and lack of parenting responsibilities. Volunteering helps to keep older people engaged in society which helps to combat social isolation and loneliness.

•       Physical health benefits – although volunteering can confer physical health benefits for all age groups, they are particularly relevant to older people.

•       Healthy behaviours – this includes the adoption of healthy lifestyles and practices because of volunteering; also, an increase in the level of physical activity.

•       Improved daily living –volunteering can help older people maintain their functional independence; or reduce their level of function dependency for longer than would otherwise be the case.

•       Ability to cope with personal illness – volunteering helping individuals to manage and/or alleviate their symptoms. 

•       Life expectancy – volunteering can have a positive effect on lowering mortality risk for those in older age. The contribution of volunteering has been referred to as the ‘inoculation effect’ for those in older age. 

•       Frequency & intensity of volunteering - the evidence suggests that regular, rather than occasional or episodic, volunteering is more beneficial to people’s wellbeing. This dose-response effect is particularly important for older people rather than busy mid-life adults. However, the evidence also shows that there are limits to the amount of volunteering which is good for people, but exactly where this threshold lies is difficult to determine.

•       Altruism vs. self-interest – the evidence was unanimous that wellbeing and health/mortality benefits were more significant for those driven by helping others than helping themselves.

•       Recognition of volunteers’ contribution - people like to be recognised, thanked and appreciated for what they do, irrespective of whether this is in paid employment, volunteering or just helping a friend, neighbour or member of the family.

•       Insert title (volunteerscotland.net) “Volunteering, Health and Wellbeing” What does the evidence tell us?: Summary Report; Matthew Linning and Gemma Jackson (2018) Volunteer Scotland.

•       “Happy Days – Does volunteering make us happier or is it happier people that volunteer? Addressing the problem of reverse causality when estimating the wellbeing impacts of volunteering”; Dr. Ricky N. Lawton, Iulian Gramatki and Will Watt (2019) Jump, Wellbeing.

•       “The Gift of Age: Older people, faith communities, and volunteering” Simon Jaquet, Mike Nicholson, Sally Jaquet and Maureen O’Neill (2022) Faith in Older People.

•       “Kickstarting a new volunteer revolution – social mobility: unleashing the power of volunteering” Dr Eddy Hogg and Dr Allison Smith (2021) Royal Voluntary Service.