Report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics

In June 2001, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest study on volunteering among Australians. It concluded that 32% of Australian adults had been volunteers in the year of the study (2000), apart assistance given at the Olympic Games. Overall, this means that 4.4 million people had given over 700 million hours of voluntary work during that year.

They reported that people between the ages of 35 and 44 had the highest rates of volunteering with much voluntary work reflecting family commitments. People in paid employment were more likely to volunteer than those who were unemployed or not in the labour force. On the other hand, people not in the labour force contributed more hours of voluntary work.

The four types of organisations for which volunteers worked were:
1. Community and welfare - absorbing 26% of all volunteer hours;
2. Sport and recreation - absorbing 21% of hours;
3. Religious organisations - absorbing 17% of hours; and
4. Education / training / youth development - absorbing 14% of volunteer hours.

Types of Voluntary Work

The Australian Community Survey conducted by NCLS Research and Edith Cowan University in 1998 reported much higher levels of voluntary work, reporting that 67% of the population had been involved in voluntary activities or a voluntary group in the past year. However, its definition of voluntary work was different. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defined a volunteer as ‘someone who, in the last 12 months, willingly gave unpaid help, in the form of time, service or skills, through an organisation or group' (ABS, 2001, p.3). This meant that the ABS did not include informal voluntary work which was done on a ‘one-to-one' basis. It would not include the time a person gave voluntary help to others not in the context of an organised group.

The Australian Community Survey ask

1.Whether people were involved in volunteer activities assisting people who needed help in the past 12 months - to which 45% of the population responded affirmatively;

2. Whether people were involved in any volunteer activities which contribute to the wider community (eg coaching a sports team, serving on a school committee, collecting donations) - to which 40% of the population responded affirmatively;

3. Whether people were in a specific community group or organisation. (The survey listed 8 types of organisations.) 52% of the population indicated that they were involved in a community group or organisation in an unpaid capacity and that their involvement was more than simply subscribing or donating money.

The patterns of three types of voluntary activity were a little different. Those who were involved in activities assisting people who needed help tended to be older people, many over the age of 50. Women were more involved than men, and people in home duties more involved than those in full-time work.

On the other hand, people involved in serving the wider community tended to be younger, often in their 30s and 40s. Many were professionals, and most were well-educated.

People involved with groups varied according to the type of group. Young people under 35 were most involved in sporting groups. Parents in their 30s and 40s were most involved in educational groups. People in their 40s and 50s were most involved in business and social justice groups. Those most involved in community service and welfare groups were often in their 60s or 70s.

Well-educated people were much more strongly represented amongst those who were involved in community service and among those involved in groups. However, education made comparatively little difference to people ‘assisting others'.

However, the two factors which were most important in people's involvement were:

- giving high priority to the value of helpfulness

- frequent attendance at religious services.

It was evident from the survey that the two factors which were most important in people taking up voluntary work were that people thought it was important to help others, and that they were involved in religious services. It was interesting that belief in God and frequency of prayer were not significant when one controlled for attendance at religious services. Attendance was obviously the over-riding factor.

A Model of Involvement

A major study of voluntary participation in political activities in the United States developed a model which had been applied to a wide variety of voluntary work (Verba, Schlozman and Brady, 1995). They argued that three factors were important for people to become involved.
1.          Resources. People need to feel that they had the capacity to give something to others - particularly in terms of skills, but also in terms of time and money.
2.          Recruitment networks. People need to be asked to participate in voluntary activities. Unless people were involved in communities through which they would be asked to help, they would be unlikely to become involved.
3.          Motivation. This might take the form of personal interest, or a sense of belonging to the group which was being assisted.

The reason why people with higher levels of education are more involved in voluntary work assisting the wider community is because they feel they have more to offer. They have a higher level of confidence that what they can contribute is considered by the community to be of value.

The Roles of the Churches

Verba, Schlozman and Brady argued that church attendance had a significant role in preparing people for participation. In church life, people were trained in community participation. They learnt skills of personal of interaction and negotiation, and practical skills of running committees, finances or whatever. Thus, church attendance led to people feeling they had more to offer. It is interesting to note that people who had ceased to be involved in the church, but had been involved as children in churches, were more likely to be involved in voluntary activities of various kinds.

It has also been argued, for example, in a study of voluntary involvement in Canada that churches (Bowen 1999) that churches provide one of the most important recruitment networks in society. Churches are better than almost any other organisation for martialing support for a cause, or recruiting people to meet a particular need. The face-to-face contact of people living together in a community provides the opportunity and the ethos of church life provides the occasion. Studies have noted that churches provide recruitment opportunities not just for voluntary work associated with church organisations but also for voluntary activities which have nothing to do with church life.

It was evident from the Australian Community Survey (1998) that the most important factor is motivation. Many people find there is something they can offer to the wider community, and most, if they are willing, are faced with occasions when they are invited. The critical factor is motivation. For many people, religious faith provides that motivation. While some non-religious people reported that they thought helping others was very important, for others religious faith provided that motivation.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics study had one simple question on motivation. What were people's current reasons for being a volunteer? They reported that the following results:
- 47% - to help others or the community
- 43% - personal satisfaction
- 31% - family involvement
- 30% - to do something worthwhile
- 18% - social contact
- 12% - religious beliefs.

However, the Canadian study found that church attenders gave a very similar account of their motivations as did non-church attenders. Most did not refer explicitly to the role their religious beliefs played in their motivation (Bowen, 1999, p.21). Many people would take for granted the basic motivation to help others that religion encourages and refer to their reasons for their particular involvement at the time. But that does not mean that religious beliefs do not play a major role in motivation.

If religious involvement is so important in motivating involvement in voluntary activities, and levels of attendance are declining, one would expect voluntary involvement to decline. It is therefore surprising to find the ABS reporting a rise in voluntary activities between 1995 and 2000. Only further study will show whether this rise is an anomaly in long-term trends, or the result of the emphasis of the ABS on voluntary work through organisations, or whether other motivational and recruitment agencies are taking the place of the religious organisations.

REFERENCES

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001, Voluntary Work, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra. (Publication 4441.0)

Bowen, K. (1999), Religion, Participation and Charitable Giving: A Report, Volunteer Canada and The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, Canada.

Musick, M. A., Wilson, J. and Bynum, W. B. (2000) ‘Race and Formal Volunteering: The Differential Effects of Class and Religion' Social Forces 78(4).

Verba, S., Scholzman, K. L., and Brady, H.E., (1995), Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Note:

The 1997-8 Australian Community Survey, conducted by researchers from Edith Cowan University and NCLS Research, was made possible by a grant from the Australian Research Council, the support of ANGLICARE (NSW) and the Board of Mission of the Uniting Church (NSW). The research was jointly supervised by Alan Black and Peter Kaldor. The research team included John Bellamy, Keith Castle, and Philip Hughes.