voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
-
What We Do Together: Exploring Volunteering Using the Concept of Associational Life
Created: 10/04/2025
News/Events Category: Volunteering
Volunteer Scotland have published statistical data showing that formal volunteer participation rates are higher for Scottish adults who undertake recreational activities, such as sports and cultural activities. From this data alone Volunteer Scotland couldn’t confirm if participation in other recreational activities causes increased volunteer participation, but they did see a strong relationship between participation and volunteering. Given this demonstrated relationship, Volunteer Scotland felt it was important to gain a better understanding of the relationship between volunteer participation and other activities Scottish adults participate in.
Therefore, Volunteer Scotland initiated a PhD with the University of Strathclyde to research the role that volunteering has in Scottish adults’ lives and how this differs from other activities.
The research used the evidence gathered to provide a number of recommendations to the sector including:
- The introduction of associational life as a conceptual tool. The concept of associational life has the potential to be useful in many research settings where the aim is to understand how people engage with others in contemporary society, which is more individualised and informal.
- Research on volunteering needs to look beyond its relationship to sports, and consider other, currently unexplored relationships, to volunteering.
- Voluntary organisations can benefit from offering potential members multiple ways of engaging with them, such as volunteer or participant.
- Connect voluntary organisations with GP surgeries and support workers. This relates to the previous point on offering different types of participation in an organisation or club, as some people can benefit from the commitment that volunteering offers
- Ensuring places where associational life takes place are physically accessible.
Click here to read the research.
What now?
See other news/events in the Volunteering category
Go to the main News page
Tell us about your own news
News/Events Categories:
Children and Families (50 items)Climate/Environment (11 items)
Community Events (53 items)
Consultations (6 items)
Employability (32 items)
Funding and Finance (48 items)
FVA News (10 items)
General News (40 items)
Goods, Donations and Services (1 item)
Governance (11 items)
Health and Social Care (106 items)
Job Vacancies (6 items)
Partnerships, Networks and Forums (29 items)
Technology (6 items)
Training and Learning (61 items)
Volunteering (80 items)
Go to the main News page
