Does Volunteering really do you good? Here’s a thought provoking article from NCVO
NCVO point out that it sounds like common sense: ‘doing good’ makes you feel good, can improve your skills and form new connections with your community. But does it stack up? What does the evidence really say?
Their article published recently is worth a read and then worth thinking about.
The article is based on recent research (see the article for links to the research) but they consider 5 things:
- Be careful when talking about causation. Does volunteering really cause outcomes?
- Volunteering can’t be a silver bullet for coming our of unemployment
- But feeling appreciated and building relationships really is important
- Time given does have an impact but we just don’t know how much
- And finally, motivations for volunteering matter.
Well worth you spending the time looking at the article and glancing through the research briefing yourself.
The article is on the NCVO website here.