Volunteering to share your ideas with your community can be just as rewarding as rolling up your sleeves and lending a hand. Why not take a moment on your lunch break to contribute your idea for making Milton Keynes a Smart city in the way we address energy, transport and water use?
We’re starting to see more and more really in-depth analysis of the complexities around volunteering and the current state of the sector and some great open discussions about the role of volunteering in a healthy society. This article, from People, Place and Policy “examines how trends in volunteering, at the organisational, operational and policy levels, may be negatively affecting the nature of volunteering itself.”
The paper finds that:
“While participating in volunteering clearly benefits the individual volunteer as well as the person or community they are helping, it is argued that a social order which prioritises benefit to the individual over benefit to the collective may cause potential long-term damage to the act of volunteering.”
The Government has published its annual Community Life survey that measures volunteering rates and giving to charities.
This year’s survey found volunteering rates are virtually unchanged from the previous year.
The survey found that 27 per cent of adults took part in formal volunteering activities at least once a month in 2014/15, the same figure as in 2013/14.
It found 42 per cent of respondents took part in formal volunteering once a year in 2014/15, an increase of one percentage point on 2013/14.
Our Volunteering Team will be at the World Picnic on Sunday at Campbell Park. Pop along and say hello between 1-6pm and find out more about the 350+ volunteering opportunities available in the city!
Make sure you respond to MK Council’s Sharing Libraries survey by 20th September. There are important questions about the role of volunteers in the future of libraries and it’s really important to give your views.
Whilst thinking about the future, don’t forget to enjoy the present, with the Summer Activities programme across the libraries. There are some amazing things going on – check the programme out!