This
seemingly simple question often pops in to my mind, especially when the
Community Links Team are out and about, talking to the myriad people doing good
things around the borough. Once again I found myself pondering this after
talking with ArtsRichmond this morning. There are many interpretations and
definitions; Google nails it down quite well with "working for an
organization without being paid."
However, it
is this sense of 'work' that often gets the term in to trouble. The evocative
image of gap year students building schools in Africa resonates with most people as volunteering, and certainly has 'work' at its core.
The real
dilemma comes when we think about the people that attend these groups and
activities. As a Community Link Officer, I might invite residents to come along
to a public session to discussion solutions for a community issue. Unpaid, yet
they are giving up their time to provide their knowledge and understanding to
help achieve a goal. Yet, how many people see that as a form of volunteering?
Volunteering England have a broader, yet more detailed definition which starts
to capture this:
any activity
that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the
environment or someone . . . other than . . . close relatives. Central to this
definition is the fact that volunteering must be a choice freely made by each
individual. This can include formal activity undertaken through public, private
and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation.
So, I guess we could
start to include lobbying and campaigning as volunteering. No final answers today it seems!
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