Value of Volunteering Wheel

Note: This resource has been developed by Volunteer Canada. You can find the original website here.

The Value of Volunteering Wheel illustrates the many benefits of volunteering to building confidence, competence, connections, and community. It also serves as a portal to research that examines the social and economic value to organizations, neighbourhoods, businesses, society-at-large and to volunteers themselves. By clicking on the different sections within the document or scrolling down, you can explore this field from many angles.Please share any additional studies with us so that we can keep the wheels turning!

Volunteers

Wellbeing

• The Relation of Volunteering and Subsequent Changes in Physical Disability in Older Adults (2017)
• Association of volunteering with mental well-being: a lifecourse analysis of a national population-based longitudinal study in the UK (2016)
• Social Impact of Volunteerism (2011)
• Report of the National Seniors Council on Volunteering Among Seniors and Positive and Active Aging (2010)
• Providing social support may be more beneficial than receiving it: Results from a prospective study of mortality (2003)

Skill-development

• Social Impact of Volunteerism (2011)
• Ten Professional Development Benefits of Volunteering (2006)
• Report of the National Seniors Council on Volunteering Among Seniors and Positive and Active Aging (2010)

Sense of belonging

• Volunteering: A catalyst for citizen engagement, social inclusion, and resilient communities (2013)
• Report of the National Seniors Council on Volunteering Among Seniors and Positive and Active Aging, 2010

Integrating newcomers

• Community Cup, We Are a Big Family: Examining Social Inclusion and Acculturation of Newcomers to Canada through a Participatory Sport Event (2015)
• Volunteering with Newcomers: The Perspectives of Canadian and Foreign-born Volunteers (2012)
• How Ethnic Congregations Help Immigrants Integrate into Canada (2005)

Organizations

Capacity

• Strengthening the Capacity of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations to Serve Canadians (2006)

Access to skills

• Skills Based Volunteerism: A New Generation of Service (2015)

Community engagement

• Maximizing Capacities of Advanced Education Institutions to Build Social Infrastructure (2017)

Diversity

• Ex-offenders as Peer Volunteers: Promising Practices for Community-based Programs Research Report (2006)
• Diversity in Volunteering (2005)

Businesses

Attracting talent

• 2017 Deloitte Volunteerism Study (2017)
• Putting Purpose to Work: A Study of purpose in the workplace (2017)
• Recognizing Volunteering in 2017 (2017)
• The Business Case for Purpose (2017)
• Cone Communications Employee Engagement Study (2016)
• the Signals Job Seekers Receive from an Employer's Community Involvement and Environmental Sustainability Practices: Insights into Why Most Job Seekers Are Attracted, Others Are Indifferent, and a Few Are Repelled (2016)

Workforce development

• 2016 Deloitte Impact Survey. Building leadership skills through volunteerism (2016)

Employee engagement

• 2017 Deloitte Volunteerism Study (2017)
• Putting Purpose to Work: A Study of purpose in the workplace (2017)
• Recognizing Volunteering in 2017 (2017)
• The Business Case for Purpose (2017)
• Cone Communications Employee Engagement Study (2016)
• The Business Value of Volunteering (2015)
• Giving Commitment: Employee Support Programs and the Prosocial Sensemaking Process

Stakeholder relations

• Canadian Code for Employer-Supported Volunteering (2015)
• The Business Value of Volunteering (2015)

Neighbourhoods

Resiliency

• Volunteering: A Catalyst for Citizen Engagement, Social Inclusion and Resilient Communities (2013)

Leadership

• Getting Wisdom – The transformative Power of Community Service Learning (2010)​

Cohesion

• Social Impact of Volunteerism (2011)
• Ex-offenders as Peer Volunteers: Promising Practices for Community-based Programs Research Report (2006)

Social inclusion

• Social Impact of Volunteerism (2011)

Society

Just society

• 2015. State of the World’s Volunteerism Report – Transforming Governance (2015)

Citizen engagement

• Social Impact of Volunteerism (2011)

Informed public policy

• Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement (2017)

Enhanced democracy

• Social Impact of Volunteerism (2011)
• Report on the role of volunteering in contributing to economic and social cohesion, (2007/2149(INI))

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