How the pandemic changed volunteering

Covid-19 has turned all areas of life upside down and changed all of our lives. But what does this look like in concrete terms in the context of volunteering and honorary work? What figures are there on this?

The Linz-based Market Institute was commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Association for Volunteer Fair to investigate this. 1254 volunteers were surveyed for this purpose.

Volunteering has declined

Approximately 22 percent of the volunteers have completely stopped their voluntary work. The motives are not known, but this could be due to everyday constraints that have made non-virtual meetings almost impossible. This could have discouraged older committed people in particular unless they never had the necessary Internet skills.

Volunteering has increased

There is a positive side, however. One-third of the volunteers who didn’t quit during the pandemic still took on an additional activity. Also, 8 percent added new volunteers.

Look into the future

In the future, 70% of respondents want to continue volunteering for free – despite the pandemic. Also, 62% of participants* want to volunteer socially after the health crisis.

Even more information on the exact figures and further details on this topic will be presented on 25.1. in the context of a “Forum Freiwilliges Engagement” by the association Freiwilligenmessen and the Wiener Hilfswerk. Here you can register for this event.