Benefits of Volunteering
Becoming a volunteer is great fun and gives you the chance to enjoy a variety of challenging and rewarding experiences. While volunteers by their nature expect nothing in return for services rendered, many testify to the rewards they experience through their work, such as learning new skills, growing in confidence, making new friends etc.
Most frequently volunteers speak of the sense of satisfaction their volunteering brings - seeing how the work they do contributes directly to improving the well being of others and the communities they live in.
Some other benefits of volunteering:
Develop skills - volunteering offers opportunities to gain experience, develop existing skills and to learn new ones. Many voluntary activities have some form of formal training attached to them.
Build confidence - volunteer work often involves networking with a range of people working in the sector and so can help develop your interpersonal skills. If you have not been employed for some time, volunteering is a supportive way of undertaking work at your own pace.
New friends - volunteering is a great opportunity to meet new diverse people of all ages, experiences and backgrounds, who you would otherwise not interact with. The working environment of volunteers gives them access to social networks and a more varied social life.
Fun and challenge - if you feel a little stale and are looking for change, new challenges, different interests and enjoyments in your life, then there are all sorts of opportunities in the world of voluntary activities.
Career opportunities - research into the benefits of volunteering indicate that volunteering can enhance employability by helping to develop skills and improve job prospects, a necessity in today's economic climate. Volunteering can bring you into contact with all kinds of professionals and people from every walk of life. The networking opportunities it can provide are among the least publicised but most exciting benefits of all. If you’re already working, volunteering can help you change your career direction. It shows you have real commitment and provides contacts, employers are more likely to hire someone with voluntary experience over those who have not.
Being part of a community - modern lifestyles often isolate us from involvement in our local community. Volunteering is an excellent way of getting back in touch with the community around you and contributing to its development and cohesion. Helping to improve or change someone’s life for the better can be one of the most personally rewarding things you ever do.
Value to charities - without volunteers many charities could not run many of their projects.
Improved physical and mental well-being - some research shows that helping others regularly can produce significant health benefits. In “The Healing Power of Doing Good” writer Allan Luks found medical and scientific documentation supporting the health benefits of volunteering, such as: a heightened sense of well-being; a more optimistic outlook; increased energy; better perceived health; decreased feelings of loneliness and depression; better weight control; reduction in pain; a greater sense of relaxation and improvement in sleep; a stronger immune system.
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