Step up for a challenge

The question of whether a new-found altruism arrived in the West in the wake of the Asian tsunami has often been asked in recent months. Certainly, we dug deep and made unprecedented donations at the time. Charities and volunteer organisations were besieged with offers of help from everyone from students, doctors and teachers to bankers and advertising executives. "In terms of international volunteering we had a huge response following the tsunami from people wanting to find out what they could do to help," says Glyn Williams of international volunteering organisation VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). "In the early stages, however, it was immediate relief which was needed, and we advised people the best thing they could do was to make a donation."

The question of whether a new-found altruism arrived in the West in the wake of the Asian tsunami has often been asked in recent months. Certainly, we dug deep and made unprecedented donations at the time. Charities and volunteer organisations were besieged with offers of help from everyone from students, doctors and teachers to bankers and advertising executives. "In terms of international volunteering we had a huge response following the tsunami from people wanting to find out what they could do to help," says Glyn Williams of international volunteering organisation VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). "In the early stages, however, it was immediate relief which was needed, and we advised people the best thing they could do was to make a donation."

But two months on, when volunteers with professional skills are needed not just in tsunami-hit countries, but as much as ever in Africa and indeed anywhere in the world affected by poverty and natural disaster, are volunteering levels rising? There is no shortage of volunteers, according to many voluntary organisations, but skilled volunteers remain a scarce commodity. "The biggest areas in terms of people we need are experienced teachers, managers and healthcare staff," says Williams. "In fact it's one of the aspects of volunteering which can be quite difficult to explain to people. They can understand why we would need technical people, or teachers, or doctors, but we also really need people who are experienced in managerial roles. A lot of what we're doing in places like Sri Lanka involves strategic planning as to how to locally deliver the large amount of resources which have come from other countries."

To try to address the skills shortage in the voluntary sector, the Chancellor Gordon Brown has declared 2005 "The Year of the Volunteer", a government-sponsored initiative to encourage active citizenship and make volunteering an accessible choice for as many people as possible. The initiative isn't shy about promoting the less altruistic motives for the potential volunteer to consider: from gaining transferable skills, to more abstract rewards such as reducing stress. Recent research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has revealed that people who live in areas that record high levels of informal voluntary activity in their neighbourhood enjoy better health, higher GCSE grades and fewer burglaries.

Professor Paul Whiteley, Programme Director of the ESRC Democracy and Participation Research Programme that produced the findings explains: "The research has revealed an interesting link between helping others and enjoying a good quality of life. It seems that when we focus on the needs of others, we may also reap benefits ourselves. It means that voluntary activity in the community is associated with better health, lower crime, improved educational performance and greater life satisfaction. Communities with lots of civic and community engagement are also communities that have environments that foster favourable outcomes such as these."

Work experience and volunteer work has long been a mutually rewarding way for people to gain skills which can make them more desirable employees. Whether you want to work with children or build websites, someone, somewhere can find a use for your time. And if you want to get into a particularly competitive area of employment, overseas volunteering can be a good way to break in, as Sarah Horner from volunteer organisation i-to-i explains: "We have some more vocational placements. And these can focus on employment areas which are quite hard to break into in the UK - things like journalism or medical placements for example. Although for these placements we'd usually be looking for volunteers to have a little bit of relevant experience or knowledge on their CVs."

"Journalism, for example, can be quite competitive in the UK," she says, "so working in this area abroad can be a really valuable way of gaining experience. As well as getting work in the field, you're also often getting really hands-on because of the way the placement works. In Ghana, for example you could be working on a radio station which broadcasts from someone's back bedroom, so you'll really be getting involved with the whole process. A lot of what you get out is what you put in though, and the placements work best for people who are self-starters and pro-active."

Even if you're not a self-starter when it comes to finding a volunteer placement, help may be at hand. The Year of the Volunteer website is an invaluable kick-start, for example, with listings of volunteer events around the country, as well as providing a theme for each month, such as youth and young people, or helping the elderly.

For some years now, internet-based services such as TimeBank have provided a short-cut to tracking down a suitable role. Prospective volunteers simply log in and enter the kind of work they're interested in, along with the area where they want to undertake it. TimeBank is then able to search through thousands of local placements to suggest suitable options.

"A common misperception is that volunteering takes up a lot of time - but this needn't be the case," says Laura Clifton of Timebank. "You can volunteer for as much or as little time as you can give and it can be on a one-off or a more regular basis. And there are volunteering opportunities in all kinds of areas. People do not have to have specific skills to volunteer and can use volunteering as a way to increase their skills and experience. But equally, people with professional experience can help smaller organisations by volunteering their time as say, an accountant or Web designer. New types of volunteering are also appearing - such as virtual volunteering, for example mentoring by e-mail. People can volunteer to help for a particular event or project or perhaps mentor a young person or refugee for a period of months. The possibilities are vast."

Among those vast possibilities are an increasing number of options in corporations. Over the past decade many large companies have realised the benefits of playing an active role in helping their employees to volunteer. Companies such as Accenture and Coca-Cola, for example run several different schemes to allow their staff to donate time. Coca-Cola manages several mentoring programmes where staff work alongside young people, and even organise an annual trip to the Antarctic, where staff work with environmental campaigners to help out at remote education centres.

Accenture currently allow staff three "charity" days a year in addition to their regular holidays to spend helping an organisation of their choice. And in light of the success of their charitable schemes have expanded to practice several other ways to support staff volunteers. "We have an agreement with our employees where they can take an unpaid sabbatical of anything from three months to a year," says Accenture's Sue Rice. "We've also partnered with VSO in order to support staff who want to undertake volunteer work. We understand that some staff are keen to volunteer but feel restrained by costs - something like a mortgage which they simply have to pay. In these circumstances we undertake some of the costs for them. It's not a blank cheque system, but we do try to make it easier."

In the past, charity organisations have been saddled with certain stereotypes as to the demographic of their volunteers. But significant steps have been taken to alter this view, with Timebank, among others, launching several campaigns to encourage male volunteers and those from a variety of backgrounds. As a result, volunteering is losing its reputation as territory of the twin-set and pearls brigade and is becoming firmly established as a life-enhancing activity which anyone can get involved in.

Timebank: 0845 456 1668, www.timebank.org.uk

Year of the Volunteer: 0845 305 6979, www.yearofthevolunteer.org

i-to-i: 0870 333 2332, www.i-to-i.com

VSO: 020-8780 7200, www.vso.org.uk

'I needed something to challenge me'

Phil Bloomfield, of Banc PR, volunteered with the charity organisation Raleigh in the Sabah region of northern Borneo

I'd been working for a travel PR company for six years and it had just become stale. There was nothing wrong with it - the job was well-paid and I was working with a good team - but I wasn't coming home thinking "what a great day!" I needed something to challenge me, and freshen me up. And also I was coming up to 30, so I realised if I was going to be buying a house, I wouldn't have the freedom to volunteer - so it was now or never.

I found out that Raleigh have field-based staff - backroom type roles who make the expeditions work. There was a PR role and I thought it would be a good way to use the skills I already had. I was absolutely petrified to start with, but you have a good support mechanism.

When I got back I went back to my old job, but I quickly realised it wasn't what I wanted anymore. I moved to Oxford and I now work for a PR firm who handle PR for Oxfam - so the volunteering opened up a possibility I would never have had before.

I would say to anyone thinking about volunteering to just do it. There are sacrifices, but I learnt so much about myself, and my family and friends said it made me a different person.