As I am volunteering for a catholic organization, I would like to talk about faith in relation to volunteer work.
In Austria, religious and faith-related activities are the third most popular type of volunteering, following arts /culture and sports. The average time spent with volunteering at religious institutions is 2.4 hours per week. Another interesting fact is that Austrian women are more likely to combine faith and volunteering than men. (Statistik Austria 2008)
According to a UK study (Institute for Volunteering Research 2002), the four main categories of faith-related volunteer work are:
- Routine tasks (volunteering on a regular basis e.g. fundraising, organization of classes)
- Welfare activities (e.g. preparing meals for others, organizing social activities)
- Volunteering at festivals (e.g. decoration, organization, promotion)
- Volunteering at specific occasions (e.g. earthquakes, floods)
My volunteering can mostly be found in the first and third category. My weekly Jungschar group was a routine activity, my organization of events can more be related to festivals.
Some of the main motivations and reasons for members of faith communities to volunteer are to help others, to support each other, to act according to their faith and pass on those practices, to support their community or to socialize (Institute for Volunteering Research 2002).
It can be seen that faith-related volunteering is based on many spiritual factors. I agree to a certain extent to this as my faith is one of the reasons why I volunteer. However, I also volunteer because I enjoy having a fun time with my friends and spending time with children. If you want to share your experiences with faith-related volunteering, feel free to comment on my blog.
See you next week,
Bettina
Reference:
Institute for Volunteering Research (2002). Faith and voluntary action: community, values and resources. Available from: http://www.ivr.org.uk/researchbulletins/bulletins/faith-and-voluntary-action-community-values-and-resources [Accessed 27 March 2010]
Statistik Austria (2008). Freiwilligenarbeit in Österreich (aktualisierte Version vom 17.12.2008). Available from: http://www.statistik.gv.at/web_de/presse/029570 [Accessed 27 November 2009]
April 18, 2010 at 10:26 am |
Hi Bettina.
Your blog about faith and volunteering is very interesting. I am doing a study on faith & volunteering myself right now and one of my results was that the participants actually chose a particular organization because of their faith and they wanted to be involved with a organization who was connected with a Parish. Furthermore, they feel that being a believer the value of helping others and contributing in the community was a large factor for them. Many of the respondents were also a part of a church and helps out there as well.
Any further findings I will post in 2 weeks so if you are interested, feel free to check them out.
Pia
April 18, 2010 at 10:30 am |
Hey Pia!
Thanks for the info – your study sounds really interesting and I am looking forward to reading it!
Bettina