35% of Danish adults volunteer

Objective: getting half the Danes to volunteer

The Danish Frivilligråd, a work group established by the Ministry of Social Affairs, has recently published a report containing its recommendations for the government in terms of future volunteer policies. The report states that even more Danes are interested in volunteering – if they are asked to do so. The volunteer work corresponds to just under 10% of the GDP, and the Danish government therefore wishes to increase the number of volunteers – to half the Danish population, preferably.

Different ways to increase the number of volunteers

In the report, the work group recommends that focus on volunteering be prioritised by offering inducements to get involved in volunteer work: citizenship could be taught at schools, students could be required to donate 20 hours of work during their post-secondary education, the rules for unemployed persons and pensioners could be relaxed, short volunteering courses could be held, young people applying for further education could get credit for volunteer work, etc.

The proposed reform undermines the concept of volunteering

- The group's reform proposal has a number of shortcomings, one of which is that the concept of volunteering is watered down to including anything – from being a member of a political party to being a decent human being. The group has unrealistic expectations of the voluntary society's real effect in terms of problem-solving. Finally, the group contradicts itself when it on the one hand applauds the volunteers for being selfless and on the other hand proposes that young people be "forced" to donate their time, says Associate Professor Anders la Cour from the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy.

He recently gave a lecture at the annual conference of Vidensklub for Frivillige Sociale Organisationer, a Danish knowledge society for voluntary, social organisations.

Facts

The Frivilligråd consists of a number of persons with experience from and insights into volunteering. The group published a report in end-April 2010, in which it presented its recommendations for a new social policy in terms of volunteering.

Vidensklub for Frivillige Sociale Organisationer is a forum, in which researchers meet practitioners.

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