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Overview: Volunteering

How many people volunteer in Bermuda? Where do they volunteer? What can we do to increase volunteering in Bermuda? These were just some of the questions we had when the Centre was creating its new strategy in 2005. But we couldnt find any statistics to answer them, so we conducted the first of its kind volunteering study in Bermuda.

Profiles Bermuda conducted a telephone survey with 600 residents, some that volunteered and some that did not. The result was a collection of data and insights into the world of volunteering in Bermuda. Some of the key findings are shown below.

How many people volunteer in Bermuda?

  • Nearly half the adult population volunteers (44%), and among them more than three-quarters volunteer on a regular basis

Who typically volunteers?

  • Bermudians and non-Bermudians volunteer the same amount of time
  • People with a high-school education or less volunteer more than people with more education
  • There is no difference between the races in who volunteers

Where do they volunteer?

  • Almost 40% of volunteers give their time to religious organisations

What is their volunteering contribution worth?

  • 2.7 million hours are volunteered each year (4% of total working hours)
  • This time is worth $68.4 million (or 3% of Bermudas GDP)

How can we encourage these volunteers to give even more time?

  • Current volunteers indicate that they could volunteer an additional 3.5 hours each on average if their barriers were removed lack of time and motivation
  • This would result in an additional 1.4 million volunteering hours per year

How can we encourage non-volunteers to volunteer?

  • The main reason 46% of the population do not volunteer is also a lack of time
  • Respondents indicated that volunteering would increase if:
    • They had time off from their job for volunteering
    • It was a family activity
    • They were aware of a volunteering need
    • If these changes were to happen non-volunteers would contribute another 3.7 million volunteering hours per year