This report details the main findings of a national survey of volunteering and charitable giving – termed Helping Out – carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) in partnership with the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR) in 2006/07. The study was carried out for the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office.
The main aims of the study were to examine:
- how and why people give unpaid help to organisations, and what they think of their experiences;
- what stops people from giving help;
- the links between giving time and giving money;
- how, why and how much people give money to charity;
- what stops people from giving money to charity.
There was also interest in estimates of the prevalence of volunteering and charitable giving. However, for a number of reasons (detailed in Chapters 2 and 10), prevalence estimates derived from this study should not be used to look at changes in these measures over time. Other study series are better suited to this purpose.
In terms of volunteering, the study focused on formal help given through groups and organisations rather than informal help (given as an individual, e.g. to family and friends)
