A recipe for volunteering

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to show the provision of volunteer services in an organizational, social and legal context. The authors study the abovementioned areas basing on the activities of Płock Volunteering, an institution established as part of the Płock City Council, and the Volunteering run by the Municipal Social Assistance Centre in Płock. In the study a quantitative and qualitative method was applied. The authors used own survey and interview questionnaires. They focus on presenting the principles of recruitment and organization of volunteers’ work, and the principles of cooperation with them. They indicate the types of activities undertaken, their beneficiaries: mainly the elderly, lonely people, children and young people from families struggling with various types of problems. A large part of the work is devoted to the profile of a volunteer and showing volunteering as an instrument for the development of the local environment and preventing social exclusion and marginalization. According to the carried-out study, the majority of respondents – volunteers of the aforementioned institutions – were women from cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants, aged 13 or older, conscientious students. Their motivation for volunteering is selfish and task-oriented. The most common forms are permanent individual and group volunteering. The empirical analysis carried out indicates the benefits of volunteering and confirms the need to promote it.