They were listening to Rolling Stones and were part of the hippie culture. Now they are retired or approaching retirement and it is clear that they will bring new values and break old stereotypes; new elderly are going to change the nature of senior volunteering as we know it by now. They are numerous. From 2012, the European working-age population will start to shrink, while the over-60 population will continue to increase by about two million people a year. The cultural sector needs to investigate opportunities and challenges which this demographical change is bringing, to its voluntary sector as well. New elderly know exactly what they want and they are expecting the same from cultural organizations. A clear strategy on volunteerism in cultural institutions is more than needed and there is growing awareness of its importance, partly thanks to initiatives such as European Year of Volunteering 2011. Volunteer management is a new concept in most of the European cultural institutions and it needs to be developed fast. Examples can already be found (look at the progressive Anglo-Saxon approach in the USA, UK or Australia), but new models need to be developed, models that are more appropriate for the European cultural climate and state in which our cultural institutions are.
Flexibility in volunteering is what the new elderly are searching for. Their free time is occupied with family responsibilities (generation Y children asking them to take care of their children and elderly parents demanding attention), hobbies and traveling; which leads to fear of volunteering commitment. The growing challenge in the area of volunteer management nowadays is to motivate people for a long term volunteering. Previous generations of senior volunteers were appreciated for their long term commitment and stability. This is not the quality which should be expected from new elderly volunteers. It seems that the future of volunteerism is in the short term/project based volunteerism.
However, elderly volunteers are interested to include volunteering in their busy schedule. Three-quarters (73%) of people approaching retirement say they would consider participating in community or volunteer work1. Unfortunately, there is a lack of statistics on volunteers in the cultural sector and especially on specific groups, such as senior volunteers. There is a difference between regions in Europe, depending on existing volunteer policies, history and notion on volunteering in each country. For example, in former communist and Soviet countries, older generations associate volunteering with compulsory unpaid work. The bad economic situation is not contributing to the development of volunteering either, since people’s energy is concentrated in the fulfillment of basic needs. Many of retirees will search for a job to gain extra income2. Increased participation of older people can be seen in following countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. For example, in the Netherlands, 41% of 65 to 74 year olds volunteer and nearly every fifth (24%) elderly person aged 75+ is involved in volunteering3. However, the tendency of delaying retirement age might prevent new elderly from volunteering.
In order to reach this target group, cultural institutions should start informing people who are about to retire about volunteering possibilities and benefits. For example, volunteering can be a good transformation from working to retirement. For cultural institutions it is important not to forget their own employees who are about to retire. They are skilled, know much about the institutions and are loyal. They could be perfect candidates for board members or volunteer coordinators (since institutions usually don’t have enough funding to cover for this important position). The trend of the ‘second career’ is very often found amongst senior volunteers in the cultural field. After choosing more pragmatic professions, many people who are retired decide to start doing something they really love. Tourism is using this trend in developing tourist packages including – for example – archeological excavations. Therefore, offering programs which contain short training and formation will contribute to attractiveness of the volunteer position and satisfaction of volunteers. One of the representative projects is CEATE (Voluntariado Cultural para Tercera Edad)4. CEATE trains senior citizens for guides positions in museums and cathedrals of Madrid. New elderly like to test activities before starting them, therefore organizing a trial period or try out-days might be useful.
This year and the next one are good periods for cultural institutions to start up new projects regarding senior volunteering. 2011 is a European Year of Volunteering and though it is too late to search for the funding, it is not too late to involve in some existing projects or promote your own project. Information for activities in your country could be obtained from national coordinators for this European year. The Netherlands’ national coordinating body is Movisie and its main activity, EYV 2011 Tour, will take place in Amsterdam, from 20 until 28 October. Next year (2012) is the European Year for Active Aging. This year is designed to serve as a framework for raising awareness, for identifying and disseminating good practices and, most importantly, for encouraging policymakers and stakeholders at all levels to promote active ageing. More information on funding opportunities will be available from September on the official web page of European year for Active Aging5.
The strongest challenge in developing senior volunteering policies might be searched inside cultural institutions themselves. Some cultural organizations (mostly in cultural heritage field) are ‘going gray’. They have a lack of young people and there is a fear for the institution’s future. Until now senior volunteers were more tolerated than really wanted in cultural institutions. Hopefully this trend will be changed by engaging the big wave of new elderly volunteers.
Auteur: Marina Stojadinovic Marina Stojadinovic, after finishing a master program in cultural management, started research on the subject of volunteering in the cultural field. She was involved in preparation of the Europa Nostra Forum on the Volunteering. Now she is based in Barcelona and her research and involvement in the field continues (marina.stojadinovic@gmail.com).
