Recent legislation in the UK has placed an expectation on social purpose organisations (SPOs) to consider, monitor and evaluate the societal value they generate. However, meaningful engagement with the Social Value Act by the third sector is relatively low, which reflects both conceptual and methodological shortcomings. This paper describes a programme of action research which has developed a user-friendly tool to assist smaller SPOs to explore, evidence and value the benefits that they produce for society. Conceptualising social value through the lens of the localism, personalisation, deliberative democracy and social innovation agendas, the paper describes the process and experience of applying a Social Return Assessment tool and the lessons learnt for the three SPOs involved, the third sector, and for commissioning bodies. Recommendations reflect the need for a standardised monitoring and evaluation framework tailored to specific third sector interest groups and networks.

This paper, based on Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data, analyzes the relation between volunteering and well-being among 30,023 Europeans aged 50 and above in 12 countries. There is an overall positive correlation between volunteering and perceived health, life satisfaction, and self-life expectancy and a negative correlation to depression. However, in some countries the correlation is much stronger than in others.

This study examines the subjective quality of life of globally expanding senior citizens post-retirement, from a volunteering perspective. Formal volunteering is one way to engage retired seniors, providing social connectedness and enhanced well-being while potentially reducing their support service needs. It also provides a valuable resource to nonprofits. Thus, it is a win–win for both these individuals and their societies. This study has empirically examined associations between regular formal volunteering and seniors’ personal outlook, in the context of enhanced subjective quality of life. Past research has overlooked this important perspective, which often influences relationships between volunteering and subjective quality of life. Surveying 207 seniors, this study found that voluntary work perceptions are often associated with regular formal volunteering, which in turn is associated with the individual’s personal outlook, which in turn is positively associated with the aspects of subjective quality of life, particularly mental and emotional well-being. These results will guide policymakers on improving the quality of life of seniors through their extended involvement as volunteers, including for nonprofits, ways to recruit, train and manage their volunteer workforce and take action in further increasing the profile and the availability of formal volunteering.

The monetary value of informal eldercare in the family and voluntary sector has drawn much attention as it concerns a resource of welfare governments and nonprofit organizations try to activate via cash benefits. Studies addressing the issue in order to assess the economic impact of non-market activities and the willingness to accept financial rewards have largely ignored differences in the utility function of caregivers. Applying a behavioral-economic approach, we report a profound and formerly unobserved distinction between care in the household and non-household care for a family member or in a voluntary framework: whereas caregivers within the household perceive care as a burden and a positive shadow price arises, in the non-household context—and particularly in the volunteering case–care extends well-being and leads to negative shadow prices. The results show that non-market activities can only be measured in monetary terms to a limited extent and contribute to explaining the boundaries of monetary incentive policies.

Although there is substantial literature demonstrating evidence of a positive association between volunteerism and well-being, this relationship is under-explored among specific types of volunteerism, including in child welfare roles. This cross-sectional quantitative study used a sample of 302 volunteers in the role of “Host Families” from Safe Families for Children to explore whether six dimensions of well-being are associated with volunteering in child welfare or any specific type of motivation. Results demonstrate mixed evidence of significant associations between volunteering, well-being, and motivation. However, the results show there is no apparent decrease in the well-being of the child welfare volunteers. Rather, they are healthy, happy, and satisfied with life despite the cultural belief that child welfare work is distressing. Additionally, this study offers reliable options for operationalizing well-being and motivation. This may promote improved opportunities for accurate comparisons between future studies investigating volunteerism.

The literature on the health-promoting effects of community work has primarily dealt with the population in retirement age, yet the vast majority of volunteers are people still in the workforce. The aim of this study is to observe the relationship between volunteering and health within the context of working life, considering paid work conditions and motives to volunteer as moderating variables. We conducted an online survey with a sample of Swiss workers employed in different industries. Results show that volunteers with self-determined motives (but not with controlled motives) report lower levels of stress and burnout than non-volunteers. Moreover, volunteers in general (regardless of the quality of motivation) report higher levels of work engagement and well-being. Analyses further reveal an interaction effect for burnout and stress, where the difference between self-determined volunteers and non-volunteers becomes larger with unfavorable working conditions at their paid job, hinting at potential compensatory effects. Implications for future research and the voluntary sector are discussed.

While the benefits the volunteers offer nonprofit organizations are substantial, they can also cause problems for these groups. In an environment where people willingly donate their time and energy to a cause that they ostensibly support, why is disruptive behavior so common? This ethnographic study of volunteers at an animal shelter identifies the factors that lead to problematic behavior. The paper argues that disruptions occur when there is a mismatch between the needs of the volunteer and the needs of the organization and because of structural conditions that lead to uncertainty among volunteers. These findings shed light on volunteer behavior broadly and present the opportunity to address disruptive behavior. As a result, the benefits the volunteers provide for an organization can be maximized.

There is a strong tradition in Britain of volunteering involving a wide range of activities and organisations. Increasingly volunteering is seen as a way of benefiting health and building sustainable communities. In a study in 2007 we aimed to address the research questions: what are the motivations for, barriers to, and benefits of formal practical environmental volunteering for those individuals involved? Qualitative and quantitative data collection was undertaken while spending a day each with ten volunteer groups as they undertook their practical conservation activities. In this paper we focus primarily on the physical, mental and social well-being benefits that volunteers derived from their activities. Our research involved 88 people volunteering regularly in a range of places from scenic natural landscapes to urban green spaces in northern England and southern Scotland. Respondents described a range of benefits they gained from their involvement including improved fitness, keeping alert, meeting others and reducing stress levels. We suggest that practical environmental volunteering has flexibility in the types of activity available and the time scale in which activities are undertaken and therefore can provide a range of physical, social and mental well-being benefits to people with very differing abilities and from different socio-economic backgrounds.

The main objective of this research is to understand how civic participation influences the well-being of older people, thus being a key activity of active aging. In addition, it recognizes differences by gender, age group and generational cohort. The data are drawn from the European Social Survey (2002–2016), considering individuals born before 1965 in 14 European countries. A pseudo-panel has been constructed from the cross-sectional data and a cross-lagged model applied using random effects (n = 1412). In addition to demonstrating that there is a two-way association between civic participation and the indicators of well-being, this study provides empirical evidence that the relationship from past civic participation to present health and happiness is stronger than vice versa. Therefore, this result confirms the causal effect of civic participation on well-being. Consequently, civic participation and its activities promote the well-being of the elderly and should be encouraged through public and social policies.

Many of the most significant goods in human life are fleeting, fragile, and subject to loss. But this aspect of such goods, what I call their preciousness, is undertheorized. Here I provide an account of the nature of precious goods, and argue that this category of goods is significant. I argue that while the preciousness of goods is not a consistent contributor to their intrinsic value, preciousness nevertheless calls for a distinct attitudinal response on the part of rational agents: a focused, joyful attention I refer to as cherishing.

As the planet confronts an interconnected meta-crisis linked to natural, political, social, and psychological challenges, there are some pedagogical tendencies that should be challenged within university education. Drawing on the philosophical literature of the Ecological University, this article uses an eco-philosophical framework for considering mainstream university pedagogy. We emphasise that the increasing mental health challenges of so many young people at university is both a symptom and a feature of the meta-crisis and a key consideration for how we might respond as university educators. We argue that many of the existing neoliberal and liberal tendencies in university can be interpreted as “Miserable Pedagogies” — which typically fail to engage with the meta-crisis as a threat to the planet’s psychological, social, political, or natural ecosystems. We suggest that our “pedagogies of misery” need to be disrupted and radically contested with an ecological world-view we describe as “Anthropocene Intelligence.” After setting out the key features of Anthropocene Intelligence, we consider how an alternative teaching approach, used by one of the authors, reflects such an ecological worldview and potentially provides a basis for more meaningful and active ways of being and learning on this finite planet.