Year of the Volunteer - 2005 - Volunteers in Cricket - Volunteers - Development

Year of the Volunteer - 2005

Early in 2004, Chancellor Gordon Brown designated 2005 as the Year of the Volunteer.

The Home Office, as the government department with responsibility for encouraging active citizenship, is working in partnership with two well-established volunteering organisations Volunteering England and CSV to coordinate the Year.

Aims of the Year

The Year's main aims are to:

Increase the number of volunteers, particularly individuals from marginalised groups and young people
Open up more volunteering opportunities in the public and voluntary sector
Raise the profile of the work volunteers are doing nationwide
Thank volunteers everywhere for their time and commitment

Volunteer organisations and the Year

All volunteer organisations are encouraged to participate in and benefit from the Year of the Volunteer 2005.

It's a chance to increase engagement by providing opportunities for the public to volunteer, and to increase awareness of volunteering in general by branding existing work under the Year of the Volunteer banner.

The contribution to sport by volunteers is immense:

Nearly six million sports volunteers give 1.2 billion hours per year, equating to 720,000 full time paid workers
Their contribution is worth over £14 billion to the English economy.
26 per cent of all volunteers cite sport as their main area of interest
44 per cent of young volunteers (18-24) engage in activities involving sport/exercise

Billion Minute Campaign

Give a Billion Minutes is a new campaign from Year of the Volunteer - aiming to raise a billion minutes of volunteered time for good causes by the end of 2005.

Whether you're new to volunteering, or have been doing it for years, there are thousands of ways for you - or your organisation - to get involved.

Give us a minute

So how much can you give? For ideas about how you can benefit by volunteering, either regularly or as a one-off, click on a time in the 'What can I do box'.

Help others, help yourself

It's your chance to make a difference, while developing your skills and gaining experience.

If you know someone who would like to give some minutes but does not have access to the internet, they can: