Older People Volunteering

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now

At the end of March 2025, Volunteer Now will launch a campaign in the Belfast area, with support from Public Health Agency, to encourage older people to get involved in volunteering.  We know that as a result of covid many older people stepped away from volunteering.  Numbers of volunteers overall have rebounded to pre covid levels but numbers of volunteers over 65-year-olds have not gone back to previous levels.

We know that older people benefit hugely from volunteering.  It increases physical activity and improves mental health; it prevents loneliness and increases friendships, and it is a huge resource for organisations in our community.  Older volunteers report increased levels of overall wellbeing.  As a public health approach, volunteering for older people is a very strong positive activity and so Volunteer Now will be leading this campaign to get this message out.

So please share the campaign on your social media when you see it later this month and think about how you can amplify the message to encourage more older people to volunteer in your organisation too.  For more information, please contact Lindsay.Armstrong@volunteernow.co.uk.