Abstract
This chapter presents the main results emerging from the application of the ILO Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work to the Italian case. The general picture of organization-based and direct volunteering in Italy is presented and main trends outlined. The picture is completed by the presentation of 11 profiles of volunteer types and an analysis of territorial specificities of volunteering. The chapter provides robust benchmarks for future and comparative research, thus demonstrating the informative potential of the ILO core module. Conclusive Remarks point to the exploitative potential of these data for different stakeholder groups.
The data presented in this chapter were previously published in Italian (Cappadozzi & Fonović, 2016). The descriptive analyses of Sects. 7.3.2 and 7.3.3 feature substantial refinements of the original text. Analyses in Sects. 7.2.4 and 7.3.4 are new.
The chapter is co-authored by T. Cappadozzi (Sects. 7.2 and 7.3) and K. Fonović (Sects. 7.1 and 7.4).
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Notes
- 1.
Law 11 August 1991 n. 266, Legge-quadro sul volontariato (Framework Law on Volunteering), published in GU Serie Generale n. 196 del 22-08-1991.
- 2.
Law 16 June 2016 n. 106, Delega al Governo per la riforma del Terzo settore, della impresa sociale e per la disciplina del servizio civile universale, published in GU n. 141 del 18-06-2016.
- 3.
Translated and italicized by the authors.
- 4.
- 5.
The chapter follows the framework proposed by the ILO Manual for the presentation of the zero-order results (ILO 2011, pp. 49–60), in which the data are disseminated for the main socio-demographic structural characteristics of the volunteers. For more in-depth analyses on the interactions between these characteristics and the identification of the antecedents (determinants) of the voluntary commitment, see Chap. 10 of this volume.
- 6.
Since a person may volunteer both for organizations and directly (approximately 8% of volunteers are engaged in both types), the total volunteering hours for this individual add up. The mean number of hours per capita derived from the number of total volunteering hours exceeds the mean number of hours per capita calculated when considering each type of volunteering separately.
- 7.
The value is calculated on the basis of the recommendations of the Guide on Valuing Unpaid Household Service Work: following the input approach and the method of replacement of the market cost, i.e., by assigning to the volunteer working time the gross salary of a generic worker UNECE, 2017.
- 8.
In order to analyze jointly the diffusion and the intensity of volunteer work in specific population groups, classified by gender, age class, main status, educational level, and economic resources, the graphic in Fig. 7.1 reports on the x-axis the total volunteering rate, in the y-axis the average number of hours devoted to voluntary activities in the 4-week reference period, and at the intersection of the axis the average value of the two indexes. The two axes divide the plane in four quarters here explained.
- 9.
The small rich Alpine autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige (Süd Tirol) can by all welfare and civicness parameters be assimilated to the continental Europe regime and is considered to be the cradle of the modern-era Italian volunteering.
- 10.
Old-age index of Liguria is 255.8, with respect to the Italian median value of 173.1 –https://ugeo.urbistat.com/AdminStat/it/it/classifiche/indice-vecchiaia/regioni/italia/380/1
- 11.
Time series data and further study on targeted research questions would be needed to provide an explanation for this, but the influence of religion-based drivers on the high values of direct volunteering is certainly to be taken in consideration.
- 12.
Both the field in which the organization-based volunteer work is performed (classified by ICNPO) and the institutional setting are core variables in the ILO Module. However, it must be specified that volunteers are not always adequately informed about the main activity or about the legal-type of the organization. Similarly, individuals often mistake the organizational mission for the main activity. Of consequence, this information is often better detected by the non-profit census data, even if the target population is not exactly the same, in particular regarding informal volunteering groups.
- 13.
The term “organization” includes organizations of public, private, and third sector, identified in the survey by 14 different types generated according to the Italian legislative framework and general understanding. Respondents choose from among the following: voluntary organization/nonprofit/association of social promotion; cultural association; amateur sports association; religious organization; NGO for international cooperation; other nonprofit organization; social enterprise; public administration; committee; movement; trade union or trade association; political party; other informal group; and other.
- 14.
Individuals who volunteer both in organizations and directly were included in the analysis devoted to organization-based volunteering, due to the major constraints that the organized activity entails for them.
- 15.
Only organization-based, both organization-based and direct volunteer work.
- 16.
According to the large classification of professions groups, CP2011.
- 17.
The composite indicator measures the proportion of people aged 14 and over who, in the 12 months prior to the interview, performed certain cultural activities out of the total of people aged 14 and over. The activities considered are going to the cinema at least four times; going at least once to a theater, a museum and/or an exhibition, an archaeological site, a monument, or classical or other music concert, opera; reading the newspaper at least three times a week; and having read at least four books. Cultural participation is recorded as zero if none of these indicators have been performed with the threshold frequency; it is recorded as poor if only 1 or 2 activities reach the threshold frequency; it is recorded as average if 3 or 4 activities reach the threshold frequency; it is recorded as high if 5 or more activities are carried out with the indicated threshold frequency. For more information, see ISTAT (2015a).
- 18.
The indicator measures the computer skills of individuals aged 14 and over in four domains of expertise: information skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and software skills for content manipulation. The abilities of individuals are considered high if they are able to carry out all the activities identified in the four domains, average if they have medium-high competences in at least one of the domains, low if they do not have any competences in at least one of the domains, null if they have no competence or if you have not connected to the Internet in the last 3 months. For more information, see ISTAT (2015b) and Ferrari (2013).
- 19.
The cluster analysis was made with the hierarchical aggregation method of Ward (RECIP).
- 20.
The term includes the three most common types of nonprofit, non-governmental, unregistered organizations: “voluntary organizations” as defined by the Law 266/91, “social promotion associations”, and “Onlus”, nonprofit public benefit associations.
- 21.
- 22.
Labour Force Survey, 2013 (available at: https://dati.istat.it/index.aspx?queryid=26176).
- 23.
For details, see Chap. 5.
- 24.
For detailed discussion on the boundaries between the duty of care within family circles and volunteer work, see Chap. 5.
- 25.
Subnational analyses are carried out at NUTS 1 level, as it is not possible to segment them further at regional level (NUTS2): the data relating to the profiles are not reliable for this territorial detail.
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Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge critical comments provided by Megan Haddock to the first draft of the chapter.
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Cappadozzi, T., Fonović, K. (2021). Volunteering in Italy: Characteristics and Profiles of Organization-Based and Direct Volunteers. In: Guidi, R., Fonović, K., Cappadozzi, T. (eds) Accounting for the Varieties of Volunteering. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70546-6_7
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