VITA reports and research

The Volunteering in the Third Age (VITA) project aimed to promote the value and impact of older volunteers and to increase the number of over 65s volunteering by removing barriers across the voluntary and community sector.

As part of the project, a number of reports were commissioned. Some of these reports can be viewed in the Good Practice Bank.

• The indispensable backbone of voluntary action: measuring and valuing the contribution of older volunteers (PDF)
  A report on a telephone survey of 47 volunteer-involving organisations about older volunteers. It examines common volunteer roles for older people, analyses why older volunteers are valued, and looks at the anti-age discrimination campaign coordinated by Volunteering England and VITA.
• Older male volunteers in social care and community action (PDF)
  This study looks at the experiences of older male volunteers, in particular focusing on the reasons why they started volunteering, their views on the possible barriers to volunteering and how organisations could develop more effective recruitment strategies for encouraging older men to volunteer within their organisations.
• Ageing and social policy: A Report for Volunteering in the Third Age (PDF) - This report seeks to give an overview of the current environment for older volunteers and analyses how this may change in the future.
• Older volunteering: A literature review (PDF)
  - This review summarises and quotes a range of reports and studies which look at older volunteering.

Some practical toolkits from the VITA project can be found in the Publications section of the Older Volunteering theme in the Good Practice Bank

Further resources from the VITA project can be found on the WRVS website.