How do New Zealanders give?: 4th Quarterly generosity indicators report

In celebration of International Volunteer Day 2011 the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) is releasing the updated Quarterly Generosity Indicators. This update provides information on five key indicators of generosity in New Zealand up to the September quarter 2011. For more information about the Quarterly Generosity Indicators, please see previous releases.

Note 1: Percentages are of the population 10 years and older as estimated for each quarter.
Note 2: Respondents were asked to recall their behaviours in the previous 3 months.

There is a relatively constant supply of volunteer effort in New Zealand, as measured by the percentage of people volunteering and the hours they put into their voluntary work.

Over the eight quarters measured, the volunteering rate ranged from 27.8 to 32.9 per cent of the population aged 10 years and older. The time worked by volunteers ranged from a median of 8 to 11 hours per month. For both indicators, change from one quarter to the next was generally not statistically significant.

When comparing the 2010 and 2011 June quarters, there was a statistically significant increase from 27.8 to 32.3 per cent. There was a similar result when comparing the 2010 and 2011 September quarters. This increase was driven from across a range of subsectors (notably arts and culture, sports, and education), and indicates an overall increase in the percentage of people volunteering. 

Although not clear from the results above, volunteer hours are showing some volatility. Statistical analysis indicates that monthly hours volunteered per volunteer may be declining very slowly. This would be consistent with the findings of the 2009/10 Time Use Survey (Statistics New Zealand, 2011). Future data will confirm whether this is an emerging trend.

The percentage of people donating money ranged from 38.1 to 46.4 per cent of the population aged 10 years and older over the eight quarters measured. The median amount of money donated was a fairly constant $40 per month.

The percentage of people donating money is generally increasing. More people donated money in the March, June and September 2011 quarters than in the corresponding quarters in 2010. This result is statistically significant.

This upward trend was influenced by large increases in two major subsectors.

• The percentage of people donating money to health and medical causes increased from 17.4 per cent in the before the first Christchurch earthquake (September 2010 quarter) to 24.4 per cent after the second Christchurch earthquake (June 2011 quarter).
• Similarly, the percentage of people making international aid donations increased from 9.9 per cent in the December 2010 quarter to 18.4 per cent in the June quarter 2011. This increase matches the timing of the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

While these results are only correlations, they are nonetheless noteworthy.

There was a statistically significant reduction in the percentage of people donating money from the June 2011 quarter to the September 2011 quarter. However, more people donated money in the 2011 September quarter than the September 2010 quarter. This result was also statistically significant, indicating an overall increase in the percentage of people making donations of money.

The percentage of people donating goods ranged from 15.7 to 21.5 per cent of the population aged 10 years and older over the eight quarters measured. During this period, there were a number of statistically significant increases and decreases from one quarter to the next. Such volatility was not seen in the percentage of people volunteering or donating money.

This update was produced for the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS), which is part of the Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua.

This report was compiled by James King, Policy Analyst, OCVS.

Statistically significant results are at the 95% confidence level.

e-mail: ocvs@dia.govt.nz

website: www.ocvs.govt.nz