Volunteering is good for you – and that’s no marketing spin! Not alone does it improve your employability prospects, but it is also good for your mental health, and the community.

When Volunteer Galway started up 10 years ago, the benefits were seen as more one-sided, but now it is certainly viewed as a win-win situation for all.

“It’s not about ‘are you suitable for the organisation’, but ‘is the organisation suitable for you’ – we advise that you pick something that you enjoy doing; the volunteer will stay for longer in those cases,” says Donncha Foley, Volunteer Galway’s Development Manager.

“The main reasons people come in is that they want to do good, to help others who are less fortunate.

“We have a lot of people who are just a day or two in Galway and want to get involved – it’s how you meet people, and become part of the community. It’s a hard place to leave, and they want to start putting roots down.”

Donncha should know, as the Tralee-native used to visit the city while studying in Dublin, but hated leaving. He eventually stayed for good 21 years ago, and has worked with the Galway Traveller Movement, and other community groups in the meantime, before starting with Volunteer Galway when it opened its doors nearly 10 years ago.

“In Galway, there are so many new people coming in, and volunteering is a good way to meet neighbours and feel part of the community. Often, it is only when you are giving something back that you get that connection. We also have people who are interested in building on their skills, that they have been studying and want to apply what they have learned. Some people will have religious reasons for doing it, and some will just have free time.”

Surprisingly, the vast majority of those that contact them are under the age of 35.

“Before I started here, I was involved in trying to develop a volunteer centre, and I remember organisations saying that it was very hard to get volunteers, because they didn’t know how to connect with young people,” he adds.

“About 60% of people who use our service have never volunteered before – and the main reasons they use it is because they can easily find us online and can browse anonymously.

“The traditional way of volunteer recruitment was tapping someone on the shoulder and asking would they help. It was unfair on the person because how do you say no? This way people are saying yes, rather than no.”

Volunteer Galway is funded by the Department of the Environment and Galway City Council, and is one of 22 such centres around the country.

“It is all about putting people who want to get involved in the community in touch with organisations that look for people to help,” Donncha says.

“On behalf of non-profit community organisations, we advertise volunteer roles, similar to a recruitment agency. Someone can walk off the street or browse our website, and see what’s available or needed at a particular moment.”

At any one time, there are over 100 roles to be filled; currently the Galway Theatre Festival (April29-May7) is looking for volunteers; Cope Galway is looking for those with an interest in gardening, who would work in one of their houses for the homeless; and one of most popular roles, on an on-going basis, is teaching IT skills to the older generation.

“Volunteering isn’t just standing on the street shaking a bucket – some people have PR and finance skills, and you would wonder is that the best use of their skills,” Donncha adds.

“We had a person coming in here looking to work with animals, and we were able to put her in touch with Madra – she had a huge amount of PR and marketing skills, and took on that role for them.”

But apart from the obvious personal benefits that come from giving back to the community, volunteering can also prove extremely beneficial in one’s career progression.

“While the economy is improving, it can still be hard to get work but, by volunteering, you can go into interviews with real life experience, rather than something you read in a book – and it shows that you can work on your own initiative,” Donncha said.

“One of the ladies who works here volunteered with us, which put her at an advantage when it came to the interviews.”

In fact, he says that volunteer office admin roles are so popular, that they rarely stay long on the notice board, due to the high level of interest. And, because there could be 20-30 people applying for the one role, and organisations will obviously want the best candidate, they seek CVs to be submitted and hold interviews – which is another step towards gaining paid employment.

In the past 10 years, Volunteer Galway has dealt with 11,000 potential volunteers, and has worked with close to 600 organisations – in 2015, there were at least 250 successful placements, that they know of.

“The two ways people find us is googling ‘volunteer in Galway’ and referrals from other people, which we are delighted about because it means people are talking about us and must be saying good things,” he says.

“The vast majority that come in say they’d like to volunteer, but don’t know what they can do or what’s out there. They register to use the service, which gives us an idea about them such as why they want to volunteer and do they have skills already or do they want to learn new ones. We meet with about 300 potential volunteers per year, and have short meetings with them – it’s almost like a career guidance for volunteers. We have over 100 roles on our website, so we can suggest roles, and it’s up to them then to take it from there.”

Volunteer Galway sees itself as simply a ‘go-between’, and nobody is under any obligation to take part straight away.

“If you use our service, we don’t expect you to volunteer tomorrow, some people like to see what’s there and keep an eye out; we send out monthly updates to those registered with us, and they come to us in their own time.”

One of the most rewarding projects has been the ‘Flourish’ project, for which Volunteer Galway received funding to work with those recovering from mental health challenges.

“Volunteering is a nice way of getting back into the community in the shallow end, rather than taking up a 9-5 job – and it’s also good for self-esteem and self-confidence.

“We have worked with about 60 people from psychiatric units and services around the county, and half of those started volunteering and came back to say it had huge impact on their lives. It’s that feeling you get when you’re doing something worthwhile because you want to be there.

“We want to establish Galway as a centre of community excellence, which means people who come into these organisations have the passion to help others, and are able to access the skills to do it to their best ability.”

With this in mind, funding has also been availed of to provide ‘volunteer management’ for the non-profit organisations they help, which can involve human resources, business, marketing, and financial skills.

■ If you would like to volunteer your time to help others (and yourself), drop into the Volunteer Galway offices at 27 William Street West in Galway City, give them a call (091) 581727, or visit their website.