20% of Russians regularly participate in volunteer activities – Kommersant

98% of Russians are to one degree or another aware of the activities of volunteers and only 2% heard about it for the first time, follows from the results of a VTsIOM survey published on website State Budgetary Institution “Rospatriototsentr”. 28% of respondents personally took part in volunteer activities, and 20% do this regularly. Among the latter, 62% said that they volunteer individually, 10% – as part of a special organization.

57% of respondents consider the lack of free time to be the main barrier to their participation in volunteer projects, 32% note poor information, and 30% say that they have personal problems that need to be solved. According to Russians, it is primarily necessary to mobilize the efforts of volunteers in the field of searching for missing people (93%), helping civilians injured during hostilities (88%), and in the social sphere (87%). Survey participants also believe that children without parental care, the disabled and the elderly are the most in need of volunteer help (74%).

49% of respondents know about the activities of the Dobro.rf platform, although only 9% are well aware of its work, and 51% are hearing about this project for the first time. Among active volunteers, 42% consider holding the #WETOGETHER award useful, but 54% know nothing about its existence. Also, according to the survey, 48% of Russians are ready to provide assistance to new regions, while 49% are not ready.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy, head of the Association of Volunteer Centers and the Dobro.rf platform, Artem Metelev, notes that civic activity is more developed in small towns: “This means that we need to pay more attention to working with large cities and create interfaces in order to volunteers learned and received support. The priority remains helping socially vulnerable categories, as well as the work of volunteers in emergency situations and when searching for people.”

The head of the “Rosmolodezh.Dobro” direction, Yulia Ustinova, draws attention to the fact that many Russians do not associate such activities as helping participants of the Northern Military District, environmental actions, and preserving historical memory with volunteering. “Despite the fact that only 28% of participants answered that they were engaged in volunteering, in practice there may be much more citizens with such experience,” she believes.