CIVIL SOCIETY: 269 PRACTICES
ethelon is a non-profit organization created with the aim of highlighting and promoting the concept of volunteering in Greek society.
Through a set of actions, events and initiatives, we identify, mobilize and connect individuals, autonomous groups, institutions and companies with non-profit organizations, aiming to develop synergies between them based on voluntary giving.
The aim of the initiative was to map volunteerism in Greece in relation to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and its effects. More specifically, ethelon investigated how the pandemic affected the voluntary activity of three different groups:
The period of interest regarding voluntary activity was both during the outbreak and during the pandemic and the restrictive measures, with the aim, through the answers, to highlight good practices that could be adopted even after the end of the pandemic. Of course, there was no lack of comparison between voluntary habits before and after.
The survey was addressed to the general public with an interest in volunteering, as individuals, representatives of Civil Society organizations and employees/company representatives could participate. The results of the research are addressed both to the general public and to organizations dealing with volunteering.
The questionnaire for public participation in the research on volunteering and the COVID-19 pandemic remained open from 12 May 2020 for three weeks. The relevant webinar took place on June 24.
The aim of this research is the mapping of volunteerism
in Greece in relation to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic
and its effects.
More specifically, ethelon investigated how the pandemic
affected the voluntary activity of three different groups:
At the same time, we explored how alternative forms of giving, such as remote volunteering, are emerging due to the new conditions in
foreground, expanding even more the impact of volunteering in Greek society. Also, part of the research was to determine how prepared the three categories of respondents were to adapt part or all of their activities to this new one reality.
The survey was conducted in May 2020 and lasted 3 weeks. 1043 volunteers (individuals), 123 bodies of the Society participated in it
of Citizens and 90 companies. The communication of the research to the volunteers was carried out through:
Regarding the agencies and companies, the survey was communicated to 300 agencies and 300 companies from the organization's database.
The ethelon survey on volunteering was the first conducted in Greece after the outbreak of the pandemic. It brought together three seemingly disparate audiences and shed light on an area of social life that has been significantly curtailed in recent years. The results of the survey are a source of evidence on volunteering and are available to any individual interested in understanding the current state of volunteering or to any organization that wishes to read them, be informed and strategically plan the next steps regarding volunteer management and implementation of voluntary actions, based on its conclusions. At the same time, any company that has integrated volunteering into its corporate culture can use the available results to redefine the context of corporate volunteering.
The research on volunteering and the pandemic was carried out entirely online by completing an electronic questionnaire, while the webinar that followed with the announcement of the results & further discussion was carried out on an electronic video conference platform.
The research was carried out with the support of Eurolife FFH, which also supported the webinar organized by ethelon for the presentation of the results in June 2020. Representatives from the Bodosakis Foundation, the Hellenic Scout Corps, Blood-e, AMKE KINITRO and Human Rights 360, who commented on the research results, referred to good practices and shared with the public how the organizations they represented experienced the pandemic.
1043 volunteers (individuals), 123 Civil Society organizations and 90 companies took part in completing the survey. The ethelon team was fully involved in the writing of the research idea, the formulation of the questionnaire, the implementation of the campaign, the analysis of the data and the presentation of the results.
The results of the volunteering survey offered both the public and ethelon itself a clearer picture of the landscape of volunteering before and in the midst of a pandemic and contributed to the planning and further implementation of volunteering actions remotely or in a digital environment.
