Over the years, I have frequently written in this column about what voluntary and community groups do in West Dorset. Indeed, just last week, I commented on the incredible contribution that they make to our villages and towns.
But I have a sneaking suspicion that quite a lot of people, while welcoming all this voluntary and community activity, imagine that it is really pretty small scale, and that it cannot be compared with things like business and the public sector.
There have even been moments when, if I am honest, I have fallen into half-conceding that there are limits to the amount you can expect from this “third sector”.
So imagine my delight when an independent study of Dorset’s voluntary and community groups dropped into my hands the other day.
Reading this report by Dr Suet Ying Ho, one can only be amazed by the scale and scope of voluntary and community activity in Dorset.
Let’s start with the total amount of money involved. And let’s compare it with the total amount of money that Dorset County Council spends on our schools, care for the elderly, all the main roads (other than the A35) and so on. That figure for Dorset County Council is just over £210 million a year. So what would you guess the voluntary and community groups raise in a year? A quarter as much? 10%? 1%?.
If any of those figures look plausible to you, prepare for a shock. The true answer is 82%. Between them, the voluntary and community groups in Dorset raise £174 million a year in income from innumerable sources.
Let’s move on to the question of how many people voluntary groups in Dorset employ as paid employees. What would you guess? 100? 1,000? Or 1,700 (one for each of the registered charities)?
Once again, if those figures seem plausible, there are illusions to shed. The truth is that, between them, the voluntary and community groups employ over 5,000 full-time equivalent staff members – or 3.6% of the entire work force of the county. .
Then we come to the volunteers. Even knowing just how much willing volunteers contribute to marvellous organisations like the CAB and many, many others besides, it is easy to fall into the temptation of supposing that the total amount of time spent by volunteers cannot be that large. After all, you have to allow for the other things people have to do with their time.
But if you, like me, are prone to that temptation, you should resist it. Because Dr Suet Ying Ho has done a careful analysis and has discovered that the county has at least 74,000 hours of volunteer time a month (and quite possibly considerably more).
And she has calculated the likely economic replacement value of these volunteers – i.e. how much you would have to pay to get people to give you that amount of time with that level of skill to do those things. This comes to a staggering £45 million a year.
Makes you think, doesn’t it?