Campaign sees 105 people sign up to become volunteers in Oxford

The campaign, led by Oxford City Council, was timed to coincide with the UN International Volunteer Day on Monday 5 December.

Throughout the campaign week (5 to 11 December), the City Council published video interviews with Oxford’s volunteers – produced by Leys News – about why they give their time.

The videos encouraged others to volunteer and directed people to an OCVA (Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action) online form.

In total, 105 people completed the form. Of this, 49.1% said they had never volunteered before.

OCVA, which represents Oxfordshire’s voluntary and community sector, will now pair these people with organisations and charities that need volunteers.

Using a formula devised by Student Hubs, these 105 potential new volunteers could collectively give about 5,850 hours of their time every year – contributing £52,241 to Oxford’s economy annually.

Student Hubs previously found that Oxford’s 55,328 volunteers give approximately 3,082,604 hours every year. At the Oxford Living Wage of £8.93 an hour, this is a monetary contribution of £27.6m to the city every year.

Student Hubs is a charity that encourages students to volunteer in their local communities.

The campaign also saw charities, voluntary and community groups, news organisations and residents across Oxford get involved by using the hashtag #Oxfordvolunteers.

In total, the 197 tweets using the hashtag were seen 835,199 times (according to keyhole.co). Combined with the City Council’s 224,774 Facebook impressions, the campaign was viewed at least 1,059,973 times on social media.

Councillor Christine Simm, Executive Board Member for Culture and Communities, said: “Volunteers come from across our city and make a huge contribution to Oxford’s communities every day. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to give their time.”

To volunteer in Oxford, visit: www.oxford.gov.uk/volunteer.