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This chapter sheds light on two main aspects of volunteering in older age. The first one is the comparative explanation of volunteering in older age in Europe, in terms of size and composition. According to the conceptual framework employed in the book, this comparison is done in the light of five main elements: (1) older volunteers' individual characteristics and predispositions (micro level); (2) voluntary organisations (meso level), (3) the interaction and division of tasks between welfare producing institutions (that is, the welfare mix); (4) governmental policies about volunteering (macro level); and (5) the specific welfare regime. The second aspect, concerns the understanding of how volunteering of older people can be enhanced in Europe. To give an answer to this question, based on the previous European comparison, the main policy challenges to enhance volunteering in older age in Europe have been identified at a country level.

This chapter is the first one, out of three that focus on opportunities and restrictions for older volunteers from an organisational perspective, based on 73 case studies carried out among European voluntary organisations. The chapter provides the main methodological information about the case study research conducted across the eight countries included in the study. It informs about the main criteria adopted for selecting voluntary organisations, i.e. the activity sector and age-structure of the volunteer workforce. The main characteristics of the voluntary organisations investigated are also shown. After methodological matters, the organisational internal management of older volunteers is analysed in this chapter, in terms of policies, behaviours and attitudes. This has meant to explore organisational age management initiatives regarding volunteers, and also organisational opinions and existing barriers for older volunteers. The study also identifies what type of voluntary organisations could experience more barriers than opportunities for volunteering in older age.

This chapter informs on the main opportunities and restrictions for older volunteers in Italy, through an examination across different levels (i.e. micro, meso, macro and structural). For example, the involvement, the preferences and the motivations of older volunteers have been scrutinised by considering interconnections with voluntary organisations, the welfare mix, the institutional level and cultural attitudes. Among other results, it has been argued that the dimension of older volunteering may be considerably under-estimated in Italy, due to a cultural propensity not to perceive self-expressive volunteer activities, as real “volunteering”. As a consequence of this, self-expressive volunteering among older people is not captured by the available data. The chapter also identifies main challenges on how to improve the match between supplies of older candidates with the demand of voluntary organisations in the future, in Italy.

Despite major changes in the Dutch welfare system and an increase in labour market participation the number of older volunteers has been and still is increasing. The typical Dutch older volunteer is a man in his early sixties, well educated, active in an organisation in the field of sports or leisure, or a woman engaged in care, nursing activities and religion organisations. Major threats and challenges to volunteer work are increasing time pressure, higher demands with respect to the quality of voluntary work and less capacity for coaching older volunteers due to public budget cuts. It will require a lot of creativity from Dutch organisations to match organisational demands and the changing needs and preferences of older people to entice them into engaging in voluntary work.

The Danish Social Democratic Welfare regime is characterized by the combination of a strong welfare state, a strong civil society, high levels of labor force participation and a dual breadwinner model. Thus, the strong welfare state has not crowded out civil society organizations. The rate of volunteering is rather high as compared to the other countries in this volume. But the welfare state has certainly helped structure the character of voluntary organizations. The welfare state has assumed most of the tasks related to the social and health care sectors. In effect, voluntary work opportunities within these sectors are rather limited. Only 9% of all voluntary activities consist of social and health-related services. In turn, this may have had a negative effect on volunteering among older people, as seniors are strongly oriented towards traditional charity giving based on altruistic motivations. Those 66-85 years of age are far less active in voluntary organizations than younger age groups. No impediments, e.g. in the form of care obligations older relatives (it's a state responsibility) or wage work (employment rates are low for older people) hinder volunteering among older people, but health and class do play a role for volunteering. Most municipalities have a voluntary policy, but overall policy programs stimulating the supply and demand for older volunteers are marginal.

The main objective of this chapter is to describe the mains features of the Swedish voluntary sector and the enrolment of older people in this sector. Sweden has a large non-profit and volunteer sector. The Swedish experience shows that a large voluntary sector is compatible with a strong and universal welfare state. Since the State is strongly involved in the provision of social services and the financing of a generous and encompassing social protection system, the Swedish volunteer organisations are less active in the fields of social services. By international standard, the participation rate of older volunteers is high and Sweden offers more opportunities than restrictions for older people to be engaged in volunteer activities. In spite of a recent retrenchment of the public sector and an increase of more welfare service oriented associations, the large majority of volunteer organisations are voice organisations and less of a philanthropic nature.