Paper short abstract:

The scope, impact, and demographics of formal volunteering and publicly funded engagements.

Paper long abstract:

Introduction: As a civic engagement with resident involvement, volunteering is socially valued and publicly recognised. As the interaction between private and public networks develops, social capital is created with collective and economic benefits. The current focus on civic engagement-related volunteerism in Norway has effected a rise in complementary private initiatives and public funding specifically with regard to the preservation of historic vessels. Volunteers for this program are primarily men aged over 50 years who spend significant amounts of leisure time in municipalities along the coast, fjords and lakes of Norway. Despite the historical significance of such volunteering, the social capital that is gained, and the substantial funding that is provided by the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, no study has mapped the impact or outcome of these efforts over the past 20 years.

Objective and aim: The primary objective was to study the scope of formal voluntary ship preservation work and to map volunteers in this program, the breadth of their efforts and their motivations.

Methods: 90 vessels, funded by the Directorate in 2009, for which empirical data were generated using quantitative and qualitative methods, were included.

Result and discussion: Volunteering correlates positively with male gender and age and has a robust relationship with region and the specific vessel. Reasons for commitment and effort were companionship, unity and memories of and relationship to the specific vessel. The volunteers' efforts aggregated approximately 5.5 million euros in unpaid work. Volunteering in this context is an important component of social capital in elderly men.