The qualities of the Crouch End Festival's golden volunteers

Having been involved in numerous community projects, I've discovered that the most effective volunteers are often those with the busiest schedules. It might seem counterintuitive, but these individuals are good time managers.

A recent survey in a London newspaper unveiled that most of us feel 'time poor,' when, in reality, many are merely squandering precious hours on social media, gaming and endless YouTube cat videos. 

Imagine the transformative impact if everyone committed just four hours a week to community service. But unfortunately, the allure of cat videos on YouTube, or endless shorts on TikTok, trumps the call for civic duty, prompting me to question whether social media has, on balance, made a more negative than positive social impact on our communities.

Chris Arnold asks what the impact on the community would be if everyone committed to four hours a week volunteering (Image: Chris Arnold)

Every year as we prep the Crouch End Festival we put a call out for volunteers, and usually we get a dozen locals put their hands up. Within a week 75% have become ghosts. But the 25% left are quality. In the world of volunteering, quality outweighs quantity.

Charities, community groups, and the churches will all tell you that finding good volunteers is challenging. More surprisingly, PTAs struggle to get parents to volunteer. What kind of parent doesn’t help their school? Is this down to the issue of being time poor - or values poor? It appears to me that some parents seem to have plenty of time to have a coffee every day in the 20+ places to drink coffee in Crouch End.

And while I love the idea of young people volunteering, I really don’t want to baby sit your two disgruntled teenagers who feel having to turn off their phones for an hour and plant daffodil bulbs, is an infringement of their human rights.

And there are the staff volunteer days when you get sent 12 corporate mid-wits who really want to help do essential jobs in the park but actually can’t use a spade or shears. Regardless, CSR are happy because the can tick another box and staff are happy – they got to go home early.

Through my experience, I've identified a rare breed I call the 'golden volunteer'—selfless, industrious, committed, intelligent, adaptable, and don’t complain.

What most people don’t realise is that all those events, festivals, and school activities that we all so enjoy are the work of very small number of these golden volunteers – often as little as just three people doing 90% of the work. Sadly as a community we are more takers than givers.

There are a growing number of websites (Doddle, Investors In Community) and apps (On Hand, My Social Impact) trying to bring together volunteers and community groups. But a more profound societal shift is needed.

We must rekindle the concept of being a good citizen, prioritising positive social impact over personal gain. It's time to move from asking, "What's in it for me?" to embracing the question, "What positive social impact can I make?" Our communities depend on it.

• Chris Arnold is co-founder and director of the Crouch End Festival.