Volunteering in Malaysia

Each time I speak to a young person, I get the sense that community work and charity is on top of their minds.  Even entrepreneurs launching new business want to turn it into a social enterprise, from promoting sustainable eco-friendly practices, to helping empower poor youth by giving them skills to be independent.  Would it be fair to say that Generation Me, is slowly turning into Generation We?

Hati's partner, Tandemic, took on the challenge to answer this question through their Do Something Good platform and found interesting results.

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Do Something Good says: For every 1,000 Malaysians, there are 7 registered volunteers. While the total number of registered volunteers in Malaysia is projected at about 135,000, it makes up less than 1% of the 20.5 million Malaysians aged above 15.  “We are seeing a surge of interest in volunteering but there is still much more to be done to make volunteering mainstream in our culture,” said Zahirah Md Yusoff, Project Lead for Do Something Good.


The survey studied 17 of Malaysia’s top volunteering organisations and several online volunteering platforms to build a view of the state of volunteering in Malaysia. The survey focused on unpaid volunteers working with registered non-religious and non-political organisations.

Another key concern that emerged in the survey was the engagement level of volunteers. While the survey included 30,215 registered volunteers, it found that slightly less than 30% (8,856) of volunteers were actively engaged in volunteering with their organisations.

While many supported volunteering -- either through Facebook likes or by being registered as a volunteer -- only a fraction took the time to volunteer. 

“Some might say this is a reflection of a culture of armchair activism, but I am more optimistic. I think the key point is creating volunteering opportunities that cater to people’s different levels of engagement,” says Kal Joffres, the technology developer behind Do Something Good.

However, the ability to manage volunteers at varying levels of engagement was reported as a major challenge for NGOs. Many resource-strapped NGOs found it difficult to involve people in their workflow without training them first and without people in their organisation dedicated to volunteer management. As a result, some organisations preferred to rely on a small group of dedicated volunteers rather than large, high-turnover groups of volunteers.

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The sample surveyed may have been small to accurately gauge people's attitudes towards volunteering.  Hati receives feedback from some organisation that publicising a home's needs is effective, the more volunteers and donors know about a cause, the more likely the home or cause gets support.

So, not to be disheartened by just numbers, I remain optimistic about volunteerism in Malaysia. We don't guilt people into helping others, if it is in them, they will need very little or no encouragement at all.

Pictures courtesy of friends from the Singout Asia Team, who lead many initiatives, one of them is volunteering at El Shaddai Shelter for the Homeless in Kuala Selangor. El Shaddai is in a new location now, if you're keen to help them, get in touch with team@hati.org.my