Social portrait of an informal volunteer of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

In this paper, the author touched upon the problem of the underdevelopment of volunteering in Russia, namely its formal segment. There is a prevalence of informal over formal volunteering. Informal volunteers do not join formal volunteer organizations, although their activities reflect the very essence of volunteering. In this regard, it becomes necessary to study the essence of informal volunteers, as well as search for ways to develop formal volunteering. Studying the problem on the example of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the author conducted an online study using the Google Forms program, the purpose of which was to identify the social portrait of an informal volunteer in the region. Its results showed that informal volunteers are mostly women of Yakut ethnicity aged 26 to 30, students and students with higher education who are not officially married and have no children. They do volunteer activities once a month and do not identify themselves with an informal volunteer. There is an opinion that volunteering in Russia in general is gaining popularity, and they also suggest that the state introduce a method of encouraging volunteers as a way to popularize and support volunteering. The results of the study will in further in-depth study of the reasons for the underdevelopment of formal volunteering and the prevalence of its informal form.