On the recommendation of the Second Committee, the UN General Assembly adopted this resolution (A/RES/40/212) on 17 December 1985, establishing 5 December as International Volunteer Day.

This UN General Assembly resolution ( (A/RES/52/17), adopted 20 November 1997, declaring 2001 the International Year of Volunteers designated the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, the volunteer arm of the UN, as the focal point. The objectives of the Year are increased promotion, recognition, facilitation and networking of voluntary action worldwide. The resolution was co-sponsored by 123 countries.

The Commission for Social Development encourages governments to take into consideration volunteerism in their national development planning recognizing contribution of volunteerism to the achievements of social development goals...

This UN General Assembly resolution (A/RES/56/38), co-sponsored by 126 Member States and adopted on 5 December 2001, proposes recommendations on how governments and the United Nations system can support volunteering.

In these recommendations, the terms volunteering, volunteerism and voluntary activities refer to a wide range of activities, including traditional forms of mutual aid and self-help, formal service delivery and other forms of civic participation, undertaken of free will, for the general public good and where monetary reward is not the principal motivating factor.

This UN General Assembly resolution (A/RES/57/106), co-sponsored by 142 Member States and adopted on 26 November 2002, calls upon stakeholders to support volunteerism as a strategic tool to enhance economic and social development and requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its 60th session on the implementation of the current resolution.

This UN General Assembly resolution (A/RES/60/134), co-sponsored by 84 Member States and adopted on 16 December 2005, invites all stakeholders, especially from the private sector community and from private foundations, to support volunteerism as a strategic tool to enhance economic and social development, including by expanding corporate volunteering.

A resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the report of the Third Committee (A/63/424) has decided that on or around 5 December 2011, two plenary meetings of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly shall be devoted to follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers and the commemoration of its tenth anniversary, under the item entitled 'Social development'.

New York, USA: "Opening opportunities for volunteerism is increasingly seen as a means to promoting social integration," says the United Nations Commission on Social Development in its latest Chairperson's summary. "Volunteerism has contributed to developing social capital for social groups, including those that have traditionally found themselves marginalized from mainstream participation in development activities."

On 5 December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/66/67 on marking the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers.

The Resolution follows on from other major volunteering events over the year, such as the Global Volunteering Conference in Budapest, and six regional consultations held during the year.

The UN General Assembly adopted the Resolution on "Integrating Volunteering in the Next Decade", which was co-facilitated by Brazil and Japan. 

The Resolution recognizes that "volunteerism is an important component of any strategy aimed at such areas as poverty reduction, sustainable development, health, education, youth empowerment, climate change, disaster risk reduction, social integration, social welfare, humanitarian action, peacebuilding and, in particular, overcoming social exclusion and discrimination."