The Effects of Individual Risk Propensity on Volunteering

Serving as a volunteer is gratifying and rewarding, but by nature it is also considered a risky decision. Volunteering risk may come from the lack of sufficient training, asymmetric information between volunteers and managers, and the lack of support and protection from nonprofit organizations. Abundant studies discuss volunteering behaviors based on demographics. However, people's decisions are mainly determined by their own preferences rather than demographic differences. Accordingly, this study hypothesizes that individual risk propensity is an important predictor for volunteering behaviors. Using a nationally representative data set, this study finds that risk‐accepting individuals are more likely to volunteer than their risk‐averse peers. Also, the former tend to volunteer more frequently than the latter once they decide to be part of the volunteer labor force. Several managerial implications and volunteer recruitment strategies for nonprofit organizations are discussed.     

Does Gender Equality Influence Volunteerism? A Cross-National Analysis of Women’s Volunteering Habits and Gender Equality

Research regarding the roles of women in society and in political and social organizations is large, with scholars focusing on the likelihood of political and social engagement. However, few of these studies examine the influence of gender on participation in voluntary organizations by utilizing cross-national data. This study intends to analyze the influence of gender on the type of organization that an individual volunteers and on whether these volunteering habits are influenced by the gender equality in a country. Is there segregation in the type of organizations men and women volunteer? Do women in more gender equal societies have similar volunteering patterns as men, or does the difference continue in volunteering? For this study, we use the World Values Survey from 1999 to 2002, to identify the differences in the types of organizations that men and women volunteer and discuss the impact gender equality has on these volunteering patterns.     

Volunteers in feminist Organizations

The use of women volunteers, a hotly debated issue among feminists in the 1970s, currently receives little attention, even in the literature. What few studies are available are often contradictory. These studies approach the issue of women volunteering from three main perspectives: (1) as a substitute for work, especially for married women, (2) as a stepping stone for reentry into the work force, or (3) as a form of exploitation. Two main groups of women volunteers are identified in the literature: middle- to upper-class civic leaders and lower- to middle-class service providers. In this article, we examine whether the use and management of women volunteers in feminist organizations is consistent with feminist ideology that opposes unpaid work by women. Our findings, based on a comprehensive study of fifteen feminist organizations, indicate that the use of volunteers is often contrary to feminist ideology. We conclude with a discussion of ways in which volunteer management in feminist organizations can be made more compatible with feminist ideology.     

Adding the Organizational Perspective: How Organizations Shape Service Work Abroad

International volunteering is an increasingly popular form of service work, but the scholarship on international volunteering has done little to unpack the assertion that organizations shape the international volunteering experience. We demonstrate the utility of taking an organizational perspective by reporting on an ethnographic investigation of an international voluntary service episode in Southern India. In doing so, we attend to all of the parties common to international volunteering—the coordinating international volunteer service organization, the host NGOs, and the volunteers—and pay particular attention to the organizational dynamics that influence the service rendered. We find that the different actors in the service relationship understood successful international development efforts in different ways, which frustrated the productivity of the relationships in question. These mismatched goals were partly the legacy of a partnership-formation process that followed a cultural–historical logic rather than an instrumental one. The consequences were dissatisfaction on the part of volunteers and mixed benefits for the organizations with which they were matched. We suggest that these findings have relevance to other international volunteering sites.     

Ports of Entry and Obstacles: Teenagers' Access to Volunteer Activities

The recruitment of young people into volunteering activities is the primary focus of this article. We examine which teenagers volunteer, the ways that teenagers become involved in volunteer activities, and why teenagers do not volunteer. Teenagers who volunteer tend to have dominant status, that is, access to social power, high personal competency, and socialization into volunteer experiences through family, church, and school. Personal contact with family, friends, and teachers who are involved with service, prior participation in school‐ and church‐based service, and personal initiative lead teenagers to learn about and engage in volunteering activities. Teenagers who do not volunteer often do not have sufficient time or interest. Differences exist among teenagers as to which factors prompt volunteering. For example, teenagers who are white, have parents who volunteer, and attend religious services are more likely than others to learn about volunteer activities through organizations, and teenagers with higher personal competency (grade point averages) are more likely than others to learn about volunteering activities at school. The article includes suggestions for recruitment policy and management of teenage volunteers.     

Stability and Change in Nonprofit Organizations: The Volunteer Contribution

This paper reports on a study of the microprocesses of stability and change in a nonprofit welfare organization in Australia. We position volunteering and voluntarism as core constitutive phenomena in and of nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector more generally, and examine volunteer agency in action. Developing a model drawn from neoinstitutional theory and adopting an ethnographic approach, the paper illustrates theoretically and empirically how volunteers create and revise institutional orders operative within organizations in ways hitherto poorly articulated and understood.     

Participation in formal and informal volunteering: Implications for volunteer recruitment

This study examines factors influencing “formal” volunteering (that is, to an organization) and “informal” volunteering (that is, volunteering carried out individually outside of an organizational context) and the relationship between these two activities. We hypothesize that formal and informal volunteering activities are positively interrelated but that they are shaped by different types of personal resources: involvement in social networks increases the likelihood of both types of volunteering, but human capital increases the likelihood of formal volunteering rather than informal. The bivariate probit regression results emanating from the Independent Sector's “Giving and Volunteering in the United States, 2001” survey are generally supportive of the hypotheses. The findings suggest that nonprofit and public organizations that involve volunteers consider the pool of informal volunteers as a fertile ground for recruitment and find ways to better utilize older Americans in formal volunteering. The results also suggest that volunteer recruitment through organizational membership may be an effective strategy.     

How do International Volunteering Characteristics Influence Outcomes? Perspectives from Partner Organizations

This study examines how different types of international volunteering influence common program outcomes such as building organizational capacity, developing international relationships, and performing manual labor. Survey responses were collected from 288 development-oriented volunteer partner organizations operating in 68 countries. Data on the duration of volunteer service, the volunteers’ skill levels, and other variables were used to develop a rough typology of international volunteering. Binary logistic regression models then assessed differences in outcomes across five volunteering types. Findings suggest that future research needs to be more precise about how the nuances and complexity of diverse forms of international volunteering influence outcomes.     

Defining Volunteering for Community Campaigns: An Exploration of Race,Self Perceptions,and Campaign Practices

A substantial percentage of volunteer needs are met by a relatively small percentage of individuals. Community volunteer organizations may address these shortages by recruiting volunteers using media campaigns. However, problems occur when perceptions of volunteering differ between volunteers and the organization, with race emerging as a key factor in shaping these perceptions. This article addresses such a gap in perceptions by using focus group data to consider the extent to which African American male volunteers' perceptions and actions align with those of a major US volunteer organization. Our results provide insights on how groups can more successfully reach out to potential volunteers by recognizing and overcoming perceptual and actual differences regarding volunteerism.     

Differences in perceived barriers to volunteering to formal organizations: Lack of time versus lack of interest

This article reports the findings of a study of perceived barriers to volunteering to formal organizations by nonvolunteers. We examine the types of barriers, their frequencies, and their relationships with individual‐level sociodemographic characteristics of nonvolunteers. Data from a 2001–2002 national survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are analyzed using multiple regression techniques. Contrary to general expectations, only three barriers—lack of time, lack of interest, and ill health—are fairly common. Furthermore, as expected, different social class groups identify different types of barriers. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications of the findings (for example, how indicators of social and cultural capital affect access to volunteer opportunities) and practical implications concerning recruitment of volunteers.     

Building a better workplace for teen volunteers through inclusive behaviors

Facing a decline in the number of hours donated to nonprofit organizations, volunteer coordinators must strive to determine the most effective strategies for retaining volunteers. Relationship management theory provides a framework to gauge the well‐being of an organization's relationship with its stakeholders. Through surveys administered to 317 teenage volunteers at three library systems, this study found that of four factors—trust, commitment, satisfaction, and control mutuality—trust had the strongest ability to predict intent to continue volunteering. Further analysis revealed that trust could be enhanced by including teenagers in work groups throughout the organization, seeking their input on organizational decisions, and ensuring they receive formal and informal organizational communications.     

Multiple Ways of Coordinating Volunteers With Differing Styles of Service

Volunteerism is changing, and traditional ways of coordinating volunteers need re-examination in order for human service programs to survive. Our practitioner/academician team has been using well-known frameworks to reveal deep-seated assumptions about how people volunteer at the dawn of the 21st century and how changes in volunteering influence the organization and coordination of those efforts. The different styles of volunteering demand that coordinators' engagement strategies vary when different worldviews are held. In this article, four types of volunteer programs are identified: traditional, social change, serendipity, and entrepreneurial. Examples of each program type are provided, along with guidelines for their oversight. We conclude with a call for research that examines the important differences in how to appropriately use the talents of increasingly diverse types of volunteers in community practice.     

From Civic Participation to Political Participation

This study examines the long-held argument that civic participation transfers to political participation, as expressed by South Korean citizens. Compared to the majority of existing research that has focused primarily on Western developed countries, the present study examines South Korea, to which little scholarly attention has been devoted. Relying on the World Values Survey (2005–2006 wave), the present study finds that in South Korea, civic participation outside of the political sphere does push individuals to be more politically active. However, the results also demonstrate that there are more questions that need to be resolved. First, when the analysis unpacked the dependent variable—political participation—the relationship between civic engagement and attending demonstrations or signing petitions is robust. However, this is not the case for joining boycotts or taking part in voting. Moreover, when unpacking the independent variable—civic participation—this study finds that not every type of civic organization spawns political participation. There is a positive impact of non-political organizations, such as art, music, or charitable organizations, on political participation, while a negative impact exists for interest-based and political organizations, such as professional associations or environmental organizations.     

Growing the Volunteer Pool: Identifying Non-Volunteers Most Likely to Volunteer

There are ongoing management and societal challenges affecting volunteering participation. These place a premium on organizations identifying individuals that currently do not volunteer but have the willingness and capacity to do so, the “Potentials”. Supplementing the limited non-volunteer literature, we seek to quantify this potential volunteer pool using constructs aligned to the willingness, capability and availability dimensions from Meijs et al.’s (Volunt Action 8:36–54, 2006) volunteerability framework. Using binary logistic regression testing with a nationally representative sample of Australian volunteers and non-volunteers, we found partial support for the framework’s willingness and capability dimensions determining volunteer status. We then applied a predictive equation to the non-volunteer sample to calculate their percentage likelihood of volunteering, to identify a cohort of “Potential” volunteers. Further testing revealed statistically significant differences between this cohort compared to other non-volunteers based on various interventions for promoting volunteering. The implications of our novel study and an associated research agenda are discussed.

     

The Relevance of Self-Determination for Corporate Volunteering Intentions

Corporate volunteering programs are increasingly used to bolster community involvement, address social issues and improve the reputation of organisations. Despite this growing trend, our understanding of what motivates corporate volunteers is scant. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study investigates motivational differences among employees engaging in different corporate volunteering types and in independent volunteering, and examines the relationships between these volunteering types and employees’ intent to volunteer in the future. Findings obtained from a survey of 318 employees suggest that higher levels of motivation to volunteer for reasons of ego enhancement or guilt prevention (introjection) were associated with a higher likelihood of participation in employer-organised, large-scale volunteering. Lastly, compared to the other types of volunteers, corporate volunteers had the highest intentions to volunteer through their company in the future, while independent volunteers had the highest intentions to continue volunteering in their own time without employer support. These results highlight the importance of offering various types of corporate volunteering opportunities to employees, as people engaging in corporate volunteering do not make up a homogeneous group, and that different corporate volunteering activities fulfil different motivational needs.

     

What's In It for the Volunteers?

This article reports on a social return on investment (SROI) analysis of volunteers of the Good Food Market program, a food access initiative run by FoodShare Toronto, one of Canada's largest food‐justice organizations. Unlike conventional SROI research, which typically focuses on the entire ecology of an organization or program, this article focuses solely on isolating the return volunteers receive on their investment of time, skills, energy, and the like—an SROI of volunteering. The article reviews the challenges of adapting the SROI methodology to the context of volunteer benefits and finds that ultimately SROI is a useful tool for articulating the value of volunteering.     

A Rapid Review of Barriers to Volunteering for Potentially Disadvantaged Groups and Implications for Health Inequalities

Despite volunteering being a feature of community life in the UK, differences as to who volunteers are evident. Reporting on a rapid review of the evidence on volunteering and inequalities, the aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the breadth and interconnectedness of barriers to volunteering for potentially disadvantaged groups. Sixty-seven articles were identified, to produce a map of factors affecting volunteer participation. Findings suggest that whilst different demographic groups experience specific barriers to volunteering, there are areas of commonality. Analysis shifts the onus of volunteering away from the level of individual choice (a dominant emphasis in policy and practical discussions around promoting volunteering) and towards the influence of structural factors related to broader exclusionary processes. Those who potentially have the most to gain from volunteering are the least likely to participate. Whilst the benefits of volunteering are increasingly documented by research and championed by policy, there are questions about the success of this approach given that the underlying social inequalities present substantive barriers to volunteering and must be addressed to promote greater access.

     

Blurring the Lines Between Civil Society,Volunteering and Social Movements. A Reflection on Redrawing Boundaries Inspired by the Spanish Case

Citizen participation is manifested through various concepts, such as activism, social movements, volunteering or civil society. The different ways of understanding popular engagement are often separated by delimitations that define them, particularly volunteering and civic action, as two highly differentiated forms of participation in the distinct academic disciplines: political science, volunteering studies, social movement studies or civil society theory. This article considers whether this basic theoretical differentiation can be problematised in the Spanish political context by exploring four paradigmatic cases of popular engagement, using qualitative case study methodology, specifically, a historic case from the 1990s and three more recent cases. It is hoped that the results of the study—which differentiates between organisational hybridity and fuzziness—will encourage reflection on the traditional boundaries between different forms of popular engagement.     

An Empirical Examination of Formal and Informal Volunteering in Canada

Using data from the 2008 General Social Survey of Canada, this study examines the factors associated with individuals’ propensity to engage in formal and informal volunteering. The results show that social networks increase the likelihood of both formal and informal volunteering, but social trust and human capital increase only the likelihood of formal volunteering and not of informal care. The findings also reveal interesting cultural influences and regional differences in the propensity to engage in formal and informal volunteering, especially between French-speaking Canadians and English-speaking Canadians, and those living in Quebec and outside of Quebec. Native-born Canadians are more likely to volunteer than their immigrant counterparts, but they are similar to immigrants in the propensity to provide informal care. Additionally, women are found to be more likely to engage in formal volunteering and informal care than men. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

A nonprofit manager's guide to online volunteering

As access to the Internet expands, volunteer managers have the option of using this new technology to manage pools of volunteers online. Online volunteering can appear deceptively simple: post an opening, select a volunteer, and then manage them by e‐mail. However, our evaluation of an active online volunteering service used by more than three hundred organizations and ten thousand potential volunteers indicates that additional planning and management are frequently needed. Through an analysis of two years of quantitative data and interviews with more than forty volunteers and managers, we have extracted suggested practices and programmatic implications for managers in the areas of program design, volunteer selection, training, ongoing operations, and evaluation.