Recruiting,developing, and managing volunteers

Leadership and Management of Volunteer Programs: A Guide for Volunteer Administrators, by James C. Fisher and Kathleen M. Cole. San Frnacisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. 208 pp., $23.95 cloth. Enhancing the Volunteer Experience: New Insights on Strengthening Volunteer Participation, Learning, and Commitment, by Paul J. Ilsley. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990. 170 pp., $27.95 cloth. How to Recruit Great Board Members: A Guide for Nonprofit Agencies, by Dorian Dodson. Santa Fe, N.M.: Adolpho Street, 1993, 129 pp., $14.95 paper.     

Some perspectives on women in therapy and women as therapists

A brief review of the major theories of female sexual and personality development is presented and the implications of these theories for the psychotherapeutic treatment of women is discussed. Alternatives to traditional (and often sexist) approaches are described. Finally, the way in which female therapists may differ from their male counterparts (especially in respect to female clients) is explored.     

Employee and Volunteer

The purpose of this research is to analyze the different factors that determine the level of time devoted to volunteer activity involving employed people. To this end, we applied a logistic regression model to a sample of 5,067 employees, considering four categories of factors: family and personal, on the one hand, and contextual factors, on the other. This second group involves three factor categories: occupational, organizational, and community involvement factors. The findings of this work are especially relevant to two areas: first, to design a policy of corporate social responsibility that effectively integrates the figure of corporate volunteering, considering its pertinent factors; and second, to broaden the perspective of the third‐sector organizations beyond the traditional profile with which volunteers are commonly associated.     

Volunteer work and well-being

Using two waves of panel data from Americans' Changing Lives (House 1995) (N = 2,681), we examine the relationships between volunteer work in the community and six aspects of personal well-being: happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of control over life, physical health, and depression. Prior research has more often examined the effects of voluntary memberships than of volunteer work, has used cross-sectional rather than longitudinal data, and, when longitudinal, has emphasized social causation over selection effects. Focusing only on the consequences of volunteer work overlooks the antecedents of human agency. People with greater personality resources and better physical and mental health should be more likely to seek (or to be sought for) community service. Hence, we examine both selection and social causation effects. Results show that volunteer work indeed enhances all six aspects of well-being and, conversely, people who have greater well-being invest more hours in volunteer service. Given this, further understanding of self- versus social-selection processes seems an important next step. Do positive, healthy people actively seek out volunteer opportunities, or do organizations actively recruit individuals of these types (or both)? Explaining how positive consequences flow from volunteer service may offer a useful counterpoint to stress theory, which has focused primarily on negative life experiences and their sequelae.     

Volunteer Participation and Withdrawal

Volunteer behavior is often difficult to manage or control since control systems of the sort that direct behavior in most for-profit organizations are usually not available. This study introduces a tool—the psychological contract—that can give voluntary-agency administrators a powerful way to help them understand and manage volunteers' contributions to their organizations. The study finds that elements of this approach, especially the level of support the volunteer believes he or she is receiving from the organization, are especially important tools that can both increase participation in various events and reduce withdrawal or turnover intentions.     

Note on Commitment and Community among Volunteer Firefighters

Three hundred seventy-two volunteer firefighters from fifteen all-volunteer departments in a five county area in central Virginia were administered a questionnaire which examined commitment and other attitudinal and demographic variables. The correlation coefficient between number of years a volunteer firefighter and age was. 77. Seventy-five percent (273) of firefighters had seldom or never considered quitting their role. Seventy-five percent indicated that over half of their close friends were fellow volunteer firefighters. Sixty-seven percent responded that being a member of the fire department was of equal or greater importance than church membership. Theoretically it is plausible that the primary group rewards experienced by firefighters as members of communal organizations accounted for the high level of commitment. An empirical example of Smith's (1981) concept of pure volunteers is provided.     

Sources of Volunteer Motivation: Transformational Leadership and Personal Motives Influence Volunteer Outcomes

We examined the separate influences of volunteers' personal motives and their team leaders' behaviors on volunteer satisfaction and contributions, along with mediating processes suggested by self‐determination theory. Participants were 302 volunteers who worked in teams at various sites through a central agency. As predicted, both personal motives for volunteering and transformational leadership influenced volunteer satisfaction through enhanced work meaningfulness and higher‐quality team relationships. However, motives that predicted volunteer contribution were different from those that predicted satisfaction. Whereas satisfaction was positively associated with motives concerning esteem enhancement and value expression, contribution was positively associated with motives to gain understanding and negatively related to motives pertaining to esteem enhancement and social concerns. Transformational leadership was positively associated with volunteer satisfaction, but not with volunteer contributions. The theoretical ramifications of these findings are discussed, along with practical implications for the recruitment and retention of volunteers.     

Abused women and the threat of parental alienation: Shelter workers' perspectives

Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected in 30 domestic violence shelters in the Province of Québec (Canada), the research findings reveal a noticeable increase in the perceived number of women being accused or threatened to be accused of parental alienation; the accusations or threats of accusations reported in the last year by respondents represented 45% of all the accusations reported in the last 5 years (Last year: 4.27, SD = 3.80. Last 5 years: 9.47, SD = 10.04). A large majority of respondents (86.7%) stated that this phenomenon had had an impact on their practices in shelters, and more than half (53.3%) expressed that this issue had been either a priority for their shelters or one of their main concerns. Based on the research findings, the authors argue that domestic violence perpetrators use “parental alienation” as a tactic to discredit reports of abuse by women and children. By embracing this discourse, child protection services and the family court system reproduce the perpetrators' accounts and discredit reports of abuse by women and children, and therefore undermine their core mandate.     

论志愿精神之于和谐社会

志愿精神倡导“奉献、友爱、互助、进步”,和谐社会注重“民主法治、公平正义、诚信友爱、充满活力、安定有序和人与自然和谐相处”,两者在本质上有着诸多共通之处。本文通过对志愿精神四个方面的分析,论述了志愿精神对于建设社会主义和谐社会的重要意义。     

Transformational Leadership and Volunteer Firefighter Engagement

This study explores the relationship between transformational leadership and volunteer firefighter engagement. Using responses from 213 volunteer firefighters, structural equation modeling reveals a positive relationship between transformational leadership and volunteer engagement, which is mediated by both group identification and perceived social impact. In addition, higher volunteer engagement is positively related to a firefighter's intention to continue volunteering and to recruit others. Taken together, the results indicate that transformational leaders achieve positive volunteer outcomes by strengthening the organizational ties of volunteers and by connecting volunteers with the prosocial impact of their work. Theoretical implications for transformational leadership research in volunteer settings as well as practical recommendations for a sustainable volunteer management are provided.     

Barriers to reporting sexual assault for women and men: perspectives of college students

The authors asked college students to rate the importance of a list of barriers to reporting rape and sexual assault among male and female victims. The authors' findings indicate that barriers prevalent 30 years ago, prior to efforts by the rape reform movement, continue to be considered important among college men and women. The barriers rated as the most important were (1) shame, guilt, embarrassment, not wanting friends and family to know; (2) concerns about confidentiality; and (3) fear of not being believed. Both genders perceived a fear of being judged as gay as an important barrier for male victims of sexual assault or rape and fear of retaliation by the perpetrator to be an important barrier for female victims.     

The Implications of Sex Differences on Volunteer Preferences

This study explores the relationship between sex differences and preferences for volunteer roles, organizations, and supervision. A series of hypotheses were developed from prior research on sex differences from the fields of biology, neuroscience, and psychology to determine whether such preferences can be predicted. An online survey panel of over 700 individuals comprised the sample. Many of the hypotheses were supported. Implications of the findings on future research and on volunteer recruitment and retention are discussed.     

Time Use Choices and Volunteer Labour Supply

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This paper examines time allocation and satisfaction with time use of volunteers and non-volunteers. Using data from the...     

Community organizing and managing

Analytical Skills for Community Organization Practice, by Donna Hardina. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. 390 pp., $52.00 cloth.     

Projections and Policies for Volunteer Programs: The Implications of the Serve America Act for Volunteer Diversity and Management

This article explores the limits of public policy as it affects volunteerism in the United States. Our analysis focuses on the potential of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (2009), the most sweeping volunteer legislation in U.S. history, to raise the level of volunteering and national service in the United States, particularly among young people, older people, and minorities—the primary target populations of the act. The Serve America Act aims to increase service‐learning opportunities and national service placements substantially. However, the long‐term impact of these changes on the rate of volunteering and the composition and character of the volunteering population remains unclear. Using data from the Current Population Survey's annual Supplement on Volunteering, we examine a variety of reasonable policy scenarios to see how the Serve America Act might affect future volunteering through the year 2050. The findings suggest that even if the Serve America Act is fully funded and implemented, it is unlikely to have a long‐term impact on the overall volunteering rate and, consequently, that altering the national volunteering rate might be an unrealistic public policy goal. Nevertheless, the analysis shows that because of naturally occurring changes in the population, the composition of the volunteer pool is likely to change as we move toward 2050—a demographic shift that will present increased challenges for volunteer managers. We discuss these challenges and how managers might deal with them effectively.     

我国企业青年志愿者与志愿服务研究

企业志愿者群体的诞生与壮大是中国公益事业近十年发展的一项特别成就。目前,国内对企业志愿者群体的理解和认识,与他们对建设公民社会的价值和潜力相比还远远不够。企业志愿者已成为中国公益事业的新生力量,其中,青年志愿者占大多数。对企业员工参与志愿服务活动的动机、影响因素以及如何评估企业志愿服务,进行全面的梳理,发现不论是在企业志愿者的定义、特征上,还是动机、影响因素、评估研究上,都有很大的拓展空间。