Voluntary contributions and wages in nonprofit organizations

Voluntary work provides a major source of labor for many nonprofit organizations. Consequences of volunteers and paid staff working alongside each other in nonprofits are well documented. This article contributes to this strand of literature and investigates whether the presence of volunteer work influences paid employees' wages in nonprofit organizations. We estimated a multilevel wage equation accounting for personal characteristics of workers and characteristics of nonprofits. The analysis revealed that nonprofit organizations engaging volunteers pay lower wages to their employees. Our findings contribute to the understanding of wage‐setting behavior of nonprofits and improve the methodological approach of empirical research in this field.     

Attitude Differences Between Paid Workers and Volunteers

This study addresses the extension of research on paid employees to volunteer workers. Pearce (1978, 1993b) has postulated that job attitudes are substantially different between volunteers and paid employees, based on her work studying fourteen organizations employing either entirely volunteer workgroups or entirely paid workgroups. Another interpretation of her data would be that the organizational culture of such workgroups is different, not the individual job attitudes.     

Undeclared Work in Non-Profit Sports Clubs: A Mixed Method Approach for Assessing the Size and Motives

Non-market economy including volunteer work is often ignored in estimations of the shadow economy because no money changes hands. Whilst volunteers stricto sensu are not paid for their activities, a tendency is noted that legal frameworks do allow for reimbursement for actual expenses incurred. However, if the latter receive reimbursements beyond the scope of regulations and labour law this can also be regarded as undeclared work. In this article, the size and motives of this type of undeclared work in non-profit sports clubs in Flanders (Belgium) are explored. As this kind of informal work, by its nature, is difficult to measure, a mixed method approach was used. The results show that at least 10% of volunteers can be considered as undeclared workers. The tax and social security contribution burdens are considered as the main causes for this undeclared work. It is argued that a new employment status for paid volunteers in sports is necessary to guarantee the provision of qualitative sports services.     

Employee experiences with volunteers

Volunteers frequently serve public and nonprofit organizations, among them libraries, parks and recreation departments, social service groups, and religious organizations. Research on volunteers and volunteerism traditionally focuses on antecedents to volunteering and outcomes for volunteers. In this study, we attempt to build on the existing literature by examining the volunteer experience from the paid employee's vantage point. Using a sample of employees who work alongside volunteers in animal care organizations (N = 270), we examine how employees described the volunteers with whom they interact. Although these assessments were generally positive, there was considerable variability. This appears to be explained, in part, by each organization's volunteer resources management practices. Results also indicate that employees who reported less satisfactory experiences with volunteers also reported being more stressed, overworked, and less committed to the organization, and having a greater intention to quit. Importantly, these results held up even after controlling for general job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for theory and practice 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.

     

Understanding the Management of Sports Events Volunteers Through Psychological Contract Theory

This paper juxtaposes the expectations of event managers and sports event volunteers in a case study organisation. These are understood within the theoretical framework of the psychological contract. Results show the distinctive contribution volunteers can make to events but also the distinctive challenges they present to event managers. For event managers, volunteers bring: enthusiasm, a good relationship and empathy with the public, and they provide a cheaper labour force. But a major concern is ensuring their reliability. For volunteers, important expectations include: flexibility of engagement, the quality of personal relationships, recognition for their contribution, and a clear communication of what they are expected to do. The juxtaposition of event manager and volunteer perspectives illustrates the need for a different approach to managing volunteers in comparison to paid employees. This reflects both volunteers’ expectations and the recognition that they have greater autonomy; not being tied to a contract by financial rewards or a related career progression. More generally the results illustrate the use of the theoretical framework provided by the psychological contract but that in using this it is valuable to compare the perspectives of managers and volunteers, using a qualitative approach to understand this social relationship.     

When to Work for Pay,When Not to: A Comparative Study of Australian and Danish Volunteer Care Workers

This paper explores the links between volunteers care workers’ current unpaid work and their own present or former paid work with the objective of analysing the ways welfare states influence volunteer care work. Data were collected between August 2012 and May 2013 through 41 face-to-face interviews with Danish and Australian volunteers working with the frail elderly, very sick and terminally ill. Three related arguments are made. One, paid and unpaid care work are so intertwined that it is not possible to understand volunteers’ unpaid working lives without simultaneously understanding their paid work lives. Two, many volunteer care workers are attracted to care work, not volunteering per se. Three, volunteering must be understood in relation to men’s and women’s ‘access to work’ in the welfare state, access that ultimately depends on the design and developments of these two contrasting welfare states.     

Social Constructs and Human Service: Managerial Sensemaking of Volunteer Motivation

Managers of volunteers in human service interpret their job and experiences through a cognitive construct grounded in past interactions and experiences. This construct—sensemaking—then guides the managers' perceptions of subsequent interactions with peers, volunteers, and supervisors. Volunteers similarly make sense of their surroundings through cognitive constructions grounded in their own experiences. Unfortunately, managers and volunteers do not always make sense of their surroundings in the same way. Research has demonstrated that supervisors and paid employees may not necessarily agree in their perceptions of such issues as, for example, employee motivation. Such differences can lead to disagreements about the meaning of behaviors and the design of reward systems, eventually compromising organizational performance. In this study, sensemaking of volunteer motivation was assessed from the manager's perspective and compared with a previous study of volunteers themselves. Differences in understanding such a primary question as why volunteers are present can reasonably be expected to have an impact on organizational effectiveness. Interestingly, the predicted outcome of a different sensemaking schema was not supported in either the understanding of motivation or in the relative importance assigned to altruism. Additional attributes of volunteer managers were also considered to determine if sensemaking is driven by environmental factors such as exposure to volunteers, tenure as a volunteer manager, or social roles associated with gender constructs. These additional attributes were not found to significantly affect the process of attribution of altruistic motives.     

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.     

Voluntary work in the Norwegian long-term care sector: complementing or substituting formal services?

ABSTRACT

Across Europe, governments call for increased involvement of volunteers to shoulder some of the welfare burden. Nevertheless, there is little research into what kind of work and how much volunteers currently contribute in the long-term care services and whether this has the potential to substitute formal services. Drawing on findings from a survey of employees in Norwegian nursing homes and home care districts, we examine the nature and volume of voluntary, unpaid work in the long-term care services in Norway. Our data suggest that volunteers to a very limited degree carry out work that has traditionally been considered the formal system’s domain: personal care and practical help. Nearly all the voluntary, unpaid contributions in our data takes place within cultural, social and other activities aimed at promoting mental stimulation and well-being, indicating a classic specialisation of tasks between volunteers and professionals. However, there has been an expansion of the formal care system to include activities aimed at promoting well-being in recent decades. This may indicate that there is a certain level of task sharing between voluntary and formal care. Thus, social workers need to consider voluntary service provision when assessing the needs of clients.     

Trust and recognition: a comparative study of client attitudes and workers' experiences in the welfare services

Since professional conduct is important in the lives of many people, trust and recognition between professionals and their clients are critical. Social professionals administer public resources on behalf of the welfare state, and their approaches and methods of intervention are mostly founded in current welfare policy. Despite this mandate, social professionals receive little acknowledgement and recognition. This article investigates the level of public trust in the Norwegian social services compared to the national insurance agencies, and to what extent the providers of these welfare services experience recognition and public approval. A central question is whether these aspects of external appreciation influence the professionals' motivation and feelings of accomplishment. Findings indicate that the social services receive less public support than the social insurance agencies, owing to the discretionary services provided and the stigma related to social assistance. The variation in institutional trust is reflected by the differences in workers' subjective experiences. That result notwithstanding, the service providers reveal a split view of themselves: while they experience themselves positively with respect to involvement and pride in their work, they also see themselves through the deprecating eyes of the public.     

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.     

Bittersweet and Paradoxical

The American Red Cross is the most active nonprofit organization involved in disaster planning and response in the United States. The organization deployed nearly 50,000 volunteers to provide essential support to victims of some 125,000 domestic disasters, including home fires, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, in a recent two‐year period. This study asks how American Red Cross disaster response volunteer experiences function to cultivate satisfaction and, at the other end of the spectrum, the kind of dissatisfaction that leads people to quit; it pays particular attention to ways in which volunteer management shapes dissatisfaction and fatigue because of implications for volunteer retention. Paradoxically, the Red Cross facilitates the highly satisfying act of helping victims, but volunteers feel dissatisfied when management practices get in the way of helping. The study suggests voluntary organizations that rely on skilled, long‐term volunteers to deliver services should evaluate and strengthen their communication strategies, recognition practices, and support systems for volunteers in distress.     

At the intersection of marketisation,diversity and migration: reshaping the provision of paid family eldercare in Sweden?

This article explores how paid family eldercare in Sweden is reshaped at the intersection of marketisation, accommodation to ethnic diversity and globalisation of international migration. Using a mixed-methods case study approach, the paper examines how implementation of customer choice in publicly funded homecare services to older adults in the city of Stockholm interacts with paid family care. The results show that some private homecare companies employ family caregivers as a business strategy; moreover, that the majority of employed family caregivers are foreign-born women coming primarily from non-European countries. The findings point towards gains but also risks for all parties involved. Though the family caregiver is ensured an income, the employment is generally associated with low wages and weak social security. In addition, employed family carers often lack formal training, which affects documentation procedures and monitoring of the daily care work. It is therefore difficult to evaluate the quality of care services performed by employed family carers. The results indicate a need for policy-makers to reconsider how customer choice in eldercare interacts with paid family care. Otherwise, unintended consequences may result in negative effects for integration as well as social work practice with foreign-born older adults.     

Helping Oneself by Helping Others: Evaluation of a Service Credit Banking Demonstration

Between 1987 and 1990, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded six service credit banking demonstration programs among the elderly in which participants delivered services in return for credits, entitling them to later service. This evaluation of the demonstrations found that these six sites successfully attracted elders for the delivery of household support services to a relatively old, frail population with potentially limited social networks. Evidence on the significance of the "credit" in attracting volunteers was mixed, but the programs have attracted new volunteers, and have not substituted for other volunteer activities. Program development has entailed considerable staff investment in volunteer support; programs are better understood as community membership organizations than as mechanical exchanges.     

Retaining Critical Human Capital: Volunteer Firefighters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Effective delivery of services for the public good involves a multiplicity of organizations and actors, including those from the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. In some cases, service delivery is accomplished using programs that directly engage volunteers, including key public services like community-based and nonprofit volunteer fire departments. Volunteers in fire departments—often highly engaged volunteers with specialized training—provide vital services for a substantial portion of the United States, allowing local governments to realize considerable cost savings. Thus, issues of volunteer retention are a critical challenge for fire departments. Existing research has addressed issues of retention in a variety of settings; we argue that the challenging and particular context of fire departments is worthy of focused research. This article is an exploratory study of the predictors of voluntary firefighter retention in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We use data from a web-based survey of volunteer firefighters to examine the factors that influence volunteer retention, focusing specifically on volunteer management practices and broader job-related concepts. Results indicate that volunteer training, performance management, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment influence both short- and mid-term intent to remain, indicating that management practices and programs, as well as other contextual factors that shape satisfaction and commitment, are important in retaining volunteers.     

Helping oneself by helping others: evaluation of a service credit banking demonstration

Between 1987 and 1990, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded six service credit banking demonstration programs among the elderly in which participants delivered services in return for credits, entitling them to later service. This evaluation of the demonstrations found that these six sites successfully attracted elders for the delivery of household support services to a relatively old, frail population with potentially limited social networks. Evidence on the significance of the "credit" in attracting volunteers was mixed, but the programs have attracted new volunteers, and have not substituted for other volunteer activities. Program development has entailed considerable staff investment in volunteer support; programs are better understood as community membership organizations than as mechanical exchanges.     

Brave New Volunteers? The Value of Paid and Unpaid Work for Flemish Red Cross Volunteers

This paper considers the current debate on the changing position and meaning of paid work in Western societies. In the wake of a structural crisis of fulltime employment, a new role and potential is attributed to voluntary work. With data drawn from a survey of Red Cross volunteers in Flanders (Belgium), this research assesses empirically the value volunteers attach to paid and unpaid work and their disposition to combine paid and unpaid work more flexibly. Contrary to current theorizing about the advent of a brave new world of work, this study provides evidence for a continuing existence of strong paid work orientations, even among a population that actually performs unpaid work. Moreover, it is not the economic (dis)embedding of volunteers, but the extent and nature of their social participation that primarily explains the strength of paid work orientation and the propensity to tailor paid work more flexibly to volunteer work.

How Do Volunteer’s Experiences of Organizational Facilitators Influence Their Satisfaction and Loyalty: An Example of Hospital Volunteers

The volunteer experience in organizational context has received far less scrutiny. Studies have indicated specific organizational settings, such as schedule flexibility, orientation and training, empowerment, social interaction, reflection, and rewards, and each has certain influences on their satisfaction and intention of remain. But we do not know their combined impact as organizational facilitators. This study focused on a sample of hospital volunteering, which occupies the largest service hours of volunteering work in Taiwan. We explored the experience of organizational facilitators that affect the satisfaction and loyalty of the volunteers from 868 valid questionnaires in a metropolitan hospital. The results showed that volunteers with more experiences on social interaction, reflections, and rewards, were more satisfied. In term of loyalty, volunteers with higher satisfaction showed higher willing to remain, recommend, accept services, and donate. Furthermore, because of flexible schedules and preferable rewards, the volunteers were more willing to remain; because of more training, higher social interaction, reflections, and rewards, the volunteers were more willing to recommend volunteering and accept services. Additionally, less flexible schedules, better empowerment, and more reflections as well as rewards influenced volunteers to be more motivated to donate. Implications of organizational efforts toward the hospital volunteer management are discussed.

     

Does Charging Nonprofit Volunteers Affect Their Satisfaction?

Nonprofits that offer volunteer experiences in foreign countries have long charged fees to their volunteers, but recently some other nonprofit organizations have begun to charge as well. Volunteer attitudes toward such fees have not previously been studied. Product marketing research has suggested that fees can sometimes improve participants’ evaluation of their experience, but public service motivation research seems to suggest that fees will diminish participants’ satisfaction. This study examines the attitudes toward fees of 4,400 volunteers who paid $310 to participate in a week‐long project that built and repaired housing in Appalachia. Although a third of volunteers believed that the fee enhanced their appreciation of the program, an equal proportion disagreed. An even larger percentage of the volunteers believed the fee discouraged some volunteers. Concerns with fees were more common among youth volunteers than adult volunteers and among those who volunteered for altruistic rather than for career reasons. Most volunteers, even those critical of fees, were positive about their volunteer experience, but those who were least positive about the fees were also somewhat less positive about their experience. These results suggest that decisions about volunteer fees must balance the benefits of additional funds for enhanced client services against the likelihood of discouraging some potential volunteers, especially younger or more altruistic volunteers.