Building Bridges into the Community: Social Capital in a Volunteering Project for Care Leavers

Volunteering to address poor life outcomes often experienced by care leavers is emphasised in UK policy. Although volunteering is credited with the ability to generate social capital, there is limited research on the impact of volunteering on the social capital of care leavers. This article re‐examines data from an evaluation of a volunteering project for care leavers. It explores in what ways young people's participation in the project constitutes social capital. The findings support the importance of regular face‐to‐face contact and co‐production for young people to become creators of their own social capital.     

Caring and the generation of social capital: Two models for a positive relationship

Johansson S, Leonard R, Noonan K. Caring and the generation of social capital: two models for a positive relationship When caring is linked to social capital, it is generally assumed that the nature of the relationship is that social capital is a resource that can be used for care work. When there is inadequate funding of aged care services by the state, then social capital may be seen as a substitute for economic and human capital. Caring, therefore, is seen as a drain on capital. However, this does not have to be the case. Aged care services, if thoughtfully designed, can not only consume social capital, but also generate it. Two models of elder care, one Swedish and one Australian, have been identified which specifically address the generation of social capital. In each case, the services and facilities have been developed by third‐sector organisations with a strong community development focus, often in the face of resistance from state‐run or medically oriented services.     

Corporate Volunteering: Benefits and Challenges for Nonprofits

In the frame of corporate social responsibility, corporate volunteering is almost exclusively studied from the point of view of companies, while the perspectives of nonprofit organizations are neglected. Hence, this article focuses on the perspective of managers of nonprofit organizations on volunteer partnership projects with for‐profit companies. In the center of this article lie nonprofit managers' strategy and motivation for participating in corporate volunteering, conception of corporate volunteer activities, and the often‐cited win‐win‐win aspect. Key findings suggest that a majority of the questioned nonprofits lack strategic behavior and management tools for undertaking volunteer partnership projects with companies. Nevertheless, corporate volunteering is widely perceived as an opportunity and a promising method of raising donations for nonprofit organizations. This article suggests that the key to successful future cooperation between nonprofits and profit‐oriented organizations lies in the processes of internal evaluation and subsequent strategy development.     

Getting Involved: Exploring Latino GBT Volunteerism and Activism in AIDS and LGBT Organizations

The purpose of this article is to investigate the community involvement (e.g., volunteerism, activism) of Latino gay and bisexual men and transgender persons (GBT) in two areas: AIDS/LGBT and other general causes. Drawing from volunteering and identity theories, we explore the following: Who is likely to get involved? What factors affect variation in the levels of involvement? Where do Latino GBT participate and what do they do? Data come from a cross-sectional sample (N = 643) of Latino GBT in Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California. We found high levels of involvement, but primarily focused on AIDS/LGBT. Involvement appears to be driven by income, early involvement, role modeling, and childhood stigmatization of gender nonconformity.     

Capacity Building Contributions of Short-Term International Volunteers

Previous research suggests that international volunteer service may have both positive and negative effects on host organizations. Applying a capacity-building perspective, this study uses semistructured interviews to ask staff in hosting organizations to identify the main outcomes of short-term volunteer service. These views were compared with perspectives of staff from matched organizations that do not host international volunteers. Findings suggest that international volunteers may increase organizational capacity by supplying extra hands, providing technical and professional skills, contributing tangible resources, and enhancing intercultural understanding. Volunteers may also challenge organizations as they absorb staff time and resources. Staff members from both types of organizations identify individual and institutional variables that may affect the quality of these outcomes, including volunteers' language capacity and the intensity of the service placement.     

Self-Esteem,Self-Efficacy,and Social Connectedness as Mediators of the Relationship Between Volunteering and Well-Being

ABSTRACT

This study examines the potentially mediated relationship between volunteering and well-being. Using survey data from a random sample (N = 2,990) of the population of the state of Victoria, Australia, three hypotheses were tested: Volunteers will report higher well-being than nonvolunteers; volunteers will report higher self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social connectedness than nonvolunteers; self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social connectedness will mediate the relationship between volunteer status and well-being. Results supported the hypotheses and showed that self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social connectedness were all significant mediators of the volunteering–well-being relationship. Increased social connectedness associated with volunteering was found to be the strongest first step in these pathways. This points to the importance of social connection for well-being, but future research using longitudinal designs is required to further test these relationships and provide the capacity for evidence of causality.     

First-Aid Activities and Well-Being: The Experience of Professional and Volunteer Rescuers

ABSTRACT

While several studies have highlighted the negative consequences of trauma exposure on rescuers’ health, the psychological factors promoting rescuers’ well-being have rarely been investigated. The present study aimed at analyzing the quality of rescuing experience among professionals and volunteers of the Italian Red Cross. The experiences of 14 professional and 11 volunteer ambulance rescuers were examined through the repeated assessment of their subjective evaluations of daily activities and contexts in real time. Their experience fluctuation pattern was analyzed based on the levels of environmental challenges and personal skills perceived during daily activities. Both professionals and volunteers reported frequent exposure to highly challenging situations while rescuing and associated this activity with high concentration, involvement, and control. Perceptions of anxiety were significantly more frequent among volunteers. For both groups, first-aid activities were reported to provide optimal experience, a complex and rewarding condition characterized by the perception of high challenges matched with adequate skills. Results suggested that working as rescuers can promote well-being through optimal experiences. The potential for skill refinement and individual development embedded in rescuing activities, together with individual characteristics, should be taken into account in designing training programs for professionals and volunteers.     

The Impact of Work and Volunteer Hours on the Health of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Objective: To examine the impact of work and volunteer hours on 4 health issues among undergraduate college students. Participants: Full-time undergraduate students (N = 70,068) enrolled at 129 institutions who participated in the Spring 2011 American College Health Association–National College Health Assessment II survey. Methods: Multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression were used to examine work and volunteer hour impact on depression, feelings of being overwhelmed, sleep, and physical activity. Results: The impact of work and volunteer hours was inconsistent among the health outcomes. Increased work hours tended to negatively affect sleep and increase feelings of being overwhelmed. Students who volunteered were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines, and those who volunteered 1 to 9 hours per week reported less depression. Conclusions: College health professionals should consider integrating discussion of students' employment and volunteering and their intersection with health outcomes into clinical visits, programming, and other services.     

Cooperative Membership and Community Engagement: Findings From a Latin American Survey

Cooperatives as organization have mainly been explored in the field of business and management due to their operation in the business sector, and studies of nonprofit organizations have given little attention to them. Consequently, cooperatives studies have tended to examine economic outcomes, such as productivity and job security, comparing them to conventional business firms. Nevertheless, cooperatives are membership associations and have organizational characteristics in common with other types of voluntary associations. Furthermore, one explicit organizational principle of cooperatives is concern for community, and their contributions to the community have been covered frequently by media. Therefore, it is imperative to examine cooperative members’ community engagement, and compare it to other types of association members. Using a national sample of Venezuelans, the relationships between association memberships and community involvement were compared across different types of associations. The results showed that cooperative members had a higher likelihood of being involved in community matters than those from other types of associations. Although the Venezuelan cooperatives have received vast support from the Chavez government for community development, this result can have an implication on the cooperatives’ organizational identity as those who provide members with resources necessary for civic engagement beyond the organizations.