What Role Do Volunteers Play In Nonprofit Organizations

Volunteering is often seen as free labor. However, there is a significant cost associated with the recruitment, training, and maintenance of the volunteer force. A full-time staff to oversee the volunteer program is necessary as well to ensure volunteers are being used effectively. The recruitment process varies from advertising to speaking at schools to

“Many people feel a sense of self in doing something for others: friendship, support, bonding and a feeling of belonging are why some people volunteer. I also felt this feeling of belonging when would participate in the Saint Jude Bike-a-thon. Most of my friends and classmates would be there pushing along with me. Volunteering events also provide a great opportunity to meet new people and develop new meaningful relationships with them. The shared experience is usually what bonds people

Often as we grow our schedules we forget to acknowledge the fact that our name does not read “volunteer needed”. It has been said, and I sincerely repeat, that if we fail ever say no than our yes loses its value. A resounding alarm greeted an early six o'clock sunlight that signaled the end of a sleep cycle. Pulling on clothes and a quick flash of vision directed at a schedule summed up the morning other than the arrival to a National Honor Society meeting, which would be followed by a Leo club lunch meeting and trailed by a Business Professionals of America after school practice. A typical day of a Stephenson High School senior displays in this way. They are involved in many activities, both school oriented and community involved. This leaves little to no time to develop personality traits other than ones that involve servitude. While it is important to be involved in the community, overinvolvement decreases the quality of the rendered services and overwhelms the individual performing these service

One of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of our organization is to recruit the best people you can find to volunteer. This doesn’t mean they have to have the most impressive resume. Nor do you have to like them or share common interest. They are the people who will always give 100 percent because not only do they care about what they are doing, but they also know that even if the project at hand does not benefit them, it is still benefitting someone, somewhere. You might ask, why do we, as employees, need to know how to recruit volunteers, how is this task important to the United Way, and when should we recruit volunteers. Or more importantly, what are the steps involved in this process,

“Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together” (Ryan). These words said by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, reflects the words my parents would always say to me when I was little. I would donate old clothes that did not fit, or toys I did not play with anymore. Every summer I would volunteer at my town’s public library, as well as at my church. However, as I got older, doing the simple tasks at the library felt tedious and uninteresting so I stopped volunteering for a while. There were times when I had spare time that could have and should have been put to use volunteering, but I did not have the motivation. However, after being inducted into my High School’s National Honors Society, I needed volunteer hours in order to remain in it. This was the motivation I needed to begin volunteering again.

Nonprofit agencies depend on volunteers. Volunteers can be central to an agency’s core service and possess scarce and important resources: time, talent, and information about clients.

I have experienced admiration and more communication. I addressed the absence and they confirmed their miscommunication. Anthony, my CEO, told me that I am valued and I am doing a good job.He vowed to not let it happen again and apologized. I felt better about the company, but I still feel a little left out, but I guess that is what it is like to be an intern.

America’s gift of volunteerism to my generation has made an impact on the country, and more specifically, my family. With all the things going on in the world today like wars, tough economies, terrorism, natural disasters, and what’s going on in Washington, I feel that everyone is pulling together closer, and wanting to see their communities shine.

You have brought many important points to this week’s discussion, and I agree with majority of them; in particular your argument regarding communication. I render voluntary services in a non-profit organization for many years; I have witnessed how changes are implemented right away. Although that these changes have been analyzed by the leaders and most experienced individuals in the organization, volunteers often are not acquainted of these changes until leaders announce the changes. Despite changes usually lead to the organization improvement, ineffective communication channels leaves a bad taste among the workforce. Almost all changes in the workplace cause uncertainty since most employees may question their ability to adjust to them (self-efficacy).

Burnout is another major issue that plagues volunteers for several reasons. People may not see their work as important or may feel overwhelmed because the lack of new volunteers coming along side to lift up and support the current volunteers. In the article The Revolving Door, the authors argue that there are people volunteering but burnout is a major issue. (Allen, J. 2013) When an agency loses a volunteer, there is a strain put on the rest of the volunteers to pick up the slack and there is a never ending battle to keep people

Perhaps, organizations should apply the classical practices of human resource management (HRM) to the volunteer work environment (Studer, 2015). Initially, these activities start with an orientation that allows the volunteer to gain a sense of the organization and its mission, as well as to expose the volunteers to the organization’s culture and method of operation (Brudney, 1999). Moreover, more extensive use of orientation, training and support practices generates fewer problems had by volunteers, which is associated with fewer problems in the retention of volunteers (Cuskelly et al., 2006). It is important, however, for volunteer coordinators to refer back to the preliminary volunteer interest form. Referring back to the form allows the coordinator to grasp a more comprehensive understanding of the volunteer’s motivations as well as their expertise. With this knowledge, further trainings and development opportunities can be catered more to the various job-specific tasks volunteers are assigned to complete. Job-specific trainings and developmental opportunities make for the best use of volunteer energy as a natural resource (Brudney & Meijs, 2009). Because volunteers donate their time and energy, the more an organization is able to better use the a volunteer’s time and energy, the more beneficial the volunteer is to the organization and the organization

In American society, helping those that are less fortunate has always served as one of our core values. Benjamin Franklin is credited as the first volunteer when he founded a volunteer firefighting company in 1736. During the Civil War, Ladies’ Aid Societies came together providing linen for bandages, wrappings, and many other cloth items. Often times, the volunteer willingly makes concessions in their own schedule to help others or provide services for charitable organizations. What motivates the volunteer to sacrifice their own time in the service of others? In this paper, I will address a variety of factors that drive the individual to give back to their community.

This research is being conducted to investigate volunteer motivation, satisfactions and dissatisfactions. As is stated by Becsi et al (2008), much of the literature in the social sciences focuses on predicting volunteering behaviour with underlying theories of resources availability.

Volunteering is a key element in society, and it has evolved dramatically over time, taking many forms. Before the 1970’s, the main form of volunteering was local club-style groups which emphasized membership and loyalty. One major goal of many of these club-style groups was to promote local pride by conveying to everyone else that their community is great. They glorify volunteering and participation in a way. However, merely conveying this sense of greatness is not enough; these local groups had to find a way to not only promote their community, but also to improve it as well. They do this by hosting fundraisers and charity events in order to raise money and spread awareness for various social issues. These local club-style groups have very broad goals such as making their community more prosperous, but they do not have any specific goals. They are not geared towards solving specific social problems. Instead, their strategy is to just specialize in raising money and awareness to support many different causes, as money can be used to advance almost any cause. These club-style groups stressed the importance of loyalty. Many of its members felt devoted to the groups they were in and would even make space in their schedule to accommodate for meetings and events. Many of the people who participated in such groups were reluctant to skip a meeting, since they viewed the club as not only a long-term commitment but also as a social escape. Some people join these club-style groups

In my five years of active volunteer work with multiple non-profit organizations, I have seen firsthand the lack of attendance of my peers in times of great community need and support from its members. Although it has become more complicated to find time to give back to the community, with a full-time school and work schedule, there is always spare time to give back. The rapidly growing demand for volunteers in communities all across America is increasing and it is everyone’s duty, especially college students, to pay their dues to the