Volunteerism in Contemporary US

1. Definition/description: Person who offers him or herself for a service without being paid in return.

How do you get people to volunteer & cooperate with you on a health project? They often don't do it just "out of the goodness of their hearts."

2. Why is volunteerism an issue in today's society?

a. We're too busy & too mobile to make volunteering a high priority in our lives.

b. Too many people working for pay outside the home (single parents, women, even more teens are working jobs)

c. Historically in our society, volunteerism was the domain of wives who stayed at home to raise children - or after the children grew up. She's staying home (not working outside home) so has time to do community service.

d. Volunteering also tends to be higher in "stable" communities - where people don't move in & out rapidly & grow to have a stronger sense of "community"

3. Services volunteers provide, & our society has traditionally relied upon

(some recent studies have shown an upswing in volunteering among young people. That's great, but many tasks that our society depends upon cannot be done by 14-year-olds on their weekends.)

a. many hospital, illness, etc. chores

b. caring for children (we don't pay workers well for this)

c. emergency help

d. caring for the poor - they can't pay for services; e.g., meals, clothing, etc.

e. community projects where no one really "owns" the territory: painting out grafitti, cleaning up vacant lots

4. People's Motivations for volunteering vary.

a. Values: person volunteers to express or act on important values like humanitarianism. "It's important to help others."

b. Understanding: vol. is seeking to learn more about the world or exercise skills that are unused. "Vol. lets me learn thru direct, hands-on experience."

c. Enhancement: One can grow & develop psychologically thru vol. activities. "Vol. makes me feel better about myself." "Giving back to society"

d. Career: Vol. wants to gain career-related experience thru volunteering. "Vol can help me get my foot in the door at a place I want to work."

e. Social: Vol. allows person to strengthen his/her social relationships. "People I know share an interest in community service."

f. Protective: Person uses volunteering to reduce negative feelings such as guilt, or to address personal problems. "Vol is a good escape from my own troubles."

* the first 3, Values, Understanding & Enhancement, are the ones people cite as the most important.

(Clary, E. & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: Theoretical & practical considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 156-159.)

* "Mandatory volunteering" such as some colleges have invoked are not productive for long-term vol. It shifts the responsibility & attribution for why you're doing it to an external force. Best to give people choices. (Stukas, Snyder, & Clary, 1999).

5. Communication strategies for increasing volunteerism

a. organizations offer incentives - e.g., parking priviledges, use of pool etc. facilities

b. release time - you can leave early from work to spend time in the day care facility, to work at phone-a-thon, etc.

c. 2-step requests: (Let's get complex here!) request that someone does a large task & then reduce it to a smaller task if they refuse (door-in-the-face)

ex. Will you donate an 8 hour day to picking up litter around Morgantown? No? Well then, will you drive a car to deliver the workers which will take about an hour? People are more likely to say "yes" to the 2nd request, than if they hadn't had the first request (about 20% avg. increase with 2 step)

d. Reduce anonymity/increase liking: sense of "community" enhances chances that someone will pitch in.

e. Match messages to volunteering motives. if persuasive messages are aligned with person's motives for vol. it increases chances they will do it.

Sources:

Clary, E. & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: Theoretical & practical considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 156-159.)

Clary, E., Snyder, M., Ridge, R., Miene, P., & Haugen, J. (1994). Matching messages to motives in persuasion: A functional approach to promoting volunteerism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 1129-1149.