How UK universities engage with their local communities: a study of employer supported volunteering

• In 2000, the UK Prime Minister pledged that employers should be encouraged to release staff for 1 day a year to undertake volunteering activity. Many and varied programmes are being set up to assist employees to volunteer, whether during work hours or in their own time. This is called employer supported volunteering (ESV). This paper discusses the increasing use of ESV and aims to provide an understanding of the key concepts of this phenomenon. An E‐mail survey was completed of all 122 universities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. University websites linked to volunteering for staff and students were also examined. Responses were received from 65 institutions (a response rate of 53%). This initial research reveals that university commitment to ESV varies across the sector. Many universities support staff volunteering and informally encourage links with the local community through voluntary activity but only seven institutions had developed a formal policy allowing staff time off work to volunteer. From this initial research, three best practice universities have emerged and their activities are discussed. The next stage in this project is to research the areas identified and to explore the extent of volunteering by university staff and staff attitudes to volunteering with a view to provide a full picture of ESV in the UK university sector.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The people behind the scenes: Episodic volunteering at fundraising events

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have become increasingly dependent on episodic volunteers (EVs), those that would help carry out an event with little training and expectation to commit to future events. Despite its importance to the survival of NPOs, the use of EVs with respect to fundraising has received little research focus. Furthermore, none of the existing studies identified examined how fundraising EVs differ from other EVs. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of fundraising EVs using a global perspective. Data were generated using surveys distributed in seven countries, tallying more than 4,000 respondents. Variables included demographic characteristics, previous donation and volunteer history, motives, mode of volunteering, and overall experience. The data were analyzed by applying between-group (logistic regression on participation) and within-group analysis (ordered logistic regression on willingness to participate in the future). Data were further analyzed by examining differences by country. We found that country, gender, religion, income, employment, history of donations, mode of volunteering, and several motives, both intrinsic and extrinsic, were significant in the logistic regression analysis of participation in fundraising episodic volunteering. The ordered logistic analysis unexpectedly found that the only predictors to foster a willingness to engage again were the responsiveness of the event team and a desire to fulfill spiritual satisfaction. In recruiting and selecting EVs for fundraising events, NPOs should consider previous or current donors and those with regular volunteering experience and they should market volunteer opportunities towards those in search of spiritual fulfillment and meaning. Moreover, NPOs should prioritize quick and clear communication with fundraising EVs in order to foster a willingness to volunteer again. Lastly, NPOs should regularly assess for country-specific factors and contexts that may affect episodic volunteering in fundraising events. Our paper illustrates who fundraising EVs are, their motives, how they choose to volunteer, and what contributes to their willingness to volunteer again. Given the limited research on fundraising EVs, this study serves to help lay the foundation of research for this unique subgroup. Our aim was to not only address the dearth of literature but serve as a springboard for future research on fundraising EVs.     

Skills-based volunteering: A systematic literature review of the intersection of skills and employee volunteering

Skills-based volunteering programs sit at the intersection of corporate philanthropy and human resources (HR). These programs enable employees to volunteer their specialized skills to support non-profit organizations, while developing new skills along the way. While these programs are the fastest growing way that firms deliver on their corporate social responsibility strategy, the academic literature has all but ignored them. However, there is ample opportunity to build an understanding of skills-based volunteering from existing research that crosses the realms of employee volunteering and skills. This systematic literature review of 36 peer-reviewed articles forms the basis of this paper, where we provide a definition of skills-based volunteering, and offer a theoretical model to guide future HR research and practice on skills-based volunteering.     

Charity shop volunteers: a case for ‘tender loving care’

The main purpose of this paper, which features all the shop volunteers in the town of Ruislip (and some in a neighbouring town), is to build a picture of the volunteer workforce and to note some distinguishing features about volunteer groupings that have been identified. It discusses some of the management challenges facing charities in marshalling their volunteers and notes the very important part the local shop manager plays in that process. Finally it discusses some of the consequences to volunteering of the migration to ‘professionalism’. It is suggested that charities, by understanding what is happening to volunteering in the retail sector, will extract maximum contribution from the efforts of their volunteers, present and future. A competitive edge may be found by some if they employ a humanistic approach to the management of volunteers. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

Volunteer tourism as an emerging trend or an expansion of ecotourism? A look at potential clients' perceptions of volunteer tourism organisations

• Volunteer tourism (VT) has recently been proposed as an alternative to ecotourism to link tourism and nature conservation. It is believed that VT represents an emerging tourism sector for vacationers who want to make a difference during their holidays. This investigation questions this belief using potential tourists' perceptions of volunteer tourism organisations.
• Through a multiple sorting procedure, respondents interpreted the promotional material of volunteer tourism organisations to describe this form of tourism and differentiate between organisations. The results suggested that respondents distinguish between organisations offering a volunteering experience and a holiday experience.
• Furthermore, the respondent's level of familiarity with expedition activities was important, as respondents with a high level of familiarity seek different benefits from their experience. The study suggests that volunteer tourism is a diverse sector, with different emphases on holiday and volunteering elements.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The functions and norms that drive university student volunteering

• Young adult volunteers are vital to the current and future operations of nonprofit organizations yet many countries report low and declining volunteer participation by this group. Moreover, university students are a particularly under‐utilized and under‐researched segment of potential young adult volunteers. As such, the current study examines the functions and norms that drive university students to volunteer. A survey of 282 students indicates that the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) does not adequately explain the volunteering of today's university students. For instance, t‐tests reveal that the importance of the VFI functions among current students differs significantly to the importance of the functions among the previous generation of students. Also, factor analysis shows that the structure of the VFI model is unstable for the current sample while multiple regression reveals that the VFI explains only 11% of university student volunteering. In contrast, χ²‐tests indicate that volunteering by university students is dependent on the observed volunteering of primary reference group members (i.e., parents, siblings, close friends). The results suggest that nonprofit organizations may need to revise their recruitment strategies for today's university students: rather than appealing to the functional benefits of volunteering, positioning volunteering as the ‘normal’ thing to do may be more successful. Further research is needed to develop a richer understanding of reference group influences on the volunteering behavior of today's young adults.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does it Pay to Work for Free? Negative Selection and the Wage Returns to Volunteer Experience

This paper offers the first instrumental variables estimates of the wage returns to volunteer experience. The returns are substantial and differ considerably by gender. The results imply that the unequal valuation of volunteer experience by gender is more important in explaining the gender earnings gap than is the unequal valuation of part‐time paid work experience. The results also indicate negative selection into unpaid work. In a simple model of optimal volunteering, negative selection implies that a lower cost of volunteering would produce both an expanded and higher‐skilled pool of volunteers, and greater societal benefits from volunteer work.     

Improving volunteer retention efforts in public library systems: how communication and inclusion impact female and male volunteers differently

Although volunteer levels are near all‐time highs, volunteer coordinators are increasingly spending more time on retention efforts. The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of organizational communication and inclusive behaviors on volunteers' intention to continue volunteering. Through a survey of 472 volunteers in three library systems, research revealed that two organizational communication theories can improve the effectiveness of volunteer coordinator efforts. Specifically, structural equation modeling revealed that social group inclusion and overall participation in organizational events were the strongest predictors of female volunteers' future intentions to volunteer whereas event participation, being included in the organization's information network, and participating in decision making were the strongest predictors for male volunteers. Relationship indicators successfully predicted which volunteers were most likely to continue volunteering. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pathways through trusteeship: Responding to the trustee recruitment crisis

Getting on Board 2017 suggests that the recruitment of trustees to the Board of Trustees (henceforth volunteer trustees) by charities in the United Kingdom is in a state of crisis. This report and a range of other stakeholders offer advice and guidance about recruitment, but attention to what motivates individuals to become trustees is lacking. Drawing upon the Pathways Through Participation framework , we argue that an important part of addressing the crisis in trustee recruitment is to consider the motivations of volunteer trustees in tandem with their resources and triggers for volunteering. We draw upon a study of 14 volunteer trustees of learning disability charities to explore how a critical understanding of volunteer trusteeship as a pathway through participation provides a full and rounded picture of trustee recruitment. Building on other research on volunteer recruitment and markets, we argue that recruitment can be improved when charities better understand what motivates their volunteer trustees. We recommend that charities consider trusteeship as a pathway through participation as part of their recruitment practices.     

The relevance of reputation in the nonprofit sector: the moderating effect of socio-demographic characteristics

This paper extends prior research on the reputation of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) by investigating the moderating role of socio-demographic characteristics in forming NPO reputation and reputation's effects on donating and volunteering behavior. The findings offer new insights into the role an NPO's reputation plays and its effects on key outcomes such as willingness to donate and work as a voluntary member in specific subgroups. The results show that successful reputation management is specifically important for male, older, highly educated, and affluent respondents. Communicational measures aimed at strengthening an organization's social responsibility are particularly promising regarding triggering favorable donor behavior and voluntary support. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fast-tracking expatriate development: the unique learning environments of international volunteer placements

International volunteering has traditionally been viewed as a pursuit that, while admirable, provided little benefit for the volunteer beyond altruistic satisfaction. Yet several recent studies suggest that an international volunteer placement can fast-track the development of valuable global skills and capabilities. To date, no research has offered a systematic explanation for this. This article presents a framework that outlines the unique mechanisms of international volunteer placements that contribute to them being fertile learning environments for expatriates. In doing so, it draws on evidence from a longitudinal study of the learning experiences of a sample of international volunteers from Australia and New Zealand.     

Shrinking the state or the Big Society? Public service employment relations in an era of austerity

The Big Society is an integral part of the coalition's plans for public service retrenchment, but it is premature to dismiss it as exclusively concerned with expenditure cuts and privatisation. The Big Society signals the government's ambition to transform public services and it is the rubric that is being used to shrink the state and undermine long‐standing systems of public service employment relations. This article considers the origins and meaning of the Big Society and then assesses its consequences for public service provision and the workforce. The Big Society is integrally connected to deficit reduction with the voluntary sector and an increased emphasis on volunteering promoted as a more user‐centred and cost‐effective way of delivering public services in tough times. For the workforce, more competition between diverse providers in conjunction with budget cuts is placing downward pressure on terms and conditions and encouraging employers to question the continuation of national pay determination in many parts of the public sector.     

Making Government Volunteering Policies More Effective

Faced with declining civic trust on the one hand and increasing fiscal stringency on the other, many governments have issued policies to encourage volunteering, or to mandate departments and agencies to recruit and involve volunteers in their work. Little research has been undertaken to follow up on these initiatives. This article reports the results of a study comparing two health and social service trusts in Northern lreland with respect to their response to governmental policies to incorporate volunteers into the provision of health and social service care. The study examines the priority accorded by the trusts to the implementation of these policies; the support they give to volunteer administration and management and the missing links in this process.

A central theme of the study is the role played by the volunteer co-ordinator in promoting and sustaining a volunteer programme in the trust. The article first examines the policy context for volunteering in Northern lreland and indicates how policy was implemented in the health and social service trusts. The article then turns to the research design and methodology used in the study. Following a presentation of the findings, the article concludes with a discussion of the findings and their Implications for research and practice in the implementation of statutory volunteer policy.     

Learning and development opportunities as a tool for the retention of volunteers: a motivational perspective

The growing reliance on volunteers in Australia has heightened the need for non‐profit organisations to retain these valuable resources. However, the current literature on volunteer retention is limited. One potential way volunteers can be retained is by providing learning and development opportunities (LDOs). This study investigates the relationship between volunteer perceptions of LDOs, their motivations for volunteering, and retention. Analyses revealed significant main effects for LDOs and volunteer motivations on retention and several interactive effects demonstrating that LDOs can have differential effects on retention depending on the reasons for volunteering.     

Who volunteers? Constructing a hybrid theory

This paper describes three major theoretical perspectives in research on volunteering: social theories that stress the importance of context, roles, and integration; individual characteristic theories that emphasize values, traits, and motivations; and resource theories that focus on skills and free time. It unites research from multiple disciplines into a single hybrid model, performs a preliminary test of the model on a nationally representative US dataset, and concludes with recommendations for scholars and practitioners. Using the 1995 Midlife in the US dataset, we operationalized concepts from each theoretical category and found that variables measuring each perspective played a substantial and independent role in predicting volunteering. Our hybrid model, which includes significant variables from each theory, offers some directions for recruitment and retention by showing how social roles and networks can constrain or encourage volunteering at different stages of the life course. As social roles and networks are both highly predictive and easily observed, volunteer managers can use them to recruit and retain volunteers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying promotional appeals for targeting potential volunteers: an exploratory study on volunteering motives among retirees

This paper examines whether older adult volunteers share similar or diverse motives for volunteering. Previous research has often treated senior citizen volunteers as a homogenous group that is significantly different from other cohorts. This paper argues that the senior citizen segment is far from homogeneous in its motives for, and behaviour towards, volunteering, which may have a significant impact on the effectiveness of recruitment and promotional campaigns. An exploratory study was conducted and, as expected, interviewees identified a variety of benefits sought from volunteering. There was considerable variability in the importance of these benefits among respondents, suggesting that further clustering would be useful. Implications for recruitment and promotional campaigns are discussed. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

The Methodological and Ethical Issues of Conducting Management Research in the Voluntary Sector

This article discusses the methodological and ethical issues involved in conducting research in the voluntary sector. By outlining a proposed research strategy the authors highlight the challenges and issues that voluntary sector researchers face. The article concludes that the nature of the voluntary sector and the unique characteristics of voluntary organizations not only impact on the development of voluntary sector management theory but also on the research design, ethics and practices adopted for empirical studies into voluntary organizations.     

A process model of volunteer motivation

Traditional HR functions of recruitment, selection, training/development, and retention must be adapted when managing a volunteer workforce. While much research has focused on what motivates people to volunteer, very little has focused on the process of volunteer motivation. In this paper, we move beyond the traditional content-based approaches to explain how people decide whether to volunteer, how much effort to expend, and then whether to continue volunteering over time. Our model, based on image theory, provides new insights into volunteer decision making and behavior.     

The third way: The repositioning of the voluntary sector

This paper explores some of the ways in which the voluntary sector can enter into a series of professional and creatively led communications alliances with the burgeoning media/communications industry. From design to advertising, from programme making to telecommunications, from regulatory bodies to multimedia companies, the paper demonstrates how the formation of the media/communications industry is at a critical stage of its life cycle having witnessed an almost meteoric proliferation of skills, profiles, professional codes and competences. The paper demonstrates that with its emphasis on creative skills, its ability to amplify and legitimise social messages and values and its constitution being determined by portfolio ‘specialist’ careers the media/communications industry presents a unique opportunity for the renewal of the voluntary sector. It also argues that the professional rules of the media/communications industry, its alliances and its ethical codification still have to be defined. Further, that this definition is integral to the growth of a profession and could, if channelled effectively, underpin the repositioning of the voluntary sector for the 21st century.