Angela Ellis Paine

Voluntary Action in the 21st Century

We began this book by arguing that the way in which volunteering is commonly understood and discussed by practitioners, policy-makers and researchers – what we call the ‘dominant paradigm’ – is so narrow and inadequate as to resemble a ‘flat-earth map’ on which much of the terrain is ‘dark matter’. From this perspective, volunteering is seen essentially as an activity which is motivated by altruism – the desire to help others less fortunate than oneself; which takes place in the broad area of social welfare – for the benefit of people ‘ in need’; which is organised by large, professionally staffed and formally structured organisations for which volunteers represent an additional resource; and which involves selection, induction and, possibly, training for specific and pre-determined roles or functions.

Making Sense of Volunteering: Perspectives, principles and definitions

This chapter and the one that immediately follows it represent an attempt to make sense of volunteering by capturing the full extent of the phenomenon and the rich variety of the forms it can take. We start from the premise that the general perception of volunteering is based on what David Horton Smith (2000) has called, in a different context, a ‘flat-earth map’. In other words, the picture most people have of voluntary action is incomplete; while some of its features are clearly defined, many more of them are ‘dark matter’ (ibid.) which remains relatively unknown and largely unexplored.

A Changing Society

In this chapter, we review the changes that have taken place, and are taking place, in our society in order to provide a better understanding of the context in which voluntary action takes place today. We will look in turn at demographic trends, the changing relationship between the individual and society and contemporary values and mores. In the second part of the chapter, we will draw out some of the key implications of these changes for the future of volunteering and the practices of volunteer-involving organisations.

Making Volunteering Inclusive

While the stereotyped image of the typical volunteer is far from true, it remains the case – as earlier chapters have noted – that participation in voluntary action is not evenly distributed across the United Kingdom’s population. There are some key groups whose involvement is comparatively rare. Exploring the reasons behind these patterns of volunteering, in particular identifying barriers to participation, and identifying and taking the necessary steps to make volunteering more inclusive has become a key component of volunteering practice, policy and research across the United Kingdom. It is also the focus of this chapter.

Defending the Spirit of Volunteering from Formalisation

We began this book by discussing the diversity of volunteering, the variety of forms that it takes, the range of people that get involved, and the multitude of motivations that they have for doing so. Subsequent chapters have noted that volunteering has gone through something of a transformation in recent years. One of the most profound set of changes to affect volunteering has been those caused by the process of formalisation. Despite the diversity of volunteering and those who engage in it, the process of formalisation and its impacts appear, at least on the surface, to be widespread.

Motivation and Recruitment: Why and how do volunteers come?

This chapter discusses why people choose to give freely of their time for voluntary action. There is a compelling logic to uncovering what motivates volunteers; from a practical standpoint understanding why people are moved to volunteer is potentially useful information for recruiting more volunteers. Clary et al. (1996) note that volunteering is often not easy, people have to overcome a series of obstacles to become volunteers. What then drives them to overcome these barriers?

Rewards and Retention: Why do volunteers stay?

The previous chapter addressed motivations to volunteer by considering how participation might be explained in terms of meeting personal needs and how attitudes and attributes influenced decisions to volunteer. In this chapter, we look at retention – what makes people stay (or not) in organisations once they have taken the decision to become involved.

Measuring the Impact of Volunteering

The language of regulation, accountability and performance measurement has become as familiar across the third sector as it is in the public and private sectors (see, for example, Billis and Harris, 1996; Ellis, 2008; Kendall and Knapp, 1996). Monitoring, evaluation and impact measurement have become part of everyday organisational life (Ellis, 2008; Wainwright, undated). Organisations have to prove their worth and provide evidence to back up claims of their effectiveness. As Saxton and Greenwood (2006: p. 2) put it, ‘We must replace trust with evidence’.

UK Volunteering in International Perspective

The increased interest in volunteering from policy-makers, as noted in Chapter 1, has not been restricted to the United Kingdom. Volunteering has histories in the United States and in parts of Europe, but its importance and the attention it is receiving is increasing everywhere. The 2001 UN IYV saw 126 countries set up volunteering committees to draw attention to the work of volunteers and the four aims of the year – promotion, recognition, facilitation and networking – were intended to enhance the profile of volunteering with governments and citizens everywhere (IVR, 2002).

Capturing the Diversity of Voluntary Action

In this, the second of two chapters in which we attempt to capture the full picture of the range and diversity of volunteering, we will look at typologies of volunteering and attempts to distinguish between different kinds of volunteers. The three-perspective model introduced in Chapter 2 has already presented one typology of volunteering, but here we will review authoritative alternative approaches before turning our attention to some useful typologies of volunteers.