Why Volunteers Volunteer

By Jack Newell

Recruitment of volunteers requires throught and sensitivity. As a group they should reflect the community geographically and ethnically. Volunteers should be representative of all age groups. There is a tendency to stereotype people and create questionable conclusions about volunteering. One of these is that working people don’t have time and don’t wish to volunteer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Psychological motivations for volunteering include:

Affiliation:	The need to associate with others that includes a sense of belonging, including intimacy and membership in a family or group
Variety:	The need for varied experiences in life; the need to avoid boredom
Self-esteem:	The need to feel useful, capable, and/or important, including a sense of status either within a group or with an individual
Altruism:	The need for self-giving and self-sacrifice
Achievement:	The need to reach important goals
Growth:	The need to develop one’s own abilities or to improve one’s situation in life

Most of us need opportunities beyond work (including homemaking) and the family to satisfy all of these six needs. This is the primary purpose of outside activites. In order to keep a person interested and committed to a volunteer job, it must meet the combination of the above needs that motivate a volunteer at that particular time in his or her life.