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Are people who are required to do unpaid service really "volunteers"? To which
we answer: Who knows? And then add: Does it matter?
Every academic study every done on the motivations of volunteers concludes that
there are multiple reasons people choose to contribute their time and talents
in unremunerated service. We can't look into the heart of every volunteer to determine
purity of motive or degree of enthusiasm for the cause. In practice, we are behaviorists.
What matters is how well people perform their work, their attitude or tone, and
their dependability and commitment. Just as occasionally a volunteer without any
external requirements to give service may prove undependable or may depart without
fulfilling a commitment made, so can someone who came to us through a mandate
end up providing extraordinary service.
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