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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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