Motivation

Connected to recruitment, supervision, and recognition, these resources on motivation offer general perspectives on why volunteers do what they do.

Related Topics: Recognition | Recruitment | Supervision
5 Unappreciated Reasons Why Volunteers Quit, Tobi Johnson
Altruistic People Have More Sex, Drake Bayer, New York Magazine (online), 2016
Anger Motivates Volunteers as Much as Sympathy, Science Daily, May 6, 2014
Both Receiving and Giving, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2010
Bribing volunteers: Should we be incentivising people for their time?, Rob Jackson (UK), Energize Hot Topic, 2018
A Choice Blend: What volunteers want from organisation and management, Katharine Gaskin, 2003
Cultivation and Critique, Claudia Kuric and Sharon Koll, with contributions by Myrl Weinberg, A Roadmap to Managing Volunteer Systems: From Grassroots to National, National Health Council, 2000
Decide Needed Roles and Set Recruitment Goals, Gary J. Stern, Moblizing People for Marketing Success, Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, 1997
Demand Excellence, Dr. Bill Wittich, pp. 43-44, Knowledge Transfer Publishing, 2002
Don't Let the History Made by Volunteers Fall through the Cracks of Time, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2013
Don’t Just Recognize Volunteers, Invest in Them…and Yourself, Sheri Wilensky Burke, Energize Hot Topic, 2018
Encouraging Entrepreneurial Volunteering, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2006
The Engagement Pyramid: Six Levels of Connecting People and Social Change, Gideon Rosenblatt, Idealware, 2010

What does it mean to "engage people"? Rosenblatt offers a new assessment of engagement levels.

Enough Formal Banquets! Let's Transform Recognition Events, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2000
A Foolproof Tool for Motivating Your Team (and Yourself), Jennifer Dulski, 2013
Fueling Volunteer Passion: Empowering Volunteers to Self-Motivate, Sheri Wilensky Burke, Energize Hot Topic, 2019
Getting to Yes: Strategies for Volunteer Recruitment, Susan J. Ellis, Girl Scout Leader
Good Intentions Going Nowhere -- Again, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2010
Grow Volunteer-Staff Harmony: Plant New Seeds this Spring, Betsy McFarland, Energize Hot Topic, 2018
Happiness of Giving: The Intrinsic Value of Giving and Volunteering on the Quality of Life, Michelle R. Wallpe
The Holiday Season: Going Beyond "Feel-Good" Volunteering, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 1997
How to Recruit Volunteers Using Social Media, 2011
How To Respond to Common Excuses (not to volunteer), Liz O'Donnell, PTO Today, 2016
"I Don't Have Time", Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2006
I'll help with that, but don't ask me to lead it!, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2007
It’s Time to Discuss the Complex Relationship of Volunteering and Money, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2014
Keeping Former Volunteers in Our Circle of Good Friends, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2015
Lessening Social Exclusion through Volunteering, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 1999
Lessons Learned About Leading Volunteers From a Volunteering Working Mom, Sheri Wilensky Burke, Energize Hot Topic, 2019
Make New Friends But Keep the Old..., Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2007
Marketing Savvy - Our Field's Blind Spot, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2003
The Money Factor in Volunteer Management, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 1999
The Moral Obligation of Volunteer Recruitment Promises, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2007
"Oh, By the Way!" The Four Words that Volunteers Hate to Hear, Tom McKee
Prepare: Equipping a Volunteer to Serve, Barry Altland, pp. 81-83, Peppertree Press, 2015
Reaching Out to International Visitors, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 1998
Recruiting is like Dating: Don't Ask For Marriage on a First Date, Tom McKee
Recruitment Maxims, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2005
Save a Life, Win a Car! When Do Incentives to Volunteer Cross the Line?, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2005
Sending Volunteer Talent Down the Drain, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2016
The Seven Deadly Sins of Recruiting Volunteers, Tom McKee
Should Volunteer Program Managers Be Volunteers, Too?, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2007
Should We Ask Volunteers to Give Money on Top of Time?, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2004
The Spice of Life, Justin Davis Smith, Blog, 2015

Commentary on time banking and the "Spice" program in the UK.

Stop Volunteers from Being Their Own Worst Enemies, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2013
The Times They Are a Changin’—Even for Volunteers, Rob Jackson (UK), Energize Hot Topic, 2019
Top Signs of Volunteer Burn-out, Lisa Barker (humorous), 2007
A Volunteer Needs a Good Reason for Doing the Task, Helen Little, Volunteers: How to Get Them, How to Keep Them, pp 37-38, Panacea Press, 1999
Volunteer Recruitment Brochures: How to tap into the marketing power of testimonials, Katherine Khalife, 2002
Volunteering Trend Watch: What Can We Learn from Looking Back?, Cara Thenot, Energize Hot Topic, 2019
Volunteers Just Want to Have Fun, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2005
Voluntourism - Pros, Cons, and Possibilities, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2007
What's the Mystery about Motivation?, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 1998
When Volunteers Resist Change, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2010
Why Don't People Volunteer?, Evelyn Beck, PTO Today, 2015
Why Social Media Is Not the Cure-All for Building Volunteer Engagement, Susan J. Ellis, Energize Hot Topic, 2013

The following articles on this topic were published in our journal, e-Volunteerism. Previews are free; full articles are available to paid subscribers. You may also have 48-hour access to the journal and its full archive for US$10.00.

An Organizational Response to the Working Woman
Are Satisfied Volunteers Motivated to Make the Most Contributions?
Baby Boomers in Action! An Initiative in Iowa to Recruit Baby Boomer Volunteers
Bring Out the Extraordinary Through Continuous Improvement
Changing the Focus on Volunteering: An Investigation of Volunteers' Multiple Contributions for a Charitable Organization
Commitment With or Without a Stick of Paid Work: Comparison of Paid and Unpaid Workers in a Nonprofit Organization
Corporate Volunteer Programs: Maximizing Employee Motivation and Minimizing Barriers to Program Participation
Creating a Volunteer Career Ladder: Evolving Volunteers
Deconstructing Engagement: Beyond the Buzzword
Doing Good Deeds for Love: A New Approach to Volunteering and Forging Relationships
Elf Management
Emphasizing the Personal and Professional Benefits of Service: Encouraging Volunteers to Ask, "What's in It for Me?"
Finding and Keeping Volunteers in Sport and Recreation: What the Research Tells Us
From Volunteer to New Career
From Whose Perspective
Helping Volunteers through Stressful Situations
Identifying Promotional Appeals for Targeting Potential Volunteers: An Exploratory Study on Volunteering Motives among Retirees
Integrity - The Guidepost to Volunteer Relationships
Is Volunteering Rewarding in Itself?
Is Volunteering Work or Leisure?
Knowing When to Stop: A Personal Account of a Manager's Efforts to Help Volunteers
Leader as Coach: Sustaining the Engagement of Your Volunteers
Managing Volunteer Conflict in Churches
Mandated Service - The Future of Volunteering?
Membership Recruitment Made Easy
Millennials: Incorrigible or Innovative?
Missing the Point: Asking the Wrong Questions When Researching Volunteering
One Size Does Not Fit All: Four Models of Involving Volunteers in Small Voluntary Organisations
Perspectives on Membership Development
Preparing for Success: Strategies for Training Teenage Volunteers
Public vs. Private Compassion: Colored Ribbons, T-shirts, and SUVs
Race and Formal Volunteering: The Differential Effects of Class and Religion
Raising Volunteers: Involving Children and Their Families
Research on Volunteerism: What Still Needs to be Done?
Retention vs. Attrition: How to Keep Volunteers Coming Back for Years
Satisfaction among Volunteer Dentists: Serving Underprivileged Elderly in Jerusalem
Selecting Goals and Optimizing Personal Resources: Contributions to the Development of Older Adult Volunteers
Short Term Impact, Long Term Opportunities: The Political and Civic Engagement of Young Adults in America
Show, Don't Just Tell: Writing to Inspire, Motivate and Recruit Volunteers
Special Challenges in International vs. Domestic Volunteering
Star Power: Celebrity Support of Charitable Events and Activities
Storytelling in Volunteer Management
Tailoring Your Recruitment Message: How to Use A/B Testing for Maximum Results
The 'T' Word in Volunteer Management: A Creative Approach to Getting Volunteers into Training
The Language of Leadership
The Volunteer's Fantasies: A Challenge to the Volunteer Manager
Time is Money: Time Dollars and the Money is Value Metaphor
To Volunteer or Not to Volunteer
Trailblazers and Troublemakers: Entrepreneurial Volunteers
Training Adults to Work Successfully with Teenage Volunteers, part 2
Using Skills Analysis Techniques for Successful Volunteer Learning
Using the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) to Strengthen Cross-cultural Volunteer Recruitment and Retention
Volunteer Management and The Art of Letting Small Bad Things Happen
Volunteer Recognition: Can You Do It in a Single Day?
Volunteer Retention and Community Service Self-Efficacy
Volunteer Retention and Feelings of Connection
Volunteering an Opinion: Organizational Voice and Volunteer Retention in Nonprofit Organizations
Volunteering, Self-Help, and Citizenship in Later Life: A Literature Review
Volunteers in Hybrid Organisations: A Marginalised Majority?
What Can Organizations Do to Alleviate Volunteer Stress?
When Management Gets in the Way
Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
World Leisure's Volunteerism Commission
By Judy Esmond. An Executive Summary also available. , 2004, pp. 82
From the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, Singapore , 2008, pp. 40

Results of the Abila Donor Engagement Study: "we decided to dig even deeper into donor behavior, to go beyond just engagement, and see what drives donor loyalty, what types of content donors really like to consume, what actions by an organization annoy donors, what role events and volunteering play, and how donors really feel when it comes to an organization spending money on overhead." Lots about Gen X and the connection of volunteering to giving money. 

, 2016, pp. 22

For Disaster Response Volunteers, First Responders and Disaster Planners, by the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD). Also see VOAD's "Disaster Spiritual Care," a statement of principles about spiritual and emotional support of disaster workers. 

, 2013, pp. 64

Produced by Community Brands, YourMembership, and Abila, this study reports on answers given by over 1,000 association members to what they want from their membership and what keeps them renewing.  

, 2017, pp. 23
Assesses factors that increase male volunteering in service programs and offers concrete approaches to overcoming barriers and designing programs that are attractive to males.
Allison Fine for the Case Foundation. Social Citizens BETA addresses the unique characteristics of Millennials, who have grown up in a digital era, and "are equipped with innovative tools and ideas for bringing about change. This is a paper intended to start a "larger conversation with these 'social citizens, to share new ideas and "challenge perceptions about their approaches to being engaged." , 2013, pp. 65

By Nora L. Silver, based on work done by The Volunteerism Project on volunteering by diverse ethnic/cultural groups. Seven focus groups provided the basis for the book:

  • A Chorus of Voices, African American focus group facilitated by Vicki Clark in Memphis, Tennessee
  • Self-Determination: Messages for Our Native Youth, two American Indian focus groups conducted by Kouslaa Kessler-Mata in Oakland and San Francisco, California
  • Uno Recibe lo que Uno Da: You Get What You Give, Central American focus group conducted in Spanish, facilitated by Coco Mendoza and translated by Gary Wheelock in San Francisco, California
  • Extending the Family, Chinese American focus group conducted by Mae Chao in San Francisco, California
  • Giving Generously, Japanese American focus group conducted by Mami Ishikawa in Berkeley, California
  • Three Continents, Four States, Ten Cities, Korean American focus group facilitated by Debbie Ng in Oakland, California
  • La Gran Familia, Mexican American focus group facilitated by Ramon del Castillo, with simultaneous translation by Patsy Roybal in Denver, Colorado
, 2011, pp. 131
Edited by Andy Fryar, Rob Jackson, and Fraser Dyer. Essays from contributing volunteer managers around the world on attracting the best and most diverse volunteers and then working with them successfully. , 2007, pp. 204
Beyond Recruitment

"An Online Workshop About Recruitment & Maintaining Volunteers in the New Environment" by Community Literacy of Ontario.

Celebrity Volunteers

Several articles both cautioning about and explaining how to recruit and work with celebrities as volunteers, from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Compassion Fatigue UK
Do your volunteers have to cope with "compassion fatigue"? Get advice, training, and resources at this site that promises volunteers it "will help you get back to being brilliant; so that you can remember why you're doing what you're doing and get back to doing it; making that difference to the people you care for."
 
Convio Connection

Sample articles from free bimonthly newsletter for nonprofits on how to attract constituents, drive action, and build loyalty through online relationship management.

Encouraging Involvement in Community Work

Chapter 7 of the "Community Toolbox," with self-teaching modules on gaining participation by community members.

Fenton Communications

Approaches to advocacy communication campaigns. Click on "resources" from the home page to access their free resources.

PTO Today

Wonderful publication and online resource for parent-teacher organizations -- but with all sorts of useful nuggets for ANY all-volunteer organization.

The Serious Leisure Perspective

Canadian academic William A. Stebbins has devoted his career to studying the connection of leisure to work and volunteering,as well as professional to amateur. The site offers a wealth of materials, including a Digital Library of many articles.

Stronger Together: Recruiting and Working with Ethnocultural Volunteers

Online manual by the Central Volunteer Bureau of Ottawa-Carleton (Canada) about how to make volunteer programs attractive and accessible to ethnic minority volunteers, based on input from program managers with experience.

Tag Lines

Clever phrases for recruiting volunteers into virtual volunteering assignments.

Volunteer Recruitment: Tips from the Field

Resource guide compiled by Sarah Jane Rehnborg and Betsy Clubine with a team of volunteer professionals from around the state of Texas.

Print and e-Books in Our Store

Engaging the Head, Heart and Hands of a Volunteer

Engaging the Head, Heart and Hands of a Volunteer

A guide on volunteer motivation and leadership skills for leaders of volunteers to feed the passion of those who choose to serve.

Handling Problem Volunteers

Handling Problem Volunteers

Insightful and humorous guide to dealing with a wide range of problem behaviors exhibited by some volunteers, from irritating to seriously dysfunctional.

Book cover

Keeping Volunteers

Examines the art of keeping volunteers productively connected to the organization including how to enhance volunteer motivation, avoid volunteer burnout, get beyond short-term commitments, and more.

Making Dreams Come True

Making Dreams Come True without Money, Might or Miracles

Inspiration for leaders of volunteers who act at "dream-catchers" every day.  Examine how to keep dreams alive, form dream-nurturing environments, and support volunteers' dreams to reality.

Volunteer Recruitment Book

The Volunteer Recruitment (and Membership Development) Book

Complete guide to recruitment, from designing volunteer roles to assessing your organization’s image to where and how to look for new volunteers. Long chapter on membership development for all-volunteer organizations.

Supervising Volunteers

What We Learned (the Hard Way) about Supervising Volunteers

Advice, wisdom, and experience from over 85 real-life, on-the-job supervisors of volunteers: crystal clear analysis of what works and what doesn't in supervision.

Movie Mondays from 501 Video

"Fun weekly videos to help nonprofits raise money, steward donors, and inspire board members," produced by Chris Davenport with a range of guest presenters.  A new, short video (usually less than 5 minutes) comes out every Monday and you get the link via e-mail. 

Volunteerism: Best platform for personal and professional development

Video of a 2014 TEDxUOttawa talk (11 minutes) by Tuan Nguyen, a young Canadian philanthropist and entrepreneur. Surviving death during his escape after the fall of Viet Nam in 1975, he sees the world from a lens of gratitude and has been the foundation for all his hopes, dreams, and vision. His stories demonstrates how volunteerism (mainly fundraising events) is the best platform for professional and personal development. 

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