Feb
27
2014
Why people volunteer: understanding motivations for volunteering
Understanding the motivations for volunteers is important because it is this understanding which determines the levels and types of support you provide them. The understanding of what people want from their volunteering is the basis upon which you plan your relationship with them. There are four broad categories of motivation and most volunteers will be motivated by one or more of these categories.
Achievement-motivated
The reasons why these volunteers become involved are:
- desire of excellence
- doing a good job
- needing a sense of important accomplishment
- wanting to change/advance career/get a job
- needing feedback
Status-motivated
These volunteers:
- like to lead, give advice
- want prestige, status
- enjoy influencing people and activities
- like their ideas to predominate
Affiliation-motivated
These volunteers:
- like to be popular
- desire friendly relationships
- like to help other people
- dislike being alone at work or play
Therapy- motivated
For people going through/recovering from an emotional crisis or illness, volunteering can be a helpful way back to "normal" life.
An important point to remember is that people's needs change and develop e.g. a volunteer who originally has a strong therapy-need, may get this need met and move onto more of a need for status or achievement. A status-motivated volunteer may have their status needs met and become more motivated by affiliation etc. The skill of the volunteer manager is to recognise volunteers' changing needs and respond to them appropriately.
Managing volunteers
This article is taken from our Managing volunteers course, run by our management trainer Michele Lazarus. This one day course is perfect for anyone responsible for managing volunteers. It covers the essential management principles needed to ensure you give and get the best from your volunteers. The course covers:
- the advantages and disadvantages of working with volunteers
- how to create a volunteer strategy
- recruitment, selection, induction and training
- how to understand what motivates volunteers and how to keep them interested
- different ways to support and supervise volunteers
- working with groups of volunteers
Find out more about this course.
