Enhancing Inclusion in Volunteer Workforces

Article reviewed: van Overbeeke, P. S.M, Koolen-Maas, S. A., Meijs, L. C.P.M., & Brudney, J. L. (2022). You shall (not) pass: Strategies for third-party gatekeepers to enhance volunteer inclusion. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33(1), 33-45. Open access: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-021-00384-0

In a previous issue, we reviewed a study on measuring volunteerability and the capacity to volunteer among non‐volunteers. This study found that “instead of asking people why they do not volunteer, it is more valuable to ask people if they would be more likely to volunteer if specific barriers were removed” (Haski-Leventhal et al., 2018, p. 1146).

But why, exactly, is this important?

In this Research to Practice, researchers take a deeper dive into this question with a study that provides food for thought on why it is important to target non-volunteers when recruiting for volunteer opportunities. The underrepresentation of some groups in volunteering is an opportunity for volunteer resource managers to work with volunteer-sending agencies – such as volunteer centers and corporate volunteer programs – to contribute to increase diversity and inclusion in workplaces. As cited in the study, “The dominant status theory of volunteering … suggests that individuals who belong to the dominant status group of volunteering possess more sociocultural and socioeconomic recourses (e.g., high levels of education, income). These individuals are more likely to find volunteering opportunities on their own. Our study affirms this view and finds similar results highlighting that individuals with nonvolunteering antecedents are not being asked” (van Overbeeke et al., 2022, p. 41).

Excluded groups include unemployed citizens, ethnic minorities and physically disabled individuals (van Overbeeke et al., 2022). Exclusion is due to both individual and organizational factors. Whereas the Haski-Leventhal et al. (2018) study focused the individual level, van Overbeeke and colleagues (2022) focused on the organizational level. The research question guiding their study was, “What strategies can sending-gatekeepers use to enhance volunteer inclusion in receiving nonprofit organizations?” (van Overbeeke et al., 2022, p. 34). In this exploratory study, they conducted  18 interviews with 12 unique “sender-gatekeepers” in the Netherlands to identify these strategies. The respondents had worked in their positions for two to 10 years, and the interviews were in Dutch. The Netherlands has a strong tradition of volunteering with almost half of the adult population volunteering at least a few times a year (van Overbeeke et al., 2022, p. 42).

Results

The study produced 118 pages of transcriptions and interview notes. Two coders looked for themes related to the research question (strategies to enhance volunteer inclusion) and then organized them into broader themes. They identified three avenues that sending-gatekeepers could use to enhance volunteer inclusion: encouraging, enabling and enforcing.

‘Encouraging’ Recommendations

• Don’t call it volunteering, “call it doing something for someone or society.” (39)
• Go to locations where non-volunteers are found and hold a session or workshop “about different types of volunteering, and what it means for volunteers and their community.” (39)
• Find spokespeople from the communities of non-volunteers to help “break barriers and show them that volunteering is not scary.” (39)
• Have a potential volunteer shadow another: ‘‘We organize activities where current volunteers can bring others, so they can have that [volunteer] experience and might think: ‘That might be nice to do.’’ (39)

‘Enabling the Volunteer’ Recommendations

• Offer workshops or trainings to those who feel they are under-qualified. (39)
• Organize group activities so that potential volunteers can get to know the organization. (39)
• Consider the preferences of the volunteer such as location, length and frequency of service, type of task. (39)
• Match them up with a volunteer-buddy so they have someone to work (and have fun) with. (40)

‘Enforcing’ Recommendation

• Make participation in service mandatory for all employees or students so that those who haven’t volunteered before can be introduced to volunteering. (41)

Implications for Volunteer Resource Managers

With many organizations wanting to increase their workforce diversity, these recommendations may be useful in trying to attract individuals who have never volunteered before – especially because a key reason volunteers actually volunteer is because they were asked. Paying attention to the potential barriers that non-volunteers face that prevent them from volunteering is one strategy. This is something that volunteer resource managers can promote with volunteer-sending organizations as well as in their own organization.

How have you increased the diversity of your volunteer base? Are you attracting people who have never volunteered before? Let us know!

References

Haski‐Leventhal, D., Meijs, L. C., Lockstone‐Binney, L., Holmes, K., & Oppenheimer, M. (2018). Measuring volunteerability and the capacity to volunteer among non‐volunteers: Implications for social policy. Social Policy & Administration, 52(5), 1139-1167. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12342

van Overbeeke, P. S.M, Koolen-Maas, S. A., Meijs, L. C.P.M., & Brudney, J. L. (2022). You shall (not) pass: Strategies for third-party gatekeepers to enhance volunteer inclusion. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 33(1), 33-45. Open access: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-021-00384-0