Assessing and Promoting Volunteer Engageability

The research reviewed by Laurie Mook in this issue of Research to Practice explores factors that support the engageability of volunteers. As distinct from satisfaction, volunteer engageability is the ability of an organization to provide conditions that maximize the involvement, enthusiasm and commitment of volunteers to the organization’s success. Volunteer satisfaction, on the other hand, relates more to the degree that volunteers are content with their volunteer experience. Based on an extensive literature review, the authors of this research present a conceptual framework of organizational factors contributing to volunteer engageability which they have broken down into four clusters: a value-based cluster, a managerial cluster, a physical cluster and a supportive-connection cluster. The framework can be used as a checklist to assess practices, and also as a tool to advocate for resources for volunteer programs.