Volunteering motivation – activity as identity work I volunteer! - seminar, Helsinki 6.3.2008

1. Volunteering motivation – activity as identity workI volunteer! - seminar, Helsinki 6.3.2008 Henrietta Grönlund MTh, researcher University of Helsinki Department of Practical Theology

2. Today • Volunteering – what are we talking about • Why do people volunteer? • Values in volunteering • Volunteering as identity work • What to offer individuals in ”new volunteerism”

3. Un-paid, non-profit Voluntary For others /common good Often organized Multiple fields and ways of action Multiple societal roles Individual perspective: our topic today Volunteering – what is it?

4. Why volunteer and why not?(Yeung 2002) • Volunteers’ most important reason: • 41% say ”I want to help” • Other reasons: • Social factors (new & existing social connections) • Extra time, wish to be usefull • Life experieneces, world views • Hobby, working experience, learning • Non-volunteers’ most important reason: • 44% say ”I have no time” • 13% No special reason • 11% No one has ever asked me

5. In their own words “Even in Finland there are all kinds of people who need help, children and elderly and all kinds of lonely people. --- In a way my eyes have opened up to the fact that there are a lot of people who will miss out on quite a lot if you don’t do something or help. (a 30-year-old woman)” “We have so much of everything. I think what’s more for me is away from someone else, and in my opinion, we already have quite enough. It’s time to start giving something to those others.”(a 29-year-old man) “I know how it feels. Even though I don’t talk about it very much. I know that children and youth who have experienced something like that need a lot of support.” (a 29-year-old woman)

6. “Every citizen should fulfill a share of helping the elderly in some form. But here it’s like out of sight out of mind.” (a 33-year-old man) “So you meet other people who think the same way. --- It doesn’t necessarily have to be anything special that you accomplish If you can create that some kind of an atmosphere… That becomes the reason you are together.” (a 26-year-old woman) “ When you have a calling from God, you can’t get rid of it. If I didn’t [volunteer] I’d feel a lot worse. In a way even if it’s often hard and you have to pay the price and it’s a kind of a sacrifice, you can’t not do it.” (a 26-year-old man)

7. ” I don’t know if it’s naive, but I think that at least I’m doing something now. In a way it gives you a feeling of consolation. It’s like I’ve always known that I want to try to influence some things and that they’re important to me. But I haven’t [gotten to it] so that I would start to work for those things.” (a 26-year-old woman) “I could never imagine volunteering just for the fun of it. For me it always involves this viewpoint of the disabled in a really strong way.” (a 36-year-old woman) “I get acceptance and support from the group. --- It’s part of my social network. And having the feelings of succeeding, being chosen” (a 25-year old woman)

8. Levels of motivation

9. Values in volunteering • Values: • Goals which motivate action • Normative, justified • Yet also emotional, often unconscious • Change very slowly • Traditional volunteering values: • Benevolence • Sense of duty • Conformity • Tradition • Late modern value shift

10. Basic values according to Schwartz (e. g. 1992)http://eco.ittralee.ie/personal/theories_III.php

11. Cultural change towards individualism:from collective to reflexive volunteering (Hustinx & Lammertyn 2003) 1. Collective, traditional volunteering • Commitment • Community • Sense of duty • Religion, ideology • Continuance to identity and life story 2. Reflexive, new volunteering • Independence • Difficulty in commitment • Momentary • Individually focused motives mixed with altruism • Volunteering used in identity work and for example crises

12. Changing map of volunteering values • Traditional volunteering values: benevolence, sense of duty, conformity, tradition • New volunteering values: universalism, self-direction, stimulation • And even: power, achievement, and hedonism • Are organizations changing accordingly?

13. Volunteering as a channel for identity work • Authorities, tradition and duties questioned • Families, neighborhoods no longer offer communities • Life styles, world views, communities are chosen → Individuals are facing the difficult choices relatively alone → Need arenas for identity work: • Ones image of him/herself: roles, personality, world view, values • To make them visible, true, recognized (even for oneself) • Volunteering an ideal arena for identity work: • Fluid, flexible • Always available • Often ideological, value-based

14. Thus: new volunteering • Need for communities sustains • Individuality, self-direction does not mean selfishness • Change in commitment does not mean lack of interest • Volunteering opportunities are needed to realize and carry out values, to do ”identity work” • The deepest motives sustain: • Helping, doing good • Belonging, being together • Being needed, useful • But the guiding ”impulse motives” change • New ways of operating are needed from organizations

15. Volunteer’s perspective • Volunteers are the most satisfied with their volunteering experience when… • It is for an issue of personal importance • They feel needed and valued • It is meaningful, interesting work → Content and ways of operating → Recruiting and matchmaking (volunteer & right position) → Training and commitment → Long term satisfaction → In everything: answering their motivation

16. How to work with ”new volunteers”? • Offer: experiences, social rewards, feelings of community • Make identity work or identification to joint values possible • Offer short-term, interval and project volunteering as well • Make it flexible and easy, fun and rewarding • But don’t forget the deep value motives, the ”meaning of volunteering” • Quality, rewards and experiences expected from organizers • On the other hand: volunteering a unique way to carry out motivation • Need and possibilities for voluntary sector are extreme! • From the perspective of societies • communities • and individuals • Meaningful ways of activity are needed in consumerism and competition

17. Time for questions and comments! Henrietta Grönlund MTh, researcher University of Helsinki, Department of Practical Theology henrietta.gronlund@helsinki.fi