Volunteering 1

Volunteering
Volunteer, Volunteers and Volunteerism redirect here. For
other meanings, see Volunteer (disambiguation) , Voluntarism
(disambiguation) or Voluntary (disambiguation).
In general terms, volunteering is the practice of people working on
behalf of others or a particular cause without payment for their time
and services. Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity,
intended to promote good or improve human quality of life, but people
also volunteer for their own skill development, to meet others, to make
contacts for possible employment, to have fun, and a variety of other
Volunteers with Hands On Miami help out at Zoo
reasons that could be considered self-serving. Miami.

Volunteering takes many forms and is performed by a wide range of

people. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work in, such as medicine, education, or
emergency rescue. Other volunteers serve on an as-needed basis, such as in response to a natural disaster or for a
beach-cleanup.
In a military context, a volunteer army is an army whose soldiers chose to enter service, as opposed to having been
conscripted. Such volunteers do not work for free and are given regular pay.
Since the popularization of the Internet, many volunteers (particularly with access to the Web) discover volunteer
opportunities via online services.

Social capital
The social capital generated by volunteering plays a key role in economic regeneration . Where poverty is endemic
to an area, poor communities lack friends and neighbors able to help. Thus, voluntary mutual aid or self-help is an
important safety net. This model works well within a state because there is a national solidarity in times of adversity
and more prosperous groups will usually make sacrifices for the benefit of those in need .

Skills-based volunteering
Skills-based volunteering refers to volunteering in which the volunteer is specifically trained in the area they are
volunteering in . This is in contrast to traditional volunteering, where specific training is not required. The average
hour of traditional volunteering is valued by the Independent Sector at between $18–20 an hour. Skills-based
volunteering is valued at $40–500 an hour depending on the market value of the time.[1]

Virtual-volunteering
Virtual volunteering, also sometimes called as eVolunteering, online volunteering or micro-volunteering, is a term
describing a volunteer who completes tasks, in whole or in part, offsite from the organization being assisted, using
the Internet and a home, school, telecenter or work computer or other Internet-connected device, such as a PDAs or
smartphone. Virtual volunteering is also known as cyber service, telementoring, and teletutoring, and various other
names. Virtual volunteering is similar to telecommuting, except that, instead of online employees who are paid, these
are online volunteers who are not paid. Micro-volunteering via smart-phone was pioneered by a San Francisco-based
social enterprise called The Extraordinaries in 2008.[2] [3] [4]
Here is an example of an eVolunteer opportunity for wildlife conservation. [5]
Volunteering 2

Environmental-volunteering
Environmental volunteering refers to volunteers who contribute towards environmental management. Volunteers
conduct a range of activities including environmental monitoring, ecological restoration such as re-vegetation and
weed removal, and educating others about the natural environment.

Volunteering in schools
School systems around the world rely heavily on volunteers and
donations in order to run effectively. In some countries, whenever the
economy is down, the need for volunteers and resources increases
greatly.[6] There are many opportunities available in the school system
for volunteers to take advantage of, especially if you have a special
skill or trade. There are not many requirements in order to become a
volunteer in the school system. Whether you are a parent, grandparent
or just a community member most schools just require a volunteer
form be completed. Much like the benefits of any type of volunteering
Children cart dirt and debris away during a
there are great rewards for the volunteer, student, and school.
community clean-up day in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
These benefits include but are not limited to:
School Benefits – Provided with additional service without having to have added costs, Teachers are given extra
time for educational purposes and planning, A positive relationship between the community and the school.
Volunteer Benefits – Parents become involved in their child’s school and education, New talents that one never
knew they had are discovered, A sense of personal satisfaction, Ability to meet new people and develop new
friendships.
Student Benefits – Students are given a positive role model, Educational success is encouraged and improved.

Corporate volunteering and employee volunteering

A majority of the companies at the Fortune 500 allow their employees to volunteer during work hours. These
formalized Employee Volunteering Programs (EVPs), also called Employer Supported Volunteering, are regarded as
a part of the companies' sustainability efforts and their social responsibility activities.[7] According to information
from VolunteerMatch, a service that provides Employee Volunteering Program solutions, the key drivers for
companies that produce and manage EVPs is that it builds brand awareness and affinity, strengthens trust and loyalty
among consumers, enhances corporate image and reputation, improves employee retention, increases employee
productivity and loyalty and provides an effective vehicle to reach strategic goals[8]

Community volunteering
Community volunteering refers to volunteers who work to improve community enhancement efforts in the area in
which they live. Neighborhood, church, and community groups play a key role in building strong Cities from the
neighborhoods up. Supporting these understaffed groups can enable them to succeed in a variety of areas, which
connect social, environmental, and economic boundaries. Volunteers can conduct a wide range of activities. Some
choose to support a variety of groups as a "volunteer broker."
Volunteering 3

Politics
In almost all modern societies, the most basic of all values is people helping people and, in the process, helping
themselves. But a tension can arise between volunteering and the state-provided services, so most countries develop
policies and enact legislation to clarify the roles and relationships among stakeholders and identify and allocate the
necessary legal, social, administrative, and financial support. This is particularly necessary when some voluntary
activities are seen as a challenge to the authority of the state, e.g. on 29 January 2001, President Bush cautioned that
volunteer groups should supplement, not replace, the work of government agencies.[9] Volunteering that benefits the
state but challenges paid counterparts raises the ire of labor unions representing the paid counterparts as in the case
of volunteer fire departments, particularly in combination departments.

International workcamps
An international workcamp is an international voluntary project in which participants from different countries can
meet, live, work, learn and exchange with local people concerning issues about environmental conservation, cultural
heritage, social justice, rural and human development, etc. International workcamps can be divided into short term
voluntary projects (STV) and long/middle term voluntary projects (LMTV). STV projects are international
workcamps for less than 2 months, while LMTV projects are those lasting 2 months or more. The most common
international workcamp lasts for two weeks with a group of 10-20 overseas and local workcamp participants.

Difficulties in cross-national aid

Difficulties in this model of volunteering can arise when this is applied
across national borders. A state sending volunteers to another state can
be viewed as a breach of sovereignty and a lack of respect towards the
national government of the proposed recipients. Thus, when states
negotiate the offer and acceptance of aid, motivations become
important, particularly if donors may postpone assistance or stop it
altogether. Three types of conditionality have evolved:

1. Financial accountability: Transparency in the management of

funding to ensure that what is done by the volunteers is properly
targeted.
2. Policy reform: Requesting governments of developing countries
adopt certain social, economic, or environmental policies, the most
controversial relating to the privatization of services traditionally
offered by the state.
3. Development objectives: Asking developing countries to adjust Volunteers fit new windows at The Sumac Centre
specific time-bound economic objectives in Nottingham, UK.

Some international volunteer organisations define their primary

mission altruistically as fighting poverty and improving the living standards of people in the developing world, e.g.
Voluntary Services Overseas has almost 2,000 skilled professionals working as volunteers to pass on their expertise
to local people so that, when they return home, their skills remain. When these organisations work in partnership
with governments, the results can be impressive. But when other organisations or individual First World
governments support the work of volunteer groups, there can be questions as to whether their real motives are
poverty alleviation or wealth creation for some of the poor or policies intended to benefit the donor states. This
confusion exists because experience shows that what is volunteered can distort the foreign and economic policy of
Volunteering 4

the country receiving the aid. The economies of many low-income countries suffer from "industrialisation without
prosperity" and "investment without growth". This arises because "development assistance" guides many Third
World governments to pursue "development" policies that have been wasteful, ill-conceived, unproductive or even
so positively destructive that they could not have been sustained without outside support.[10]
Indeed, some of the offers of aid have distorted the general spirit of volunteering, treating local voluntary action as
“contributions in kind”, i.e. as conditions requiring local people to earn the right to donor “largesse” by modifying
their behaviour. This can be seen as patronising and offensive to the recipients because the aid expressly serves the
policy aims of the donors rather than the needs of the recipients.
The track record shows that making any aid conditional on policy reforms is often ineffective. Conditionality only
works when there is a strong domestic commitment to reform and the recipient governments are democratic, i.e. they
are accountable to their own electorates. Volunteer organizations and their funding donors should respect the
governments of the countries they wish to help and build on the deep-rooted traditions of people to help one another,
and thereby provide an important ingredient for social and democratic development.

Criticism
In the 1960s, Ivan Illich offered an analysis of the role of American volunteers in Mexico in his speech entitled, "To
Hell With Good Intentions" [11]. His concerns, along with critics such as Paulo Freire and Edward Said, revolve
around the notion of altruism as an extension of Christian missionary ideology and the sense of
responsibility/obligation driving the concept of noblesse oblige, first developed by the French aristocracy as a moral
duty derived from their wealth. Simply stated, these both propose the extension of power and authority over
indigenous cultures around the world.
Recent critiques of volunteering come from Westmier and Kahn (1996) and bell hooks (née Gloria Watkins) (2004).
The field of medical tourism (referring to volunteers traveling overseas to deliver care) has recently attracted
negative criticism vis-a-vis the alternative notion of sustainable capacities (working in the context of long-term,
locally-run but foreign-supported infrastructures). A preponderance of this criticism has appeared largely in the
scientific and peer-reviewed literature.[12] [13] [14] Recently, media outlets with more general readerships have
published such criticisms, as well.

References
[1] Independent Sector (http:/ / www. independentsector. org)
[2] http:/ / www. npr. org/ templates/ story/ story. php?storyId=106118736
[3] http:/ / www. csmonitor. com/ Innovation/ Responsible-Tech/ 2009/ 0804/ smart-phone-app-lets-you-do-good-deeds-in-your-spare-time
[4] http:/ / abclocal. go. com/ kgo/ story?section=news/ assignment_7& id=7162300
[5] http:/ / www. wildlifeforever. org/ PAGES%20NEW/ eVolunteers. aspx
[6] "The Economy's Impact on Back to School" (http:/ / www. greatschools. net/ news/ back-to-school-poll-results. page). Great Schools.
2009-08-06. . Retrieved 2009-11-20.
[7] Mapping Success in Employee Volunteering - The Drivers of Effectiveness for Employee Volunteering and Giving Programs and Fortune
500 Performance (2009) (http:/ / www. bcccc. net/ index. cfm?fuseaction=document. showDocumentByID& DocumentID=1308) Boston
College Center for Corporate Citizenship 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-21
[8] VolunteerMatch.org - How companies benefit from EVP (http:/ / www. volunteermatch. org/ corporations/ resources/ businesscase. jsp)
Retrieved 2010-04-21
[9] Bush Announces Faith-Based Initiative (http:/ / www. policyalmanac. org/ government/ charity_and_volunteering. shtml)
[10] "Aid, taxation, and development: analytical perspectives on aid effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa" (http:/ / www-wds. worldbank. org/
servlet/ WDS_IBank_Servlet?pcont=details& eid=000009265_3980429111119). World Bank. 1998-02-28. . Retrieved 2007-07-12.
[11] http:/ / www. bicyclingfish. com/ illich. htm
[12] Bezruchka, S. (2000). Medical Tourism as Medical Harm to the Third World: Why? For Whom? Wilderness and Environmental Medicine,
11, 77-78.
[13] Roberts, M. (2006). Duffle Bag Medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 295, 1491-1492.
[14] Pinto, A.D., & Upshur, R.E.G. (2009). Global Health Ethics for Students. Developing World Bioethics, 9, 1-10.
Volunteering 5

External links
• Volunteering (http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Philanthropy/Volunteering//) at the Open Directory Project
Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and Contributors

Volunteering  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=400251701  Contributors: Alwaystravelling, Amit A., Ani stefanovska, Arkelweis, Barek, Cameron Scott, Captain-n00dle,
Causa sui, Cirt, CliffC, Conrad.Irwin, CosmicPerspectives, D.h, Deansharp, E6nvikas, EEng, Excirial, FlyingToaster, Gogo Dodo, Grutness, Gsmgm, Hentzer, Icurite, J.delanoy, Jcravens42,
Jim.henderson, Kalasmar, Kategenerate, Kev355, Kurzon, L Kensington, Lafille, LeaveSleaves, LedgendGamer, LilHelpa, MSClaudiu, Makswel, Mandarax, Mdnavman, Mj oz3000,
Mrbenjohnson, Neighborhoodguru, Neo139, Nopetro, Ohnoitsjamie, Ohpilot, One4india, Patman, Per aspera ad Astra, Pergra, Philip Trueman, Plrk, Pmatulla, Priyanath, Ratfish101, Rich
Farmbrough, Richard001, Sandraleenewell, SatuSuro, Seaphoto, SocSci123, Srobak, Stickee, Sun Tzu Eraserhead, Thaf, Thatguyflint, Themfromspace, Tide rolls, Timurite, Tintenfischlein,
Tinton5, Tommy2010, VQuakr, VSMD, Volsol, Wavelength, Whytecypress, YUiCiUS, 157 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:HandsOnMiamiVolunteersZooMiami.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:HandsOnMiamiVolunteersZooMiami.jpg  License: Creative Commons
Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors: User:Borden31
Image:Carting dirt in Yaounde.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Carting_dirt_in_Yaounde.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User:Amcaja
Image:Sumac 01.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sumac_01.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: WietsE

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