Volunteering
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor, often for community service.[1][2] Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve on an as-needed basis, such as in response to a natural disaster.
"Volunteer" redirects here. For other uses, see Volunteer (disambiguation).Types[edit]
Volunteering as utilized by service learning programs[edit]
Many schools on all education levels offer service-learning programs, which allow students to serve the community through volunteering while earning educational credit.[8] According to Alexander Astin in the foreword to Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? by Janet Eyler and Dwight E. Giles, Jr., "...we promote more wide-spread adoption of service-learning in higher education because we see it as a powerful means of preparing students to become more caring and responsible parents and citizens and of helping colleges and universities to make good on their pledge to 'serve society.'"[9] When describing service learning, the Medical Education at Harvard says, "Service learning unites academic study and volunteer community service in mutually reinforcing ways. ...service learning is characterized by a relationship of partnership: the student learns from the service agency and from the community and, in return, gives energy, intelligence, commitment, time and skills to address human and community needs."[8] Volunteering in service learning seems to have the result of engaging both mind and heart, thus providing a more powerful learning experience; according to Janet Eyler and Dwight E. Giles, it succeeds by the fact that it "...fosters student development by capturing student interest..."[9]: 1–2, 8 More recent scholarship has found shortcomings in the early assumptions of mutual benefit, since early studies were interested in educational benefits rather than community outcomes. An Indiana study found that the nonprofit agencies hosting student service-learners do not report a positive impact on service capacity, although service-learners do help to increase agency visibility.[10] In the end, service-learning must follow other principles of effective volunteer management such as screening, training, and supervising.
Skills-based volunteering[edit]
Skills-based volunteering is leveraging the specialized skills and the talents of individuals to strengthen the infrastructure of nonprofits, helping them build and sustain their capacity to successfully achieve their missions.[11] This is in contrast to traditional volunteering, where volunteers do something other than their professional work.[12] The average hour of traditional volunteering is valued by the Independent Sector at between $18–20 an hour.[13] Skills-based volunteering is valued at $40–500 an hour, depending on the market value of the time.[14]
Statistics[edit]
In the United States, statistics on volunteering have historically been limited, according to volunteerism expert Susan J. Ellis.[60] In 2013, the U.S. Current Population Survey included a volunteering supplement which produced statistics on volunteering.[61]
Criticisms[edit]
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". His concerns, along with those of critics such as Paulo Freire and Edward Said, revolve around the notion of altruism as an extension of Christian missionary ideology. In addition, he mentions the sense of responsibility/obligation as a factor, which drives the concept of noblesse oblige—first developed by the French aristocracy as a moral duty derived from their wealth. Simply stated, these apprehensions 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). Also, Georgeou (2012) has critiqued the impact of neoliberalism on international aid volunteering.
The field of the medical tourism (referring to volunteers who travel overseas to deliver medical care) has recently attracted negative criticism when compared to the alternative notion of sustainable capacities, i.e., work done in the context of long-term, locally-run, and foreign-supported infrastructures. A preponderance of this criticism appears largely in scientific and peer-reviewed literature.[62][63][64] Recently, media outlets with more general readerships have published such criticisms as well.[65] This type of volunteering is pejoratively referred to as "medical voluntourism".[66]
Another problem noted with volunteering is that it can be used to replace low paid entry positions. This can act to decrease social mobility, with only those capable of affording to work without payment able to gain the experience.[67] Trade unions in the United Kingdom (UK) have warned that long term volunteering is a form of exploitation, used by charities to avoid minimum wage legislation.[68] Some sectors now expect candidates for paid roles to have undergone significant periods of volunteer experience whether relevant to the role or not, setting up 'Volunteer Credentialism'.[69]
Volunteers can be exposed to stressful situations and attitudes, which can cause them to suffer from burnout which in turn reduces their activism and overall well-being.[70] There is also a clear evidence that volunteering can become a moral obligation that prompts feelings of guilt when not performed.[71]