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Explore a theory of post modern theory as it impacts the way people want to volunteer
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Choices in Volunteerism: “Social Glue or Individual Toy”*
Nancy MacduffMacduff/Bunt Associates
Washington State University821 Lincoln St.
Walla Walla, WA 99362
509-529-0244FAX 509-529-8865
mba@bmi.net
Mary V. Merrill
marymerrill@merrillassociates.netwww.merrillassociates.net
Abstract
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There is little doubt that systemic social changes are altering volunteerism,
from the direct service volunteer to the boardroom, nothing seems the same as a
decade ago. Volunteers are providing shorter service to organizations through
episodic service (Macduff 2004, Hustinx & Lammertyn 2003, Weber 2002, Dietz
1999). Ample evidence, both academic and from practitioner literature, says
episodic volunteers are here to stay and will likely grow in number over the next
few years. (Macduff 2004, Hustinx & Lammertyn 2003, Weber 2002, Hustinx
2000, Dietz 1999)
The shorter service given by volunteers is not the only change sending
tremors through the nonprofit and voluntary sector. Churches, fraternal
organizations (Elks), museums, disaster preparedness efforts, and homeless
shelters are feeling the wind of change. Volunteers are striking out on their own
to design positions, sometimes without the benefit of a sponsoring or parent
group or organization. 1000 volunteers patrol the borders in Arizona and
Washington State and Japan has more than 500,000 volunteers doing police
patrols, doctors pick up and go to disaster areas and just start treating people,
mega churches are eroding the volunteer base of more traditional
denominations, and the for profit sector is finding a rich source of volunteer help
to carry out its money making mandates. (Walker 2004) In view of the
outpouring of volunteer response to Hurricane’s Katrina and the tsunami of
Southeast Asia, it is as if Red Cross and the Salvation Army did not exist.
Individuals flew helicopters to pluck people off roof tops, they packed medical
equipment and set up shop in Sri Lankan villages, or created Web based
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services to help those on the ground solve problems governments and NGOs
were not. This behavior on the part of volunteers appears to be the
“disappearance of a sense of history” for the third sector. Organizations are
losing touch with their traditions due to the demands of the volunteer
marketplace. (Irvine, 1998) Volunteers are no longer willing to play by the top-
down model of volunteering, or wait to be trained to provide a needed service.
There seems to be ample theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest
that the changes in volunteerism are but a reflection of the changes in all of
society. (Hustinix 2003, Beck 1994, Giddens 1994) This “sliding” revolution is
driven by changes in such things as the changes in gender roles accumulation of
wealth, job security as a ancient history, and technology as a permanent part of
everyday life. There is a demise of social institutions –church, fraternal and civic
clubs--, and a difference in the nature of problems faced by individuals. (Giddens
1994, Hustinx & Lammertyn 2003)
A growing group of social historians, theologians, sociologists assert that
the postmodern era rolled into town and the fabric of society underwent quiet, but
nonetheless dramatic changes. Some people believe we are in a “post modern
turn” moving inexorably between the modern era and the post modern. (Best and
Kellner 2005; About Postmodernism 2005), while others believe that the modern
era is gone with post modernism in its place, creating a crisis in ideology (Irvine
1998). It does seem clear that these social shifts have altered how people
volunteer.
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Why are the “new” ways of volunteering drawing attention by managers of
volunteer programs and the media. It is likely the definition of volunteers created
in the last half of the 20th century has dramatically altered. The language
associated with volunteer service reflects virtues as selflessness, altruism,
service to others, compassion, purpose, and virtue, which perpetuates a
collective (modern era) vision of volunteers as warm, kind, compassionate
people, and is often associated with a Judeo-Christian belief of faith based
service to “widows and orphans.” Many religious congregations – protestant,
Catholic, Jewish or Muslin – promote traditional approaches to helping those in
need through direct service. It is the model of the Sermon on the Mount. Mega-
churches provide elaborate, professional services, such as day care centers,
counseling and housing services, or retirement and community centers, and
religious services are an “event.” Others provide simple, basic services such as
food pantries and clothing drives.
In a study of the activities of nonprofit organizations in 32 countries, sixty
percent of the paid and volunteer workforce engaged in service functions, with
education and social services the dominant service functions. Six percent of the
workforce was engaged in civic, advocacy or environmental activities. Seventy-
nine percent of the paid employees and volunteers in the nonprofit sector (civil
society workforce) in the United States engaged in service activities (Salamon,
Sokolowski, List, 2003).
Perhaps there is something personally comforting in acknowledging the
work of individuals or groups who alleviate human pain, and perform personal
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acts of compassion. Citizens can identify on a personal level and find it affirming
that helping a fellow citizen is something each individual can do. But, the social
environment for volunteers does not resemble the social environment of the
1950s when so many tasks carried out by volunteers were created.
Post Modernism and Volunteerism—
The term post modernism appears in some literature as early as the 1920s,
in relation to art (Dada movement) and literature (existentialism). Hispanic/Latino
poetry of the 1930s was referred to as postmodern. (Wikipedia 2005, Newall
2005). Post modernism emerged as an academic discipline in the 1980s.
(Colorado). Several authors agree that trying to define the term post modernism
is challenging as it appears in many disciplines; art, architecture, music, film,
literature, sociology, communication, fashion, and technology. (Klages 2003)
Perhaps the easiest way to define it is by comparison to the modern era.
The post modern era rejects the “old order” of the modern era throwing out the
rules and boundaries set in the Victorian age. Instead of regimentation and
social order there is ambiguity, fragmentation, and self-consciousness (Klages
2003)
Hustinx and Lammertyn (2003) developed a chart to help distinguish the
differences between classic (traditional or modern) volunteerism and the new
(reflexive or postmodern forms of volunteering. (See Appendix 1.)
The postmodern era rejects “overarching explanations” (meta-narratives)
(Preston 2000, Postmodernism: a definition. 2005 ) There are different ways of
“knowing” things. Marxism, socialism, capitalism are no longer seen as the only
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narratives. The narratives of the postmodern era are characterized by
contradictions and instabilities. (Klages 2003). Society is seen as an aggregate
of pieces. There are no universalities, everything is provisional, temporary,
situational. There are no claims to stability, truth, or reason. (Klages 2003).
This view of the world would seem to explain why people want episodic volunteer
experiences. For example, people who used to depend on family, now depend
on those with whom they have no blood relations. (Klages 2003, Hustinx and
Lammertyn 2003, Beck, 1994, Giddens, 1994)
Most authors writing about the shifts in the social order, arts, religion,
politics, concur that a deep monumental change, with far reaching consequences
is happening and there is no turning back, it is irreversible. (About
Postmodermism 2005; Hustinix 2003)If you compare current volunteer patterns
with the traditional volunteer experience in a continuous service, usually lifelong
form, present day volunteers are sporadic, temporary and non-committal.
(Hustinx 2003) Life in the 21st Century is characterized by a time of “incessant
choosing.” (Irvine 1998)
But, the amount of time given is not the only place where volunteerism is
changing. How people are volunteering is shifting into new and uncharted
territory. People are leaving behind the security of familiar, habitual, and
established ways of serving. (Best & Kellner 2005). Local, religious, and ethnic
connections drive the care for community (Hustinx 2003). People are engaging
in new forms of identity: political and cultural. (Best & Kellner 2005) The
postmodern era is one where experiences and forms of living are at contest with
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previously accepted modes of thought and behavior. There are new ways of
living and seeing. (Best & Kellner 2005)
The instability of the postmodern era means that volunteers want activities
to be spectacular and entertaining, and that is just to keep them involved.
(Hustinx 2003). The individual is making up experiences that are situational,
provisional, and short lived. (Klages 2003)
The new forms of volunteering are driven by activities that satisfy individual
preferences and needs. No area of action is excluded in the possibility of ways
to volunteer. (Hustinx 2003) The volunteer sees him/herself as autonomous,
picking and choosing not based on directives of the organization, but rather,
personal choice and motives. (Hustinx 2003)
These new forms of volunteering are examples of the core values of
postmodern volunteerism. ( Klages 2003, About Postmodernism 2005)
Core Values of Post Modernism Focus on activities that are local, limited, and partial—but very
effective
Sensitivity to context
A subjective, values laden experience
An alternative to the global and grand
Skepticism of certainty
Acknowledgement that togetherness is rare and elusive
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Volunteer Activities
A review of news stories, Internet resources, and the reports of managers
of volunteer programs seems to suggest that there are three relatively new forms
of volunteering: vigilante, serendipitous, and entrepreneurial. Their existence
creates challenges for nonprofit organizations and volunteer programs. In many
case activities are done outside the framework of existing nonprofit and voluntary
organizations. And those who try to design their own volunteer positions within
organizations can be discouraged or thwarted.
The definitions and examples deal with volunteer actions across a broad
range of activities, and are related more closely to motivating forces and
ideologies rather than types of activities.
Vigilante Volunteers: The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a vigilante as a
self-appointed doer of justice.
The history of settling the frontier in the United States is filled with stories
of vigilantism. where the lack of existing courts or government structure led
citizens to fill the vacuum.
Vigilantes considered themselves public spirited – even when their actions became extreme. . . Americans felt there were certain functions in preserving public order that the legal authorities would not, could not, or should not be expected to perform. These functions the people themselves assumed as vigilantes. (Ellis & Noyes, 1990, p. 55)
The mining camps of the west developed elaborate systems of self-
government through a vigilante approach.
The early Vigilantes were the best and most intelligent men in the mining regions. They saw and felt that, in the absence of all law, they must become a "law unto themselves," or submit to the bloody code of the
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banditti by which they were surrounded, and which were increasing in numbers more rapidly than themselves…. The brave and faithful conduct of the Vigilantes furnishes an example of American character… and showed in every act a love for law, order, and for the moral and social virtues in which they had been educated, and a regard for our free institutions. (Langsford, 1890)
Vigilantism was not limited to the Wild West. The Abington Horse
Association was formed in 1847 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania to patrol
neighbor’s pastures from horse thieves. They pursued rustlers, posted rewards
and provided monetary compensation for member’s horses that were not
recovered. This group and many like it served as a vigilante group and a mutual
insurance society. (Ellis & Noyes, 1990)
Justice as a community affair continues to exist today in the form of
vigilante volunteers who regard themselves as self-appointed doers of good.
They act outside of the boundaries of organized or formalized volunteer
programs, often outside of or on the fringe of the law, with an intense personal
desire to do justice, their way, through right actions.
The Internet, a new frontier, has given rise to a variety of vigilante volunteer efforts. ‘Internet vigilantes have launched a 48-hour bandwidth attack against spammers who allegedly defraud people online’(Llett, 2005). Based in a belief that existing forms of justice cannot adequate protect against the spamming, hacking and internet fraud, self organized groups of vigilante volunteers have take it upon themselves to seek out offenders and impose justice. ‘We have the right to self-help - and yes, it's vigilantism’ (Schwarau, 1999).
The growth of online chat rooms and Internet pornography sites has lead
to the growth of a new type of online vigilante.
‘We call them vigilante sites,’ said Sgt. Dave Jones of the San Diego Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Jones
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said there are ‘tons’ of sites like Perverted Justice, where staff enter chat rooms posing as young girls or boys and engage adult men who may be looking for sex with minors (McKay, 2004).
A danger with all vigilante volunteers is that their methods for dealing with
justice can become problems as they work outside of legitimate law enforcement
systems.
‘Our mission at Perverted-Justice.com (PJ) is very clear,’ says PJ's ultimate authority figure. ‘We go after online predators. One of the largest things we demand is civility and carrying yourself in a professional manner when it comes to 'the law. If a contributor is doing something I believe breaks the law, I remove the contributor.’ Although Perverted-Justice has managed to snare several of what appear to be genuine, honest-to-God pedophiles, what most of its victims are guilty of is sleazy conversation, of entertaining a fantasy about having sex with a young girl (a.k.a. the ‘Lolita complex’). This has grown into something quite dangerous. They are using vigilante tactics and anonymity to destroy people's lives. . . .Referring to the fact that PJ hides its own members' identities with a vengeance and broadcasts the identities of its victims with that same zeal (Buchanan, 2004).
Perhaps the most public example of the modern day doers of justice is the
Minutemen Project that was organized in April 2005 by a retired California
Certified Public Accountant, Jim Gilchrist, to provide a civilian volunteer boarder
patrol for the Arizona-Mexico boarder, thus drawing national attention to the
inability of the US government to secure the boarder and stem the flow of illegal
immigrants. By June the Minutemen boasted 15,000 members who were
expanding their border patrol efforts to other states.
The Minutemen are a group of volunteer vigilantes who have been patrolling the US-Mexican border in an attempt to prevent migrants from crossing. . . Now the Minutemen have plans to move up to the US-Canadian border, but migrant-rights groups are getting ready to confront them. (CKUT Radio, 2005)The idea spawned a similar group in Washington State, where the
problem is not illegal immigration, but guns, drugs, and organized crime. (Walla
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Walla Union Bulletin 2005). Described as vigilantes, racists, and dangerous, this
volunteer movement that calls itself a “giant neighborhood watch” (Carroll, 2005)
has grown to at least 40 anti-immigration groups throughout the country
(Mansfield, 2005).
It is important to note that this type of zealous volunteering is not limited to
the United States. Japan has 520,000 volunteer patrols in 8000 organizations
across the country. Some patrols ride around with blue lights on their vehicles to
publicize their presence. With no training and no authority, it appears the
volunteer patrols are making a dent in crime, with neighborhoods safer.
Volunteers are often the first to respond to current events and social
problems. In the history of volunteer movements, what begins as an all-volunteer
effort often becomes an institutionalized program. Vigilante volunteers may be
viewed as on the cutting edge of challenges that are facing society.
The commissioner of the United States Customs and Border Protection is considering the option of using auxiliary patrol along the U.S. borders. Commissioner Robert C. Bonner says, “It is actually as a result of seeing that there is the possibility in local boarder communities, and maybe even beyond, of having citizens that would be willing to volunteer to help the Boarder Patrol. We value having eyes and ears of citizens, and I think would be one of the things we are looking at is how you better organize a citizen effort.” (Maher, 2005)
Serendipitous Volunteers: Serendipity is associated with a spontaneous,
impulsive action that often leads to an unexpected benefit. The Merriam Webster
Dictionary defines serendipity as the phenomena of finding valuable or agreeable
things not sought for.
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Serendipity is a term coined by Horace Walpole, in his fairy-tale The Three
Princes of Serendip, where the heroes were always making discoveries by
accident. (Oxford English Dictionary).
--- you don't reach Serendip by plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose your bearings ... serendipitously. ( Barth, 1999)
Serendipitous Volunteers, like the heroes of the Persian Fairy Tale, The
Three Princes of Senendip, enjoy – actually value – the happy and unexpected
discoveries they receive though spontaneous adventures (showing up, helping
and assisting). They are motivated by the personal reward that occurs
accidentally through unplanned activities.
Political campaigns have always attracted large number of volunteers. Most
are passionate about the political process, the candidate or the issues. In 2002
followers, mostly young people, began to coalesce around a candidate, Howard
Dean, who engaged the Internet to change the way political campaigns had been
run in the past. Volunteers began to “show up” at the campaign headquarters or
became self-appointed directors of one of the more that 900 local Dean groups.
. . . The point is to give people something to believe in, and to connect those people to one another. . . Dean supporters do not drive 200 miles through 10 inches of snow to see a political candidate or a representative of his staff. They drive that far to see each other. . . The brilliance of the campaign is that it is leaving behind a community. (Shapio, 2004, p. 59)
Buzz Marketing is an advertising strategy that relies on word of mouth
campaigns, rather than television or billboard ads, to promote and sell products.
In the last few years marketing firms have recruited thousands of volunteers to
sell products through informal conversations. A sausage campaign organized by
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a small company in Boston engaged 2000 volunteers over three months and
boosted sales by 100 percent in some stores. This Boston marketing firm “has
more than 60,000 volunteer agents in its network (Walker, 2004).
Karen Bollaert was among the firm’s earliest agents, and became on of its most effective. . . Bollaert puts in between 5 and 10 hours week talking up products and writing reports about her activities. . . What made her bother to volunteer with BzzAgent? First, she gets the chance to sample new products shortly before they hit the stores, so she get to feel a bit like an insider. Second, she has always liked to give people her opinion about what she’s reading or what products she’s using, and BzzAgents givers her more to talk about. Third, if she does like something, then telling other people is helpful to them. So, participating is both a chance to weigh in and be heard, and also something close to an act of altruism. (Walker, 2004)
The New York Times stories about the Dean campaign volunteers and the
buzz marketing volunteers exemplify the type of spontaneous, impulsive
volunteerism that leads to unexpected benefits that ultimately encourage
individuals to continue a pattern of serendipitous volunteering.
Numerous examples of serendipitous, spontaneous volunteerism have
occurred in 2005 in response to natural catastrophes. Immediately following the
Asian Tsunami disaster there was an outpouring of individual efforts to provide
comfort and relief. Rebecca O’Connor, a pediatric nurse from New York, felt
immediately compelled to help. She contacted the Red Cross and other
international relief agencies to learn that only trained, experience volunteers were
eligible. Undaunted, she persisted in her desire to assist. Working with the Sri
Lankan Consulate, local television stations and a major airline, she became part
of an nine member medical team on a two-week medical relief trip to Sri Lanka.
In her personal account of the experience, she writes:
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It seemed that the most valuable therapy we were providing had nothing to do with antibiotics or wound care. By listening to story after heartbreaking story, admiring pictures of families once happy and healthy, and playing soccer with children who lost everything, we were able to say, ‘We care about you and we share in your grief,’ without speaking a word. (O’Connor, 2005, p. 18)
This type of spontaneous volunteerism occurred thousands of times following
hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Posting began to occur on Craigtlist.org the day
Katrina reached land, offering housing and assistance and a forum was formed
to help find missing people. Churches, companies and individuals loaded
supplies into trucks and cars and headed for Mississippi and New Orleans.
Others went onto the Internet and created services such as PeopleFinder..
This group of technology volunteers brought together dozens of separate lists of
missing people in the southeastern US following the hurricane, into a seamless
whole for search purposes. Before buses arrived to move hurricane victims to the
Astrodome in Houston volunteers with digital cameras were gathering in Houston
to take photos of individuals in the shelter to post on the web to help families
reconnect. The effort was a joint project of individuals who moved Internet and
Web based businesses to cooperate and make it possible. No one told them
what to do, or how to do it. (REDHerring: The Business of Technology, Web
News, September 7, 2005)
In the days immediately following the earthquake in Afghanistan,
TechSoup.org began online discussions of how to use the same type of
programming that was used in Houston to build systems to reconnect families in
Afghanistan. These serendipitous volunteers jump into action in totally
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unconventional ways, and receive benefits that are highly personal and
unexpected.
A similar endeavor was undertaken to provide Internet and personal
services via the Internet to managers of volunteer programs. The people
involved undertook the effort when it became clear that the professional
association for managers of volunteers chose not to do more than put links on
their Web site. The “spontaneous” effort included links, but also created a
secured chat area (carefully monitoring who had access) for anyone managing
volunteers who wanted to “talk” about the experience or get professional advice
from some of North America’s preeminent trainers in the management of
volunteers. The group of practitioners, scholars, and trainers also organized a
Respite Service, recruiting managers of volunteers willing to go to the disaster
area to give overworked colleagues a break to tend to their own homes and
families. No one approved the activities, dictated tasks, or controlled this group
of spontaneous volunteers (Macduff, 2005)
As the incidences of serendipitous or spontaneous volunteering increases,
it is interesting to note that the tracking of this informal form of volunteering is
decreasing. The Independent Sector stopped counting those engaged in informal
volunteering in 1999. The U.S. Department of Labor’s annual survey of
volunteerism only considers those individuals who are engaged in formalized
volunteering activities.
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Entrepreneurial Volunteers: Entrepreneurs organize, manage and assume the
risks of a business or undertaking. They create new businesses, develop/invent
new products or processes, or bring new products to market.
Public entrepreneurs are rare men and women who possess the same exceptional levels of vision, creativity and determination that allow top business entrepreneurs to create new industries. However they devote these qualities to introducing new solutions to social problems’ -- social problems such as poverty, protection of human rights, public education and health services, regenerating the environment, and constructing economies that serve people, rather than the other way around. (Meadows, 1997)
The PeopleFinder software system was created by volunteers and is an
excellent example of spontaneous and entrepreneurial volunteerism. The
Internet and World Wide Web allow people to solve problems, create processes,
and address issues and no nonprofit or volunteer program need to be involved.
Social entrepreneurs find what's not working, spread the solution, change the
system from within, and persuade whole societies to change for the better.
(Institute for Humane Studies, 2005)
Entrepreneurial Volunteers are self-motivated to innovate, change, create
– construct new systems and solutions to existing problems. Like a tinkerer they
have a desire to adjust and experiment with new approaches, products and
services. Their internal drive thrives on the challenge of making something new
work.
Dr. Jack McConnell founded Volunteers in Medline following his retirement to Hilton Head Island, North Carolina. He quickly discovered the lack of adequate primary health care in neighboring counties. He enlisted other retired doctors and nurses to donate a few hours per week, he worked with the state legislature to develop a special license for volunteer doctors and he negotiated low cost malpractice insurance. By 1994 Volunteers in
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Medicine was a full service clinic staffed by retired physicians, nurses, dentists and chiropractors, as well as nearly 150 lay volunteers. The clinic treated 16,000 patients in 2000 and there are now 15 similar clinics operating around the county (McConnell, 201)
The Human Service Alliance began as a experiment by a small group of people in Winston Salem, North Carolina who believed that everyone can and will make a difference if given the opportunity and place to make it happen. They began an all-volunteer organizations to care for the terminally ill and to provide respite care for children with developmental disabilities. What began as a small group of 15 volunteers had grown to more than 300 volunteers by 1995. They were operating a Care for the Terminally Ill Project, the Respite Care Project, the Health and Wellness Project and in the process of building a hospice center. They were featured on the Public television (PBS) series Visionaries, were recognized as a daily Point of Light by President George Bush, and have been replicated in other states and countries. (Kilpatrick & Danziger, 1996) Drew Curtis turned a personal Website designed to share curry recipes
with friends into a Website that posts hundreds of news headlines per day by
designing an automated system for posting 10-12 headlines at intervals through
the day. Fark.com is one of the most popular websites on the Internet, recording
over 400 million page viewers in 2004. Drew’s entire income comes from the
advertisers eager to put their products and services before the millions of viewers
interested in the weird, quirky stories highlighted on his site. (Merrill, 2005)
In 2000 Ethan Zuckerman founded the Geekcorps, described as a nonprofit moving at the speed of the Internet, to place technical volunteers in developing country to assist with small start up companies. Zuckerman recognized that some volunteers were not interested in long-term volunteer assignments like the Peace Corp and thus created a new program to fit the short term, project based work style of a younger generations. (Merrill, 2005)
Free Geek was founded in 2000 by a group of technology volunteers who
were interested in environmentally safe recycling of used computer. This original
concept has grown into a 501(c)(3) organizations to recycle computer technology
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and provide low and no-cost computing to individuals and not-for-profit and social
change organizations in the community. In four years Free Geek recycled over
360 tons of electron scrap and refurbished over 3,000 computer systems that are
now in use by individuals and organizations in the community (Free Geek, 2005).
Their community technology center engages paid staff and volunteers to recycle
donations, test parts and rebuild new computers. Ohio and Michigan are
currently developing Free Geek organizations.
Many of the social institutions in the United States, including hospitals,
colleges, libraries, town government, service agencies and advocacy groups are
the results of entrepreneurial volunteers.
First an individual or small group becomes involved in a cause. Some other volunteers are brought in, and strategies are developed to take specific actions. Once the activity gains momentum, the group seeks funding, to support both the cost of materials and other expenses. Employees become necessary as the group evolves into an organizations or agency . . . not because volunteers could not do the job, but because the magnitude of the work grows beyond what part-time volunteers can handle. (Ellis & Noyes, 1990)
Conclusion
The evidence of systemic changes in the nature of volunteerism is no
longer theory, ample evidence exists that volunteering is moving into forms not
traditionally associated with the commonly held views of volunteerism in the last
100 years: episodic service, spontaneity, meeting personal needs first, and
disdaining the rules and order of the past. Ignoring these winds of change
portend the demise of organizations and programs. Much as the fraternal
associations (Elks, Foresters, etc.) have seen dramatic drops in membership, the
same might be true of existing nonprofits, if they are unwilling to restructure to
18
accommodate the newer forms of volunteering. (Macduff, Hanson Anderson,
Pirtle, 2000)
Over the past 100 years organizations and institutions have formalized
volunteering. Funding requirements, legal concerns and risk management
issues have increasing led to more formal structures and systems that often
confine the work of volunteers within limited parameters. While vigilante
volunteers, serendipitous volunteers and entrepreneurial volunteers may not be
entirely new phenomenon, the increase and the widespread variations in these
forms of engagement reflects an increasing interest by volunteers to work outside
of the formalized systems and have more personalized, individualized
experiences.
Recent volunteering trends, from the development of the Move On political
action organization, to the Dean political campaign, to the multitude of volunteer
efforts that have responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, indicate a citizenry
that is waiting to be engaged in meaningful, challenging work. They use
technology to self organize, recruit, and engage other volunteers. They are not
shying away from hard work or difficult situations.
Reorganization can mean revitalization for volunteer organizations and
programs that are currently struggling to find the same type of volunteers they
have been recruiting for decades. And this process needs to be done while
maintaining the traditional programs for existing volunteers. Lesley Hustinx says,
“. . .the choice appears to be between social glue and individual toy.” (Hustinx
2003)
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The academic community can help in this endeavor by studying the new
types of volunteering. Much of the current research on motivation, participation,
and recognition are taken from groups of traditional volunteers in traditional
programs. Researchers need to analyze data by type of volunteer. No one
would think of applying research done on full time workers to those who
telecommute. The same thing is true of volunteers. There are as many
incarnations of volunteering as there are of ways in which people can do paid
work. And managers of volunteers and organizational leaders need to
understand the needs and motivations of the post modern volunteer, as much as
they do the traditional one.
Perhaps the most significant research that can be undertaken by joint
efforts of practitioners and academics is that of the impact of reflexive volunteer
activity on community. Much has been written bemoaning the loss of civil society
due to the waning interest in traditional volunteer involvement in civic clubs and
organizations. Perhaps it is time to examine communities with widespread
postmodern forms of volunteering and analyze involvement. And the measuring
sticks need to reflect the other changes in society. Why measure civic
engagement against a 1950’s yardstick, when other institutions (political,
economic, educational, etc.) of the community are different, too.
Is it too early to suggest that the “civil” society of the 21st century might not
look like that of the 20th century? Do the new forms of volunteering build a sense
of community in a horizontal plane, where more people know more about
everything? Assuming that episodic, vigilante, spontaneous, and entrepreneurial
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volunteers are bad for society is making a decision before the data is collected.
Could it be that it is nonprofits and volunteer programs that are stifling the way in
which people volunteer and that is what is killing civil society?
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Appendix 1
Classic Volunteerism New VolunteerismCulture o Identifies with
traditional cultural normso Individualization
Choice of Organization o Based on: Traditional cultural
identifies Great loyalty Delegated leadership Solid structure
o Personal Interesto Weak tieso Decentralized
structureo Loose networks
Choice of field of action o Based on: Traditional cultural
identities Inclusion and exclusion
o Perception of new biographical similarities
o Taste for topical issues
o Dialogue between global and local
Choice of activity o Based on: Traditional cultural
identities Needs of the
organization Idealism
o Balance between personal preference and organization’s needs
o Cost/benefit analysis
o PragmaticLength and intensity of commitment
o Long term (unlimited in time
o Regularo Unconditional
o Short term (clearly limited in time)
o Irregular or erratico Conditional
Relationship with the beneficiary
o Unilateral, ‘altruistic’, ‘selfless’
o Reciprocal
Used by permission of Voluntary Action
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References
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