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In our last issue, Research to Practice focused on episodic volunteers, as one-time or short-term volunteering is often called. This time, e-Volunteerism looks at a study of super-volunteers, defined as “individuals who volunteer 10 or more hours per week with a single organization” (Einolf & Yung, 2018, 789).

Based on in-depth interviews with 26 super-volunteers and nine volunteer managers, reviewer Laurie Mook presents the results of this research that sought to answer these four questions: (1) What characteristics and experiences of individuals cause them to become super-volunteers?; (2) What criteria do super-volunteers use in choosing an organization for which they will volunteer?; (3) What are the advantages and challenges in employing super-volunteers?; and (4) How can nonprofits best manage super-volunteers? The insights produced by this study, Mook argues, are useful for both those seeking and currently managing super-volunteers.

Volunteer Engagement Professionals (VEPs) commonly feel underpaid and undervalued and believe that their work is misunderstood. In times like these, they often turn to organizations like the Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) for support, education, and connection.

To better understand the issues facing VEPs, MAVA embarked upon an important research study in June 2017, a study designed to validate the experience many VEPs described and to examine root causes. MAVA learned that: 1) there truly are equity issues in how VEPs are received, paid, included, and understood in the workplace; 2) the lack of true understanding about the essential nature of volunteers and those who lead them undermines the effectiveness of nonprofits and government entities; and 3) there are affirmative steps that can be taken to address the issues.

This e-Volunteerism feature by MAVA’s Karmit Bulman provides a comprehensive review of this important research study, “Stacking Up: How Volunteer Engagement Professionals Compare with Other Key Staff."

When human beings have new experiences, new synaptic pathways forge in our brains. We become alert to new ideas and we can be guided to new understandings and different behavior.

In this e-Volunteerism feature, Angela Parker – the co-founder of a global agency called Realized Worth that specializes in employee volunteer training, program design, and employee engagement – describes how participants who integrate a few basic concepts into civic engagement and volunteering activities can be guided to challenge assumptions, become alert to new ideas, orient to what those ideas mean for them, and take action toward new behaviors. And when these new behaviors are rooted in inclusivity, equality, compassion, and empathy, Parkers argues that civic engagement and transformative volunteering can result in better employees, better organizations, and better communities.

The majority of e-Volunteerism readers are leaders of volunteers and many of us play a significant role in training volunteers. But should that be the case? In this Training Designs, editor Erin R. Spink asks some tough questions about the role that leaders of volunteers play in training volunteers. By looking into what she calls “the trouble with training,” Spink offers insights into why and how this could look different.

Have you ever felt like you are working all alone in volunteer management, or being pulled in different directions by groups working in siloes? Then you will be excited to hear about the launch of the new National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement, a group that developed after the 2017 National Summit on Volunteer Engagement Leadership “to guide future collective action at the national level towards embracing volunteer engagement as an effective strategy to address community needs.”

In this Voices, author Allyson Drinnon hears from some of the people active in the National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement movement. They explain why this collective action at the national level will advance the power and potential of volunteer engagement.

Episodic volunteering – as one-time or short-term volunteering is often called – is becoming the norm as times change and individuals move away from traditional volunteer roles that require consistent, long-term commitments. Technology has made it easy to find and sign up for events on the spur of the moment. It also makes it easier for organizations to organize such events and perform volunteer management functions such as recruiting, scheduling, and follow-up. Some of these events involve thousands of volunteers, and include marathons, sporting competitions, and festivals. 

One such mega event was the World Meeting of Families and the visit of Pope Francis to Philadelphia in 2015. In this Research to Practice column, reviewer Laurie Mook looks at the results of a study of the experiences of over 2,400 volunteers at this mega event in the City of Brotherly Love. Mook’s examination provides useful insights for episodic volunteer management.

What can an organization learn by examining why some people choose not to volunteer? In this issue’s Research to Practice, Laurie Mook reviews an article by researchers from Australia and the Netherlands that focuses our attention on these non-volunteers.

While we know a lot about volunteers, their motivations, and issues related to volunteer management, we know far less about non-volunteers. Using the concept of ‘volunteerability’ – defined as an "individual’s ability to overcome related obstacles and volunteer, based on their willingness, capability, and availability" (Haski-Leventhal et al., 2017, 2) – the authors in this study reviewed literature, held focus groups, and conducted a survey to understand the barriers that non-volunteers face in their willingness, capability, and availability to volunteer.

Although the article is positioned in terms of informing social policy, the findings are also useful at the organization level. Understanding the non-volunteer perspective can be helpful in attracting and retaining new volunteers to your organization. 

As volunteer managers struggle with a lack of time, the hours spent on volunteer training typically shrinks. The up-front investment in a volunteer decreases dramatically, depriving volunteers of a crucial connection with the organization’s mission.

In this Training Designs, Meridian Swift—a well-known volunteer manager, author, and blogger—explores why training should be embraced as an investment that will influence a volunteer's future commitment. Through this article, Swift will help volunteer managers discover ways to manage the time they need to make this investment. 

Why do volunteers break the rules? This Research to Practice reviews an ethnographic study of an animal shelter where disruptive behavior by volunteers was a regular occurrence. This disruptive behavior was defined as “any behavior that either explicitly violated a rule or was identified by more than one staff member as disruptive” (Jacobs, 2017, 31). Researcher Molly Jacobs volunteered four days a week for a year at the shelter, keeping extensive notes of her observations and interactions. She also interviewed paid and unpaid workers. In her analysis, Jacobs was able to identify different ‘rule breaking’ categories and analyze why this occurred.

This Research to Practice review of this study provides an opportunity to think about these types of disruptions in your own volunteer context, and perhaps determine different ways to handle them.