Why do people volunteer? If you’ve ever had the tasking to organize and mobilize individuals for action, you may have prodded yourself and others for an answer to such a cerebral question that on the surface would seem artless. But the question is just as pertinent for the rest of us who may be interested in volunteering our own time and resources. Do we volunteer out of love? Sense of purpose? Self-worth? Ability? Understanding? Desire to belong? Social pressure? Reciprocity? Need?
The proliferation of “causes” and nonprofits advancing them in the US (for better or worse) harvests an abundance of altruistic consumer-like options where one can easily choose from an a la carte of issues. Often, it is unimportant to an organization as to why we show up for say, mass mailings. However, why a volunteer follows word with deed and shows up is the most important nugget of information an organization can glean with regard to mobilization of volunteers. From the academic side of the fence, it has been posited that six main reasons or functions for volunteerism exist: One’s values; one’s curiosity; one’s career; one’s social pressure; one’s guilt; and one’s self-esteem. Why anyone does anything typically tends to be multi-motivational by nature but understanding why an individual is compelled to raise awareness of issue xyz by talking about, posting to Facebook, Tweeting, and ultimately giving of their time is a recipe that organizations protect – if they are successful – and pursue if they are not.
Current, presidential candidate John Huntsman wants to make sure you remember that the state of Utah was ranked number one in job creation during his time as governor of the state. But did you know that Utah has the highest volunteer rate of any state as well? Furthermore, Provo, UT boasts the nation’s highest volunteer rate of any mid-sized city. It comes, as no coincidence that Utah is the global hub of the Mormon Church and Provo is the home of Brigham Young University and the largest Mormon Missionary Training Center. Reasons for Utah as a state and Provo as a city, maintaining high volunteer rates probably have as much to do with the academic reasons above as they do with my non-academic reasons. But it is not a stretch to imagine Provo and other parts of Utah with much lower volunteerism should the Mormon Church suddenly relocate. The Church has provided the opportunity and framework for volunteering. Subsequently, the church has selfdom, legitimacy, meaning, and even authority amongst adherent. If such a network is already in place, why go and reinvent the wheel? The vast majority of individuals looking to volunteer are going to bridge their desire with action by partnering with established operations. I call this the Provo Effect.
The Provo Effect illuminates the reality that many of us volunteer by operating within an established framework or organization. Nearly 2/3 of volunteer activity in Utah is religious in nature largely because these are the opportunities made available and what is expected of an adherent. The scalability of the Provo Effect extends beyond the Mormon Church. Successful nonprofits are able to corner a market – or a bazaar to use a less capitalistic sounding term. In truth though, nonprofits are more similar than dissimilar to corporations. Both emphasize branding. Both compete for market (or bazaar) share. Both produce – whether it is information or tangible objects – with the belief of a return on investment. And, there is a spectrum of operating models amongst nonprofits that have varying theories on competition and collaboration. However, to keep operating, all nonprofits must seek two resources: hard capital and human capital. In other words, money and minions.
The Provo Effect is especially pronounced amongst today’s youth[1] interested in civic and social engagement. A fairly established set of “industry leaders” operate for and against a litany of issues while employing trendy and creative branding and sometimes leveraging celebrity endorsements. Ideally, all of this done while maintaining organizational selfdom, legitimacy, meaning and authority – all characteristics of the Provo Effect. After all, if we are going to be a part of something greater than ourselves, shouldn’t it truly be “greater”? The reality of the matter is that we, as aspiring world changers, are not always attracted to the un-established or un-hip movements. Why are youth not raising awareness and soliciting support to address childhood obesity? Addiction to video games? Underage consumption of alcohol? Could it be that these hit a little too close to home? Or in latter case, could it be that the issue has been “stolen” by our mothers (think MADD) and thus made un-couth?
To be clear, whenever individuals give of their time for others, the state of humankind is nudged forward. I am simply pondering a more effective in choosing where and how to allocate our time. The Provo Effect shouldn’t be branded as wholly good or bad. It is simply an observation on the factors that influence one’s decision to volunteer. Any organization that is successful in mobilizing volunteers and executing objectives usually has most if not all of the Provo Effect characteristics: selfdom, legitimacy, meaning, and authority. When we survey the landscape of goodwill to see what opportunities are available we tend to choose, as I said above, an altruistic consumer-like method of thinking based on whatever reasons or functions serve as motivations. But what if the measurement we used to volunteer was based on need and not what opportunities are available? Such a measurement would most likely usher us in the direction of innovation and possibly even trailblazing. Messy issues like human slavery and child soldiers receive their due attention as a result of the evil that stems from this fiendishness. However, many volunteers that work on behalf of organizations that combat such behavior will normally never the see the face of the victim due to lack of skills and expanse of distance. Those of us that volunteer to fight against these occurrences do not have the untidy responsibility of reintegrating a sex trafficked victim back into society or removing the gun from a child’s hands. I suspect most of us wouldn’t if we had the chance and couldn’t if we did.
So why do we sign up for causes with the skill and distance delta? Whether it is to keep the messy issues at a safe distance is up to each of us to work out ourselves. It’s something that I’ve always wrestled with but believe the answer to will lead us to the answer of why we volunteer.
Extra Me – Beyond Myself
[1] In this case, I will qualify “youth” as high school and college students.
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