Friday, 14 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Spirituality and Religion

Congregational Volunteers: What Motivates, Sustains, and Limits Their Involvement in Community Service Programs?

Purpose: Despite increasing research attention to the role of congregations in a community’s array of social services, somewhat less interest has been directed to understanding the volunteers themselves. Nevertheless, social workers frequently find themselves recruiting, training, deploying, and supporting volunteers. In order to work most effectively with volunteers, they need to understand their motivations, what sustains, and what blocks or challenges their involvement over time.

Methods: The project is based in four research sites--Michigan, South Carolina, Texas, and Southern California. The sample consisted of 36 diverse congregations that are predominantly Anglo, Hispanic, or African-American and varied in their denominational affiliation. All attenders of each congregation were surveyed, resulting in 7,403 completed surveys. Members actively volunteering were invited to complete an additional survey about their service (n=946). A subsample of these volunteers participated in qualitative interviews (n= 29 congregational leaders; n=25 volunteers; n=16 families who have been involved as family units in volunteering.) The interviews were fully taped and transcribed. The research team created new protocols for group coding using the software package Atlas-Ti designed to support the development of grounded theory addressing the research questions.

Results: The quantitative and qualitative findings are extensive. A sample follows. Quantitative Findings: Only 36.2% of volunteers serve on church property; 21% serve at another location, and 17% in the home or neighborhood of recipients. Fifty-six percent volunteer at least once a week and only 11.5% are involved less than once per month. Volunteers score significantly higher on all dimensions and measures of religious beliefs and practices. Those volunteers serving adults are almost three times more likely to report awareness of changes in their faith than are those who serve children. Among volunteers, 65% report at least some change in behavior to include greater motivation to serve others (12.5%), and revisions in the priorities that govern lifestyle decisions (11.7%).

Qualitative Findings: 1. Protection of or response to burnout involves a variety of leader support activities and framing the service philosophically/theologically. 2. Distrust by recipients requires building trust and results in greater understanding of them and their problems. 3. Service that feels risky and generates some fear in volunteers also is most creative of change in the lives of volunteers themselves. 4. Working with recipients who are different from self contributes to the learning and practicing of “tolerance,” considered a faith practice in Christian tradition. 5. Time constraints are both a negative stress and a eu-stress for volunteers. It truly is a “challenge,” and not necessarily a barrier.

Implications for Practice: Social workers will more effectively recruit, lead, and sustain volunteer involvement if they understand and connect service to volunteers’ theological and philosophical motivations of volunteers. Service outside the church property, with people who are “different” from volunteers, and which pushes to the edge of volunteers’ comfort creates opportunity for positive personal changes, including tolerance and growth in the faith-life of volunteers.

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