Volunteer Work Can be Very Challenging, but It Can be More Rewarding: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Surviving & Thriving in the Nonprofit World

Background & Purpose: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 12.7 million workers were employed by 501(c)3 nonprofits in 2022. Another 75 million Americans volunteered through an organization between September 2022 and 2023. Studies of nonprofit staff and volunteers have reported both high satisfaction and high levels of stress, burn-out, and turnover. Can both of these findings be true? The purpose of this study is to better understand the complex experiences of nonprofit staff and volunteers in the process of helping clients who receive material goods from their organization. While the U.S. safety net faces serious threats, nonprofits may be relied on more now than ever as low-income families may need to seek private resources to meet their basic needs. It is important, therefore, to ensure that the nonprofit workforce is prepared for a potential influx of clients by reducing the challenges they face and promoting factors that help them thrive.

Methods: This study was conducted using Constructivist Grounded Theory. Individuals were eligible to participate if they worked or volunteered at a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides material goods, regularly interacted with the organization’s clients, were over the age of 18, and spoke English. Participants were recruited using snowball sampling. The researcher conducted 22 intensive interviews from October 2023 to November 2024. Participants were primarily female (68%), identified as white (68%) or Black (32%), and ranged in age from 24-86. The researcher began data analysis by line-by-line coding the first five interviews, then developed more conceptual focused codes, and finally identified categories with properties. Throughout the study, she used abduction techniques to go back and forth between data collection and analysis to create theory.

Results: Grounded theory analysis led to the development of five categories. First, many nonprofit workers start their journey wanting to do nonprofit work, which often stems from a genuine desire to help people. As staff and volunteers carry out the daily activities of nonprofit work, they receive intangible benefits back, which propel them on their journey and lead to high satisfaction and fulfillment. Despite these benefits, workers also experience significant challenges that threaten their journey, including concrete, emotional, and relational challenges, which occur primarily through difficult interactions they have with clients. During their journey, workers must also decide if they want to bend certain organizational rules, which often leads to gratitude from clients and emotional benefits, or rigidly uphold the rules, which often leads to further relational difficulties. If nonprofit workers survive the challenges they face and thrive with intangible benefits, they often come to a place of transformation, cyclically leading them to start their journey over again each day.

Conclusions & Implications: The author discusses concrete ways to increase intangible benefits while decreasing challenges for nonprofit workers. Ultimately, by exploring the experiences of nonprofit staff and volunteers in a role charged with helping others, this study identifies ways to not only enhance the experiences of essential nonprofit workers but improve nonprofit services to better meet the needs of low-income families.