Nonprofit organizations play a crucial role in responding to humanitarian crises, making it important to understand what motivates volunteers and how they learn about volunteering opportunities. Drawing on functional theory as well as word-of-mouth and tie strength frameworks, this study examines volunteers’ motivations and information sources during the arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Hungary. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews with volunteers have been analyzed using thematic analysis with deductive and inductive coding. The findings show that values and protective motivations were the dominant drivers of volunteering, with career, social, and understanding motivations also present, whereas enhancement motivation was absent in the context of the emergency crisis. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) was the main source of information, with volunteering opportunities spreading mostly through weak ties, whose recommendations were trusted and accepted without scrutiny. Volunteer recruitment in humanitarian crises should emphasize value-driven and protective motivations while utilizing eWOM and weak-tie networks to reach potential volunteers effectively.

Voluntary mental health support services play an important role in public health. However, long-term retention of volunteers is a major challenge. The present study aimed to understand the reasons for reduced volunteer engagement and retention loss in a UK mental health charity. Twenty-two participants from two populations (new volunteers and leavers) were engaged in semi-structured interviews to (1) longitudinally explore new volunteers’ expectations and experiences in their new role; and (2) explore reasons for stopping volunteering. Using constructivist grounded theory, we found key barriers to engagement among volunteers in this sector: unmet needs and values, unclear or demanding commitments, and reduced confidence in the role. Addressing these barriers through clearer expectations, stronger social connection, and processes that build confidence and coping (e.g., additional training) may enhance engagement and retention. Our findings suggest areas where targeted adjustments could enhance volunteer engagement and retention.

Women volunteer more than men, yet it remains segregated by gender, with female volunteers underrepresented in maritime search and rescue (SAR) particularly in leadership roles. A cross-sectional online survey of 209 females volunteering in operational SAR with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution sought to understand their characteristics, motivations and improvement strategies. There was a lack of diversity with most white, highly educated, working full-time and in the top half of the index of multiple deprivation. Only half had previous maritime experience, most were crew and few held leadership positions. Respondents were motivated by giving back to the community, increasing self-esteem. Volunteers benefitted from role modeling although wanted equally demanding operational roles as men. Respondents demanded more women in SAR and female friendly equipment. Three internally coherent volunteer profiles emerged: civic; maritime; skills/career. While changes were ongoing, challenges relating to gender discrimination remained. Women reshape gendered security spaces through high-risk volunteering.

This study explores individual- and contextual-level determinants of volunteering and donating as two voluntary acts of philanthropy in 11 Arab Middle East and North African countries. Using multilevel binary logistic regression modeling, we analyze data from 18,818 Muslim respondents collected by the Arab Barometer in 2018–2019. Combining insights from global, Arab, and Muslim philanthropic studies on the one hand, and political sociology on the other, we test both globally comparative and context-specific hypotheses. Our findings reveal that the normative effects of Islam positively associate with donating money, whereas civic culture more strongly informs volunteering. However, the control variable, educational attainment, had the largest effect on both outcomes, which we link to resource theory and state-induced mandated volunteering among higher-educated youngsters. Our findings underscore the importance of both religious and civic influences operating at structural and cultural levels in shaping voluntary philanthropic behavior by Muslims in Arab countries.

This qualitative study investigates social participation and recognition through volunteering for people with disabilities in Thailand. Using data from 65 participants across five provinces, and employing Social Role Valorization (SRV) as the framework, this study examines how volunteering can transform people with disabilities from recipients of aid into valued social contributors. The results revealed that volunteering can enhance self-esteem, skills development, and community connections. However, significant barriers impede access to valued roles, including societal attitudes, physical environment limitations, and a lack of support. Despite these challenges, many volunteers with disabilities exhibited leadership by participating in volunteering activities and successfully shifting society’s perceptions about their abilities. Nonetheless, acceptance in the broader society remains limited due to insufficient promotion of their social contributions in the media. In conclusion, inclusive volunteering supported by both the private and government sectors is crucial for promoting the valuable social contributions that people with disabilities can provide.

Scholarship on volunteering often highlights transformations in civic engagement and their implications for democracy and social cohesion. This article examines one influential perspective—the discourse of change in volunteering—emphasizing declining participation, shifts in organizational preferences, and changing forms of engagement. We critically review this discourse with attention to the Scandinavian context and compare its claims with empirical evidence on formal volunteering in Sweden from 1992 to 2024. Drawing on cross-sectional survey data, we analyze trends in the scope, structure, forms, and values of volunteering. Contrary to narratives of decline or radical transformation, our findings indicate relative stability. To interpret these findings, we apply the theoretical perspective of the “reversed social engine” and argue that resilience offers a valuable yet underexplored lens for understanding civil society. This perspective shifts attention from change to stability as a phenomenon warranting further study.

Voluntary organizations as well as churches rely heavily on Christian volunteers, yet research on their motivation delivers conflicting answers and limited guidance. This paper applies a comprehensive (2,485 records screened) scoping review-based approach mapping 79 empirical studies (1989–2026) on Christian volunteer motivation across church and civil society projects. Using the UN Volunteers 2020 framework, we analyze (i) study designs, theoretical lenses, instruments, (ii) volunteer populations, and (iii) project settings. We identify three structural barriers to cumulative knowledge: heterogeneous and often implicit motivation concepts; an instrument–phenomenon mismatch that sidelines religious motives (notably through uncritical reliance on the Volunteer Functions Inventory); and systematic underreporting of key participant and context variables. These gaps account for much of the contradictory evidence and restrict its practical use. We outline concrete reporting and measurement standards to integrate religious motives into mainstream volunteering research and to improve evidence-informed management of Christian volunteers.

To address the increasing need for volunteers in countries experiencing conflict and natural disasters, this study examined young adults’ willingness to volunteer abroad in a “higher risk” country. Young Australian adults (N = 163) completed an online survey of Prototype Willingness Model constructs, risk perceptions, and trust in the organization. Attitude, subjective norm (approval from others), perceived similarity to a typical volunteer, risk susceptibility, risk severity, and trust in the charitable organization significantly predicted volunteer willingness, with trust in the organization influencing a number of the antecedents to volunteer willingness. Risk susceptibility had an unexpected positive relationship with volunteer willingness, highlighting the importance of acceptance of associated risks for openness to volunteering in higher risk settings. This study contributes to our understanding of volunteering abroad in higher risk countries, informing efforts to increase the prevalence of international volunteering, essential to address the imbalance of resources globally.

This article examines democracy-related attitudes of German sports club members. It employs a framework derived from the neo-Tocquevillian theoretical works about democracy to argue that the depth of individual involvement in a club, in conjunction with the club’s political and democratic culture, is crucial for determining attitudes conveyed by members. A representative sample of the population (N = 3,049) indicates that there is only a slight difference in the levels of political interest, political efficacy beliefs, cosmopolitan orientations, or satisfaction with democracy between sports club members and non-members. However, more nuanced models for sports club members indicate that active participation, as well as a club culture that encourages initiative, open political debate, and diversity, is predictive of pro-democratic attitudes. Based on these findings, we propose a perspective that no longer treats sports clubs as a homogeneous group, but acknowledges the existence of a range of club cultures.

This study examines how intersectional identity congruence between leaders and members of associations shapes volunteering behaviors and outcomes. Drawing on the American Society of Association Executives’ Decision to Volunteer survey and using the intersection of gender and race identities, we find that board–member congruence is associated with more time volunteered, whereas executive director–member congruence shows limited association. Strikingly, intersectional congruence with boards is associated with lower volunteer satisfaction. Applying an intersectional framework to leadership–member representation reveals the complex implications of the multiplicity of identities across and within individuals.

Studies in volunteering often focus on why people start volunteering and how to retain volunteers. Conversely, less attention is given to why volunteers quit. Hustinx (Nonprofit Volunt Sect Q 39(2):236–255, 2010) provided a substantial contribution on this topic by examining quitting volunteering at the Flemish Red Cross. The present article revisits and extends the contribution of Hustinx (2010), by exploring reasons to quit volunteering at the Netherlands’ largest refugee aid organization. Based on thematic analysis of open answers from 605 former volunteers for refugees, we find that organization-related reasons and personal circumstances are important drivers for quitting volunteering, thereby confirming Hustinx’ outcomes. Moreover, we identified another ‘umbrella’ under which many exit reasons can be subsumed: reasons to quit volunteering that are rooted in egocentric considerations. Next to this third perspective, this study raises attention for burnout and boreout in volunteering and challenges in mentor–mentee relationships, being volunteer–refugee relationships where volunteers quit out of frustration, disappointment or unfulfilled expectations. Implications of the findings and directions for further research are discussed.

This article introduces the concept of valorization to theorize how voluntary social welfare organizations foster social inclusion for marginalized individuals. Departing from dominant frameworks that view volunteering primarily as a pathway to labor market integration, the study conceptualizes inclusion as a dialectical process of valorization—co-constructed through sustained interaction between volunteers and enabling organizational settings. Based on qualitative interviews with 13 marginalized volunteers and three organizational leaders in Danish voluntary social welfare organizations, the analysis identifies three interrelated phases of the valorization process: (1) the discovery of informal, biographically rooted competencies, (2) the reinforcement of self-efficacy through organizational validation, and (3) the internalization of new narratives of self-worth. Rather than facilitating capital accumulation, these organizations enable recognition of informal resources often overlooked in formal institutions.

This paper examines patterns of volunteering during COVID-19 in different areas of civil society and demographic groups in Denmark. The aim is to understand how differences in the areas of civil society's political resources and organizational settings, and different barriers to volunteering of demographic groups, relate to variation in the levels of volunteering in periods of the pandemic with different lockdown measures. Using two cross-sectional surveys from spring 2020 (n = 3,497), and spring 2021 (n = 1,692), and a four-round panel dataset (n = 1,340), we measure changes in volunteer participation during the first year of the pandemic. We find significant drops in volunteering within most areas. While the level of lockdown correlates strongly with changes in volunteering, differences between areas of civil society point to the importance of variations in political resources and organizational settings for explaining which areas recovered fastest in the re-opening of society. Additionally, declines in volunteering did not differ significantly across demographic groups.

A serious challenge facing Western democracies is the falling propensity of successive cohorts of citizens to vote. Over the last 50 years, newly eligible voters – particularly from poorer backgrounds – have become less likely to vote in their first elections, and more likely to develop habits of non‐voting. This trend has prompted greater interest in policies with the potential to increase first‐time voter turnout, such as lowering the voting age or compulsory political education. Despite a growing academic interest in volunteering as a means of youth political expression or route to civic revival, however, the promotion of youth volunteering has not been seriously considered as a potential tool to help address generational turnout decline.

An extensive literature argues that volunteering can increase first‐time voter turnout, but it is hindered by the limited use of panel data and failure to account for confounding and selection effects. It has not, moreover, considered the potential for the effects of childhood volunteering to be conditional on prior political socialisation, particularly the influence of parents, which is necessary to assess its potential to reduce turnout gaps reflecting socio‐economic status. This study uses the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study and structural equation modelling to overcome these limitations and examine the impact of childhood volunteering on the turnout of newly eligible voters. It shows that for most young volunteers there is no significant benefit, but for the children of politically disengaged parents, volunteering does have a significant, positive effect.

This article evaluates whether economic hardship affects social capital in Europe. Comparing 27 European countries, it evaluates the impact of personal experiences of economic hardship on engagement in voluntary associations as a cornerstone of civic and democratic life. Empirical analyses of the Eurobarometer data indicate that individual economic hardship has indeed a negative effect on associational volunteering in Europe. However, the result is qualified in two respects. First, it is found that the effect of individual economic hardship is contingent upon education. Second, this effect mostly refers to volunteering for associations providing solidarity goods (Putnam groups). These results have broader implications for understanding how economic hardship shapes the social capital within democratic societies.

Despite the rise of interest in nonprofit organizations’ (NPOs) retention strategies and organizational behaviour micro-mechanisms, little research has specifically addressed volunteers’ religiosity and attitude towards the organization, and their links to motivation and intention to stay with NPOs. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of religiosity as an antecedent of volunteers’ intention to stay with the organization, and the mediating role of both volunteers’ motivation and attitude towards the organization in such a relationship. Building on motivational functions theory and the theory of planned behaviour, a conceptual model is proposed and empirically tested using bootstrapped multiple mediation analysis on a sample of 379 volunteers of NPOs located in Italy. The results support the role of religiosity as a significant predictor of volunteer intentions, and the mediating role of motivation and attitude on this relationship. Volunteers who are driven by their religious values are likely to develop a stronger motivation to volunteering and a positive attitude towards NPOs’ activities, and consequently a stronger willingness to stay with the organization. The study contributes to the literature on NPOs by stressing the role of antecedents and underlying mechanisms affecting volunteers’ motivation and, in turn, their intention to stay with the organization.

This paper discusses the relationship between corporate volunteering and civic engagement outside the workplace in Russia, proceeding from a mixed-method approach. The quantitative findings are based on a comparison between employees in 37 Russian companies who participated in corporate volunteering (N = 399) and those who did not (N = 402). Using binary logistic regression analysis, we demonstrate that employee participation in corporate volunteering is positively related to four forms of civic engagement outside the workplace: informal volunteering, formal volunteering, formal monetary donation, and informal monetary donation. In addition, we draw on information obtained from interviews with 10 corporate volunteers, as well as with all 37 company corporate volunteering managers, to develop a general explanation for why corporate volunteering might lead to civic engagement. We identify three primary explanations. First, trust in companies can be converted into increased trust in social institutions. Second, corporate volunteering can expose employees to other realities, thereby leading them to rethink their priorities. Third, corporate volunteering socializes employees to volunteering, thus making them more likely to incorporate volunteering into their personal repertoires of activities. Corporate volunteering appears to be an effective mechanism for stimulating civic engagement and volunteering infrastructure in post-communist countries.

This paper, based on Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data, analyzes the relation between volunteering and well-being among 30,023 Europeans aged 50 and above in 12 countries. There is an overall positive correlation between volunteering and perceived health, life satisfaction, and self-life expectancy and a negative correlation to depression. However, in some countries the correlation is much stronger than in others.

The phenomenon of volunteering can be analysed as a consumer experience through the concept of value as a trade-off between benefits and costs. In event volunteering, both the expected value (pre-experienced) and the perceived value (post-experienced) of volunteering can be assessed. With this purpose, an online quantitative survey is conducted with a sample of 711 volunteers in a religious mega event, with questions related to five dimensions of their experience: efficiency, social value, play, spirituality and time spent. These five scales, properly tested are used for building a multidimensional index of both the expected and perceived value of the volunteer experience. ANOVAs test show significant differences on the index in both moments upon the socio-demographic profiles: negative expectations/experience balance by age, contrasted results by sex, and more experienced volunteers being more critical with the value experienced. Implications for event managers are proposed, in line with the motivation of volunteers.