THE SHRINKING VOLUNTEER:

WHERE HAVE ALL THOSE LONG TERM SERVICE VOLUNTEERS GONE?

by

Nancy Macduff
Macduff/Bunt Associates
821 Lincoln St.
Walla Walla, WA 99362
509-529-0244
mba@bmi.net

for presentation at the

Association for Research on Nonprofits and Voluntary Action

Annual Conference
Los Angeles, CA
November 18-20, 2004
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THE SHRINKING VOLUNTEER:

WHERE HAVE ALL THOSE LONG TERM SERVICE VOLUNTEERS GONE?

Abstract

This survey analyzed the responses of 248 volunteer managers on the

increases in episodic volunteers from 1999 to 2003, reporting “hard” numbers
and perceptions of percentage increases. The results includes information on
such things as growth in the number of organizations reporting episodic
volunteers; how volunteer management strategies have changed as a result of
the advent of the episodic volunteer, and the impact of these shifts on services
delivered.

Introduction

Beginning in the late 1980s, this author wrote and taught about the

changes in the way people were volunteering in the US and Canada. The writing

and training was prompted by the increasing number of managers of volunteer

programs who reported dramatic increases in people requesting shorter

assignments. In a 1989 study there was a high interest in volunteer work of

shorter duration. Fully 79% of those not volunteering said they would volunteer

if it were a short duration task was available. (JCPenney and Volunteer: The

National Volunteer Center, 1989). Then in 1999 Independent Sector asked

volunteers about the type of volunteering they were doing in relation to time

spent. By 2002 44% of adults in the United States over the age of 21 gave time

to an organization or cause in the past year. More than two-thirds of them (69%)

were “periodic” volunteers, meaning they volunteered at a scheduled time that

recurred at regular intervals (for example, daily, weekly, or monthly). “The other

31% were episodic volunteers who contributed their time sporadically, only
 3

during special times of the year, or considered it a one-time event” (Weber, 2003,

p. 2).

The work of authors including Beck, Lash, Hustinx, Safrit, and Merrill lays

the foundation for explaining this apparent systemic change in the nature of

volunteering, especially in Westernized countries. They suggest a picture of

volunteering substantially different from that which existed in the past.

The institutions of the post-modern era are being impacted by forces in

culture; changes in gender roles, the nature of family, marriage patterns, political

shifts, the nature of work, and the like. Volunteerism, like other institutions in

society, is influenced by cultural shifts. One of those shifts for some people is

having the opportunity to volunteers, but in shorter spurts of work.

The preference for episodic types of positions requires a new type of

thinking by managers of volunteer programs. Episodic volunteers and short

service positions, provide the opportunity to bring on board a new type of

volunteer. Projects are short in duration or on an ad hoc basis. They are limited

in time and commitment. The intensity of the involvement is significantly reduced

(Hustinix and Lammertyn, 2003; Macduff, 2003). Personal motivations dictate

the types of activities in which the individual might want to volunteer.

There are few studies on the extent of episodic volunteering in

organizations and programs relying on volunteer resources. In 1999 Dietz

examined the motivations of episodic volunteers by class in one organization in

Arizona. (Dietz, 1999). Weber analyzed data from a US national study of

volunteering in 2002 to determine the time commitments being made. (Weber,

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2002). These two studies appear to be the only empirical attempt to verify the

growing concerns of managers of volunteer programs, as relates to fewer long-

term continuous service volunteers versus the episodic or short term. This paper

proposes to verify that a trend exists that individuals are seeking short term or

episodic assignments in large numbers, as has so often been reported by

managers of volunteers.

To verify the hypothesis that short term volunteering is the leading edge of

a systemic shift in volunteer patterns, a survey was designed to gather

retrospective data of an empirical nature, and “impressions” of volunteer

managers about the changes in numbers of volunteers in two categories,

episodic and long-term continuous service. The survey also provided the

opportunity to identify the impact on volunteer organizational and managerial

strategies for episodic volunteers. The result includes information on such things

as growth in the number of organizations reporting episodic volunteers; how

volunteer management strategies have changed as a result of the advent of the

episodic volunteer, and the impact of these shifts on services delivered. The

survey results are an attempt to verify that the last five years has in fact seen an

increase in short term volunteering.

Definitions

For the purpose of this survey the following definitions were used. The

definitions appeared at the top of each page of the survey. Definitions are those

identified in the Taxonomy of Volunteer Positions (Macduff, 2004), which were

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originally developed in 1999 and widely used within the volunteer management

arena.

Definitions for this Survey:

Continuous Service-a volunteer who serves on a regular schedule

over a long period of time (e.g., weekly, bi-weekly, monthly). (more
than one year)
Temporary Episodic-one time service and is not involved with the
organization again
Interim Episodic-serves for short period; three-six months in
specific position (intern or community service referral, for example)
Occasional Episodic-volunteers for one activity, event, project for
the organization, but does it year after year.
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The Survey

The survey was conducted in early October using an online survey

program, SurveyMonkey. The sample was drawn from subscribers to the online

newsletter, Volunteer Today, a free publication of MBA Publishing, aimed at

managers of volunteer programs (4310) and CYBERVPM (894) a listserv for

managers of volunteer programs. Each group received one email asking them to

visit the SurveyMonkey site and answer questions on their volunteer program.

Time provided to respond was very short, ten business days, and there was no

follow-up reminder to the email. There were 248 respondents to the survey.

Demographics

A significant number of respondents did not complete the demographic

portion of this survey (52%). In different demographic categories it varied by one

or two questions, but on no questions were the non-respondents any lower than

51%. The non-respondents fell into three categories; 34% were individuals who

answered “no” to the question, “Has the number of volunteers providing episodic

service to your organization increased over the last five years?” 55% of those

who responded yes to that question neglected to complete the demographic

questions. The remaining individuals not completing the demographic portion of

the survey responded with some other responses to the original question.

Of those providing demographic information (47%), 107 (43.1%) were

female; 10 (4%) were male. Those with bachelor’s degrees made up the largest
 7

number of respondents 21%, while 11.3% reported having a master’s degree.

Only one person listed high school as the highest educational level achieved.

The experience level of the respondents was divided between very

experienced, with 16+ years on the job to a year or less. The highest number of

respondents had more than 16 years managing volunteers.

Years of Experience # %
Managing Volunteers
0-1 14 5.6%
2-3 21 8.5%
4-6 23 9.3%
7-10 15 6.0%
11-16 14 5.6%
16+ 31 12.5%
NR 130 52%

The number of volunteers in the programs represented in the sample

ranged from 11.3% having 0-50 volunteers to 12.5% having 501+ volunteers.

Types of organization’s housing these volunteers were largely nonprofits

(31.5%), with government and military programs next closest at 8.5%. Other

types of organizations represented in the sample included corporations,

educational institutions, and faith-based programs.

21% of the respondents indicated that volunteers had been involved in the

organization’s programs for 20+ years. Only 4.4% had had volunteers for 0-1

year. The sample of those responding to the demographics came from programs

where volunteers had been around for quite a while.

Results

The first question asked of respondents was, “Has the number of

volunteers providing episodic service to your organization increased over the last
 8

five years?” 132 of the respondents indicated they had seen an increase; 87

said there had been no increase, 26 responded “other,” and 3 gave no response.

Those responding yes were asked to list the total number of volunteers and then

break down the total by long-term, continuous service and all categories of

episodic aggregated into one number. There was an increase in the number of

programs reporting increases in episodic volunteers from 1999 to 2003, although

some responses had to be eliminated for mathematical errors (poor addition,

incomplete answers, flawed responses). In 1999 ninety organizations had no

response to this question on data, even though they had said yes to the question.

From 1999 to 2003 the number of agencies with the ability to provide

accurate numbers of episodic volunteers grew from 15 to 19. If you include

those who tried to answer this question but made mathematical errors, the

number of organizations with statistics on episodic volunteers was 21 in 1999

and 31 by 2003. That is a 32% increase in organizations saying that there were

more episodic volunteers.

Surmising that some volunteer programs might not have exact numbers

anyone who responded “yes” to seeing an increase in episodic volunteers could

select an option to estimate the percentage of increase in episodic volunteers

observed over the same period of time, 1999-2003. It is noteworthy that there

were relatively few mathematical types of errors when the respondents were

“estimating” by percentage. In 1999 19 organizations or 14% could estimate the

number of episodic volunteers. By 2003 that number had grown to 37 or 28% of

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the sample. This is in contrast to the 14% that could provide hard numbers on

episodic volunteers in their programs in the same year.

Impact on Organizational and Management Strategies

Those responding “yes” to seeing an increase in episodic volunteers were

asked to indicate the degree of change it required in strategies to organize and

manage volunteers. Of eight management strategies, needs assessments,

recruiting, screening, training, supervision, evaluating volunteers, evaluating

staff, and recognition, the highest degree of change was in conducting needs

assessments. 28% rated it as needing “great change” or “some change.” The

number of respondents indicating no change in the eight categories was small,

never more than 7 people saying there was no change need in managerial and

organizational strategies for working with volunteers. The highest percent of “no

change” was 5.3% in recognition. (See complete chart at end of this paper)

Impact on Services

Respondents who answered “yes” to having more episodic volunteers

were given the opportunity, in an open-ended question, to indicate the impact the

advent of short-term service volunteers had on clients, members, or patrons.

Respondents seemed evenly divided on the negative and positive impact of

episodic volunteers on services, through actual client contact, programs, or the

delivery mechanisms. There were no respondents who listed both positive and

negative impacts. The responses were uniformly either all positive about the

involvement of episodic volunteers or all negative. The chart below indicates the
 10

range of impacts of the advent of episodic volunteers. An asterisk next to a

statement means that more than one respondent indicated that answer.

Those answering ‘”no” to the original question on an increase in episodic

volunteers were not required to answer any more questions, but several took the

opportunity to comment on the impact of episodic volunteers. The comments

were strong statements that there was little interest in or use for episodic

volunteers at their organization.

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What is the Impact of Episodic Volunteers on Services?

Positive Negative
Staff Staff

• Free staff time from routine work *
• Better relations with staff and
volunteers
Programs
• Staff are not welcoming to episodic
volunteers *
• More staff time is needed to
process questions, paper work, etc. *
• Manager of volunteers spread too
thin
• Newly hired staff has supplanted
work formerly done by volunteers,
because only volunteers available are
episodic
Programs

• We are building new programs on • Impact of programs with episodic

the involvement of episodic volunteers volunteers is less*
• Organizing new programs for • We have shut down programs
episodic volunteer that is specifically because of the lack of long term
designed for safety and best outcomes volunteers
• Provided us with richer exhibits and • Episodic volunteers have less
displays tolerance for poorly organized programs
• Makes the organization look more
efficient because there are more people
to help with events
• Service is more flexible and
focused
• Can be more responsive with the
addition of episodic volunteers
Clients/Members Clients/Members
• We are serving more customers* • Episodic volunteering has had a
• More episodic volunteers has negative impact on relations with clients *
meant more outreach and services* • Clients are confused as to who is
• More needs are meant* serving them *
• Thanks to episodic volunteers
clients have a broader range of
experiences
• There is a tangible and visible
impact from work of episodic volunteers
Finances Finances
• Enabled the organization to stretch
the budget through use of episodic
volunteers
• More fundraising because of
episodic volunteers
• Awareness by episodic volunteers
has lead to contributions

Management/Supervision
• Episodic volunteers give us ability
to meet special project demands *
• •
Volunteers
• There is an increased labor pool
• There are more options for
volunteers
• There are more young people and
professional people in the ranks of
episodic volunteer*
Training
Civil Society
• There is increased opportunity for
community interaction **
12
Management/Supervision
• More time and effort is needed in
tracking volunteers*
Time demands of managing
episodic volunteers is negatively
impacting our relations with long term
volunteers*
• Recruitment is aimed only at
groups
• We are missing the time to
recognize the work of volunteers
• There is less time to make
appropriate assignments
• No time to build relations*
• We only allow episodic volunteers
to work at one time events
• There is less consistency
Volunteers
• Episodic volunteers don’t feel
responsible*
• Episodic volunteers seem to move
around in the organization, rather than
staying in one work area
• Younger episodic volunteers are
less mature and responsible
• There is a challenge in figuring out
how they can serve
Training
• More training is need for episodic
volunteers.
• Don’t like offering expensive
training to people who don’t stay
• There is less time for training*
Civil Society
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Conclusions

What began as a substantial number of respondents to a four-question

survey ended up producing a slim amount of hard empirical data. While 53% of

the respondents said they had observed an increase in episodic volunteers over

the last five years, few could provide actual evidence of that increase. In 1999 it

was .06% of the overall sample of 248 respondents or 15 agencies who had

actual numbers of episodic volunteers, by 2003 some of those who gave

numbers in 1999 were no longer providing numbers or the numbers were flawed

in some way. But, given the tiny sample, there continues to be some hard data,

and certainly the perception that the episodic volunteer is a growing presence in

most programs. Only 38% of the programs surveyed indicated there was no

increase in episodic volunteers in the last five-year span of time.

The chart below illustrates the challenges of analyzing this data. There is

a clear increase in the number of people who are doing episodic volunteering,

but the flawed data makes the researcher question the accuracy of such

reporting. One obvious conclusion is that managers of volunteers are not

keeping accurate records on the different types of volunteers positions and the

time donated. The glacial pace of the increase in episodic volunteers, as

evidenced by this data, would seem to indicate that the “crisis” in volunteering is

perhaps a “Chicken Little*” story. This sample of respondents, the one’s who

gave the most accurate answers to the question on the number of volunteers,

*Chicken Little is a children’s fable that tells the story of a hen who walks through a forest and
feels an acorn hit her head and assumes the sky is fall. She gathers other barnyard animals on a
mission to tell the King the sky is falling. Only to learn on her arrival at the palace, that
misinterpretation of her experience had led to a potentially big problem.
 14

were likely to report increases in long-term continuous volunteers, as well as

episodic. Does this mean that the post-modern era is eliciting long-term service

from some people and opening opportunities to new groups of people to

volunteer through episodic or short-term assignment?

This survey adds to a growing body of information that episodic

volunteering is becoming a part of everyday volunteering. It also records that the

addition of this “new” type of volunteering has a price. Changes are required in

all aspects of organizing and managing volunteers. Managers cannot apply

strategies used to manage long-term volunteers with episodic positions. It

appears that there is a need for parallel and integrated programs that merge

long-term and episodic volunteers in a seamless whole.

The list of “impacts” of episodic volunteering can be used to “sell” the

notion of budgeting to include more short-term volunteers in organizational

programming. The list of negatives, or barriers to effective programming for

volunteers, can be used as an aid in the planning process. For example, staff

resistance is a big barrier, so managers of volunteers need to build support

before foisting episodic volunteers on an unprepared paid staff.

No doubt the biggest conclusion from this study is the need for

researchers to work with managers of volunteer programs to create and maintain

credible database information on people in the program. The overwhelming

errors and missteps by respondents, makes the data suspect. This leads to

skepticism or disbelief of other researchers, or administrators who are being

 15

asked to fund the development of new programs to include more episodic

volunteers.

This survey continues to beg the question that the advent of the episodic

volunteer is not the “crisis” some would have believe. It seems that like the other

institutions of society, volunteerism is moving incrementally into new forms. The

wake of that change is likely to leave behind those unwilling to offer the new

forms of volunteers with a depleted workforce. But it appears that enthusiasm for

the new forms can bolster the number of people interested and serving in long-

term positions as well.

Managers of volunteers have a growing body of the positive and negative

outcomes of the involvement of episodic volunteers. That knowledge can be

used to plan, design, and integrate new types of volunteering into the overall

program.
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The Increase in Episodic Volunteers

Hard Numbers

1999 2003
Total # Long Episodic Total # Long Episodic
Volunteers Term Volunteers Term
A 5 3 2 20 9 6
B 7 6 1 18 6 12
C 50 25 25
D 100 30 70 150 30 120
E 120 120 0 140 135 5
F 130 93 37 221 174 47
G 130 70 60 220 50 150
H 150 150 263 214 49
I 150 100 50 600 200 400
J 250 240 10 350 113
K 255 240 15 301 187 114
L 260 170 90 267 131 136
M 350 350 0 450 400 50
N 520 176 344 475 165 310
O 922 922 0 1098 993 105
P 0* 0 0 15 6 6
Q 35* 40 39 1
R 135* 10 5 170* 45 14
S 333* 426*
T 900* 1100* 850 350
U 9 3 6
V 23 21 2
W 30 15 15
X 33 3 30
Y 100 20 80
Z 150 60 90
AA 1208 740 468
AB 2225* 2 125 3*
AC 100 45
AD 32000
AE 38000 4000
*Error by respondent
 17

The Increase in Episodic Volunteers

Percentages

1999 2003
Total # % % Total # % %
Volunteers Long Episodic Volunteers Long Episodic
Term Term
AF 1 80 20 1 72 28
AG 30 95 5 18 40 60
AH 40 100 0 400 62 38
AI 102 22 78 275 8 92
AJ 150 85 15 150 70 30
AK 185 95 5 150 80 20
AL 200 35 65 300 20 80
AM 220 95 5 225 75 25
AN 243 15 85 446 5 95
AO 300 85 30 250 70 45
AP 304 70 30 283 50 50
AQ 350 75 25 325 74 26
AR 350 80 20 700 50 50
AS 500 90 10 4525 85 15
AT 655 80 20 600 75 25
AU 800 100 0 600 90 10
AV 817 65 35 752 60 30
AW 850 95 5 780 80 20
AX 881 99 1 986 97 3
AY 1400 30 70 3709 12 88
AZ 15000 100 17500 90 10
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1999 2003
Total # % % Total # % %
Volunteers Long Episodic Volunteers Long Episodic
Term Term
BA 32 30 70
BB 25 20 80
BC 700 85 15
BD 4227 25 75
BE 10 20 80
BF * 10 90
BG 507 50 50
BH 155 75 25
BI * 60 40 50 50
BJ 300 67 33
BK 200 15 85
BL 45 5 95
BM 662 40 60
BN 35 80 20
BO 400 40 60
BP 200 60 40
BQ 35 15 85
BR 215 60 40
BS 1 25 75
*Error by respondent
 19

Level of Change Made to Accommodate the Increase in Episodic Volunteers

Element Needs Recruiting Screening Training Supervision Evaluation Evaluation Recognition

Assessment volunteer Staff
Great 12 9.1% 16 12.1% 8 6.1% 12 9.1% 16 12.1% 10 7.6% 11 8.3 5 3.8%
Change
Some 25 18.9% 19 14.4% 27 20.5% 24 18.2% 19 % 13 9.8% 22 16.7 18 13.6%
Change
Little 8 6.1% 12 9.1% 12 9.1% 10 7.6% 13 9.8% 15 11.4% 13 9.8 16 12.1%
Change
Barely 7 5.3% 7 5.3% 8 6.1% 11 8.3% 8 6.1% 15 11.4% 8 6.1 13 9.8%
Change
No Change 6 4.5% 6 4.5% 4 3% 3 2.3% 3 2.3% 5 3.8% 4 3.0 7 5.3%

No 74 56.1% 72 54.5% 73 55.3% 72 54.5% 73 55.3% 74 56.1% 74 56.1 73 55.3%

Response
 20

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