The everyday reality of nature volunteering: an empirical exploration of reasons to stay and reasons to quit

Abstract

Volunteers are crucial for ecological research and nature conservation. However, despite calls in the volunteering literature to look beyond recruitment only and pay more attention to retaining and supporting volunteers, nature volunteers’ experiences have received little empirical attention. Using open survey questions among a diverse sample of formal and informal Dutch nature volunteers (N = 3775), we present a qualitative analysis of the factors that could cause nature volunteers to quit, and what keeps them going. Furthermore, we relate these to the three fundamental human needs for self-determination (autonomy, competence and relatedness). We find that reasons to quit nature volunteering include difficult situations (e.g. conflicts and tensions), volunteers’ personal circumstances, and insufficient support or appreciation. Respondents are motivated to continue because of pleasure in the activities and the people they meet, but also by a connection with nature, and the role of nature volunteering in living a meaningful and fulfilling life.