Understanding the Value of Volunteer Involvement

Abstract

Volunteers can be an important resource of many nonprofit organizations. The ability to meet the mission, goals and objectives of nonprofit organizations often depends upon the effectiveness of volunteer involvement in direct service delivery or indirect program support. Volunteer involvement utilizes financial and non–financial resources of an organization. Given the challenges associated with coordinating and managing volunteers, nonprofit organizations should evaluate volunteer program initiatives. Utilizing a net benefits framework, this study evaluated volunteer programs in 4-H to understand the value of direct and indirect volunteer involvement. Findings showed county 4-H program that utilized volunteers to provide direct service to clientele as–well–as volunteers in indirect program support roles had nearly 50% higher total benefits compared to programs that only used direct service volunteers. Additionally, results indicated challenges associated with coordinating and managing volunteers did not increase for programs that involve both direct and indirect volunteers compared to those that only utilized direct service volunteers. Finally, this research provided evidence that net benefits accrued at a higher rate for nonprofits that utilize both direct and indirect service volunteers compared to those involving only direct service volunteers.