Why Do You Volunteer?
The same afternoon at the food bank can serve five different needs
Two volunteers can stand side by side sorting donations for completely different reasons. One is acting on a conviction, one is learning how a charity works, one came because a friend asked, one hopes it leads to a job in the sector, and one simply feels better about life on the days she helps. The research behind this test found that none of these motives is more genuine than the others - and that people stay when the role actually gives them what they came for.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about why you volunteer now, or why you would if you started. There are no better or worse motives here.
What it measures
Five of the six functions in the Volunteer Functions Inventory: values, understanding, social, career and enhancement. The sixth, protective, is left out and explained in the questions below. Unlike a general values test, this does not ask what matters to you in life - it asks what giving your time does for you.
Based on: Volunteer Functions Inventory (Clary, Snyder, Ridge, Copeland, Stukas, Haugen & Miene, 1998)
Possible results
Values
Volunteering as a way to act on concern for others and for causes you believe in.
Understanding
Volunteering as a way to learn, use skills and see the world from other angles.
Social
Volunteering because people around you do it or value it.
Career
Volunteering as a way to gain experience, contacts and a foot in the door.
Enhancement
Volunteering because it makes you feel needed, useful and better about yourself.
Common questions
Is volunteering for my CV a bad reason?
Not according to the research. The functional approach behind this test starts from the idea that the same act can serve different needs, and it treats career benefits as one legitimate function among six. What matters is fit: a volunteer who gets the experience they came for is more likely to be satisfied and to stay, whatever the motive was.
What is the sixth motive that is missing?
The protective function: volunteering to escape your own troubles, ease guilt about being more fortunate than others, or take your mind off worries. It is a real and common motive, but it sits close to personal difficulties, and a few quick statements are not the right way to explore it. If helping others is how you get through a hard time, that can be healthy, as long as it is not the only thing holding you up.
Why do volunteers quit?
Often because the role stops serving the motive that brought them. Clary and Snyder argued that people stay when their experience matches what they were seeking - learning for the learner, company for the social volunteer, a sense of contribution for the value-driven. That is why knowing your top two motives is useful: it tells you which roles to look for and which to avoid.
Sources
- Clary, E. G., Snyder, M., Ridge, R. D., Copeland, J., Stukas, A. A., Haugen, J., & Miene, P. (1998). Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers: A functional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1516
- Clary, E. G., & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: Theoretical and practical considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00037
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording adapted from the Volunteer Functions Inventory, so scores are not comparable to published norms. This version covers five of the six functions; the protective function is left out. The inventory was developed in the United States, and volunteering is organised very differently across countries and faiths, so some motives may weigh differently where you live. A low score on any bar is not a judgement of your character: every function in this model is treated as a legitimate reason to help.