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This is a term that is popular in the United States right now as an alternative to the word “volunteering.” It is a vague term
for service to and in the community, often used when such service is not
completely voluntary, as with students (see Service-Learning below) or court-ordered programs (see Mandated below). From the perspective of this site, “community service”
and ‘volunteering” are interchangeable. |
Agency-related Volunteer Programs
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- Formal volunteer engagement by an organization, usually with
some or many paid staff, in which volunteers work side-by-side with employees.
- This is where leaders of volunteers work under titles such as
“Volunteer Program Manager,” “Director of Volunteer Services,” “Coordinator
of Volunteers,” etc.
- Can be in nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and
for-profit services.
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The entire site is supportive of agency-based
volunteer programs. As a starting point, see:
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Boards of Directors or Trustees, and Advisory Councils |
- Are absolutely volunteers, but are often separated in the
literature and in practice because of their legal and fiduciary
responsibilities.
- Are legally required in most countries for governance of
not-for-profit or non-governmental organizations.
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Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee Volunteer Programs |
- For-profit companies taking action to better their communities
or be “good neighbors.” Includes financial philanthropy, ethical business
practices, ecologically-sound operations. Also includes encouraging
employees to volunteer. Related terms:
- In-kind services
- Work-release or flex-time service opportunities
- Loaned executives, seconded employees (UK term)
- Employee volunteer programs can also be found in larger
nonprofit organizations and government agencies, which is why this is also
referred to as workplace volunteering.
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Pro Bono Publico Work/ Donated Professional
Services |
- Refers specifically to donating one’s professional skills, generally
at no cost to the recipient but can also include reduced fees. (However, if
a lawyer chooses to be a volunteer Little League coach rather than donate
legal services, it is no longer pro bono work and becomes simply Agency-related.)
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Trade and Professional Associations, Labor Unions |
- Trade and professional associations function through active
membership. While joining such an association may be voluntary (or not),
when a member engages in more intentional participation, accepts a leadership
role, runs for office, or chairs or serves on a committee service, it becomes
volunteering. So the paid staff of such associations are, in essence,
coordinators of volunteers.
- Labor unions, as well, rely on unpaid shop stewards, committee
members, and other local voluntary participation. They also do community
service projects. In the volunteer world, however, labor unions are often
seen as negative about volunteer involvement (as “job replacement”).
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Auxiliaries, Friends and Alumni Groups
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- All-volunteer associations organized to support a specific,
designated institution, often to fundraise.
- Particularly active in relation to hospitals, arts
institutions, and schools/universities.
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All-volunteer Membership Associations
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- Wide variety of membership groups, from civic and service
clubs to fraternal orders to social/hobby groups.
- The term “member” has more resonance than “volunteer.”
For example, leaders are focused on membership development,
rather than volunteer recruitment. However, once someone has joined,
the need to get members active and remain engaged is very much volunteer
recruitment and retention.
- Can have small core of paid staff, but are run by officers
elected from the membership.
- This is a huge segment of the volunteer world, although leaders
from agency-based volunteer programs and all-volunteer associations do not
connect as often as might be expected or needed.
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Civic Engagement & Civil Society
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- Broader than volunteering, these terms cover a wide spectrum of
citizenship activities, from voting to ethical government. But the common
denominator is participation – voluntary engagement in community life.
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- Mavericks, visionaries, individuals who burn on a cause and
motivate others to join in or who seek new ways to address old problems.
- Also refers to businesses who do good while doing well – giving
part of their profits to social causes On this site, however, we deal only
with the first definition.
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Grassroots Activism & Neighborhood Organizing
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- Tenant and neighborhood associations
- Protests, marches on City Hall, lobbying
- Political campaign organizing on the local level
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- A special form of community collaboration in which members
share work (and sometimes money and goods) to benefit everyone with the
product achieved.
- Diverse foci: food coops, babysitting coops, community gardens
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Service-learning, Internships |
- Curriculum-based service projects tied to an educational
institution in which students do work outside the classroom to apply in
practice what they have learned in theory.
- Can includes a required number of hours of community service to
qualify for graduation (requirement can be governmental or private)
- Programs exist at all levels: Kindergarten to graduate school
- Can be found in public, private, and parochial institutions
- Internships can be intensive (student teachers, social work
training) and even salaried (as in medical interns). But the word intern is increasingly the term of choice for young people seeking career
exploration and is very often unpaid.
- Other vocabulary includes: experiential learning,
learning-by-doing, affective education
- For non-curriculum-related service by students, or
service by adults to help in the schools, see Agency-related volunteer programs.
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Faith-based Service, Lay Ministry |
- Individuals may do volunteering
motivated by religious faith and each religion has different terms for such
efforts. A few are:
- Lay ministry
- Charity
- Social concerns
- Tzedakah
- Sadaqah
- The term “faith-based service”
generally refers to institutional programs and can mean service:
- to or in the faith community itself , or
- a congregation/house of workshop
organizing projects to serve the community at large.
- Missionaries are another category of
faith-based service.
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National Service and Full-time Stipended Service |
- Service requiring a 24/7 commitment of a longer period of time,
for which the participant receives “enabling” funds meant to cover costs, not
to be a salary.
- “National service” refers to the desire to give young adults
options for giving back to their country beyond military service,
particularly when a military draft is in effect.
- There are many government-sponsored international programs
around the world, including the Peace Corps, United Nations Volunteers, and
similar opportunities for citizens of a developed country to provide services
to developing countries.
- There are also government-sponsored domestic service programs,
including AmeriCorps and VISTA in the United States, Community Service
Volunteers in the UK, and others. Again these are full-time service but
participants either travel within their own country or work locally.
- There are also private and religious full-time service corps,
such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corps
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Mandated (but Unpaid) Service |
- There are a number of situations in which individuals are
required to fulfill a certain number of hours of service for reasons ranging
from restitution, punishment, repaying a debt, or demonstrating civic value.
Mandated service, often referred to as “community service” includes:
- Student graduation requirements. (See
Service-Learning above.)
- Court-ordered, alternative sentencing.
- Welfare-to-work programs.
- Service determined by an employer while a worker is on
disability leave or is receiving other monetary benefits from the company.
Considered by many to be “voluntolds,” not
volunteers, these workers still provide a talent pool to organizations
without having to go on the payroll. Also, many remain in uncoerced service
long after their required hours are up.
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- Mutual aid provided by people who band together because they
have a need, illness, or concern in common.
- The term “self-help group” is most often used when the need is
medical or therapeutic.
- Often informal and anti-“professional” services.
- Range from Alcoholics Anonymous to Town Watch.
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Volunteer Centers, National Resource
Organizations, State/Provincial Offices, and Other Volunteer-Referring Organizations or Sites |
- The volunteer world is served by a variety of organizations and
agencies that recognize the diversity of vocabulary above. These provide
coordination, funding, training, research, and other infrastructure for the field – and similar organizations exist in every country around the
world.
- Energize is itself part of this infrastructure.
- Many of these entities are government agencies, working with
public funds.
- Many services these days are provided online, especially
registries of volunteer opportunities (again, a growing number of countries
have online “find the volunteer work you’d like best” sites)
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Professional Associations of Volunteer Program Managers |
- Those who self-identify for volunteer management as a
profession also seek out mutual exchange. There are local networks, often
called “DOVIAs” – Directors of Volunteers in Agencies – groups. There are
state and provincial, national and international associations.
- Some of the associations are for practitioners in any type of
setting, while others are field-specific affinity groups.
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Consultants and Trainers in Volunteerism |
- The field is served by people who consult, train, and write
about best practices in volunteerism.
- Some consultants/trainers are on the staff of the resource
organizations mentioned above.
- Most consultants and trainers are independent contractors or
small business, such as Energize, Inc.
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Academics and Researchers |
- A growing number of colleges and universities are focusing on
issues of philanthropy, fundraising, nonprofit management, and volunteering.
It takes tenacity to keep reminding everyone that volunteers are part of both
government agencies and for-profit companies, as well.
- Many of the courses and workshops offered on volunteer
management are non-credit and several are offered online.
- Research on volunteering is done by academics and also by
national resource organizations and government.
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Don't use the word "volunteer"?