Analyzing different layers of volunteer infrastructure in crisis and beyond

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Volunteers as resource are a backbone of civil society. Besides securing steady support for nonprofit organizations in many fields of activities (e.g. sports, social services, etc.) recent years have shown that volunteers are especially important to respond to social crisis situations such as the migration crisis (Simsa et al. 2019) or the COVID-19 pandemic (Trautwein et al. 2020).
However, the ways of volunteering and the demographic of volunteers are changing. Potential subject to change are: the job market (occupations that will not be needed anymore); Socio-demographic changes (aging populations; growing social demands due to immigration); and policy changes in western democracies (public budget cuts in welfare states combined with higher demands for services). For single nonprofit organizations, addressing all these issues may exceed its capacities and competencies. Thus, there is a need for better support to recruit, engage, and retain volunteers.
This panel aims for a better understanding of volunteer infrastructures. We subsume under this term both, structures and organizations as well as norms and policies that offer support, knowledge and capacities to attract volunteers. How do volunteer infrastructures support and facilitate the development of new forms of volunteering? What are effective preconditions for volunteer infrastructures and who is responsible for the implementation? How do volunteer infrastructures differ in international comparison and what can be learned?
Building on recently developed concept such as engageability (Arnon et al. 2022) and volunteer ecosystem (Meijs et al. 2022), we discuss volunteer infrastructures on different societal levels (government, nonprofit sector, informal volunteering) and of different kind of specification (policies, working modes, digital and physical infrastructures). With contributions from different countries, the adds new knowledge about volunteering infrastructures in different institutional, cultural and international settings.

References

Arnon, L., Almog-Bar, M., & Cnaan, R. A. (2022). Volunteer Engageability: A Conceptual Framework. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640221132499
Meijs, L.C.P.M., Koolen-Maas, S.A., van Overbeeke, P.S.M., Brudney, J.L. (2022, September, 28 – October, 1) A circular and sustainable perspective on the common pool ‘volunteer resources’ [paper presentation]. Philanthropic Commons, Sundance, UT, United States.
Simsa R., Rameder P., Aghamanoukjan A., Totter M. (2019). Spontaneous volunteering in social crises: Self-organization and coordination. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(2S), 103–122.
Trautwein, S., Liberatore, F., Lindenmeier, J., & von Schnurbein, G. (2020). Satisfaction With Informal Volunteering During the COVID-19 Crisis: An Empirical Study Considering a Swiss Online Volunteering Platform. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 49(6), 1142-1151.

Sub Unit

• The role and position of the Third Sector during crises and conflicts

Moderator

• Georg von Schnurbein, University of Basel

Individual Presentations

• Cross-sector volunteering infrastructure in times of crises - Michal Almog-Bar, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Ronit Bar, Hebrew University

• The role of volunteer centers: Creating a healthy volunteer resources ecosystem - Lucas Meijs, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Philine van Overbeeke, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Stephanie A. Koolen-Maas

• Volunteer infrastructures as public private partnership: connecting the dots - Georg von Schnurbein, University of Basel