What Do Nonprofits Value in Their Volunteers?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article investigates the idea that different nonprofit organizations, including human service organizations, value volunteers in different ways. We identify three benefits: financial, programmatic, and expressive. Analysis of survey data confirms these as separate factors. Using ESEM, we explore how differences in administrative complexity and intensiveness of volunteer use are related to the benefits from volunteers. The utility of our conceptual breakdown into three types of value is reinforced by our finding that administratively complex organizations de-emphasize the financial, programmatic, and expressive benefits, while nonprofits that exhibit intensive engagement with volunteers emphasize the financial, program, and expressive benefits of volunteers.