Chapter 8, p. 233 talks about macro-level challenges of self-maintenance, autonomy, and goal persistence in voluntary organizations. The problem of self-maintenance through good and rough times is something that is well known in most volunteer groups. They talk about keeping the social commitment to keep the organization moving forward. I recently joined a volunteer group at my kids’ high school. The group was formed as the “Education Foundation”. I remember reading about it on-line and decided to participate. I spent the first five months building a communications strategy for the group. We eventually took on the task of organizing an Art Show. It took all that we could do as a group to hold the event. At the end we were glad it was over and the organization yielded some funds.
The interesting thing is that this year, the same enthusiasm for organizing the event is not there. It seems there isn’t the same enthusiasm for the event or the organization this time. Maybe we needed some new “blood” (new members) to move us forward and take some leadership roles.
Alas, no new members joined our group to move us forward and we may have to find the energy (somewhere) to get excited about this event again!
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Volunteer organizations or aspects of organizations that rely on volunteers face unique challenges, as you note. There really aren't many extrinsic rewards volunteers receive, except maybe the occasion recognition lunch or special reward. Volunteers have to want to do their work for intrinsic reasons, and those are the types of rewards organizations typically find challenging to tap in to. I'm finding this with the Communication Studies Club, for which I'm the advisor. Last year the Club almost ceased to exist, until I went into several classes and told them either more people volunteered (we were down to 3 students) or there would be no graduation in the spring. That brought about 6 new people on board and graduation went really well. We have a few more people this semester and one club member is helping the group develop a strategic plan. That's providing a focus that I think will help keep the group together and add new members.
In college, I was the co-chairperson for my dorm's annual Radiothon to raise money for the dorm's equipment fund and for charity. The only reason why I became co-chair was because I had overheard the previous year's chair mumble about how there probably wouldn't be a Radiothon, because he wasn't going to do it, and he didn't think anyone was going to step up to the task.
Radiothon was a major source of dorm traditions, connected to many activities that reached beyond just the 48-hour event and producing stories that became legends passed down from year to year. In addition, it was a memorial event for someone who had passed away in the dorm during late 80s, and who had friends who continued to come back every year during the event to honor him.
The idea of our dorm dropping the ball that year and losing Radiothon was horrifying to me. Away I went to the dorm president, volunteering my services and proposing that the chairperson role be split into multiple roles to prevent burnout. He agreed, and mentioned two other people had come to him with the same idea. And so the three of us became co-chairs.
At the end of Radiothon, we had raised money, we upheld tradition, and I understood exactly what the chairperson was talking about the year before when he muttered "never again". I didn't even go to Radiothon the next year, having moved out of the dorm, but apparently the tradition had touched someone enough to motivate them to keep it going. To my amazement and to the dorm's credit, someone has stepped up and it's happened every year since.
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