Fighting for volunteers’ time: competition in the international volunteering industry (original) (raw)
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The international volunteering market: market segments and competitive relations
International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 2007
The number of nonprofit and social agencies relying on the help of volunteers has grown enormously in recent decades. This has lead to increased competition between these organisations for the limited resources available, and the growing adoption of what have traditionally been considered 'commercial' business techniques such as marketing. There have been calls for greater and more sophisticated use of 'tried and tested' marketing concepts such as competition, segmentation, and positioning to help volunteering organisations manage this pressure effectively. This study shines the spotlight on individuals who volunteer for multiple types of organisations in an effort to determine which organisations are competing for the same volunteers. More specifically: * factor analyses are computed and four segments of volunteers are identified: 'altruists', 'leisure volunteers', 'political volunteers' and 'church volunteers'; * positioning maps are constructed to illustrate the proximity of each organisation type in relation to key competitors; and * detailed profiles are provided for each segment to provide insight into the nature of the groupings.
Marketing Research for Volunteering: A Research Agenda
2004
Contributing an estimated AUD42 billion dollars a year to the Australian economy and US150 billion dollars to the USA, volunteering has become an industry sector of major importance. It has consequently attracted significant attention among researchers of various disciplines, including marketing. Nevertheless, the industry is confronted with ongoing challenges, particularly in the area of recruitment. This article provides a review of prior marketing-related studies and identifies a number of gaps in the research, such as a limitation in the past to a priori approaches to categorising volunteers, which has offered limited insight and conflicting results. The authors recommend a more comprehensive investigation of heterogeneity amongst volunteers through a posteriori segmentation which will allow precise targeting of specific segments. In addition, a more comprehensive investigation of competition and positioning in the industry is recommended which will facilitate an integrated market structure analysis and lead to more efficient and effective marketing strategies for nonprofit organisations. As a specific example, a better understanding of volunteering motivations in multicultural societies is needed to optimise targeted recruitment messages.
The Volunteer matrix: positioning of volunteer organizations| Macquarie University ResearchOnline
2010
In the fierce competition that volunteer involving organizations face nowadays over people's willingness to donate their time, marketing strategies should be used. In order to enhance the organization's recruitability (ability to recruit suitable volunteers), it is important for volunteer organizations to understand what the positioning of the organization is and the type of volunteering that is being offered. In the current article we suggest using a marketing tool to increase the ability to recruit volunteers: positioning and perceptual mapping. Our perceptual mapping -the volunteer matrix is based on two dimensions: price (different costs attached to the volunteer experience) and quality (the overall quality of the volunteering experience). Thus, the matrix includes four different positions, and we demonstrate the manners in which different volunteer organizations or roles are positioned in each. Discussed are also the possible implementations of the matrix in order to recruit suitable volunteers and retain them.
Segmenting the volunteer market: learnings from an Australian study
2007
The volunteering industry in Australia contributes over 42 billion dollars to society each year. It is facing increasing pressures due to reduced funding and growing competition for limited resources. This study provides valuable information to volunteer managers by segmenting what is otherwise an extremely heterogeneous market into homogenous subgroups based on peoples' motivations to volunteer. This is useful in the development of targeted marketing campaigns to identify, attract, and retain volunteers. Three segments are identified with distinctive motivational patterns -'social volunteers', 'community volunteers' and 'altruistic volunteers' . These segments are then profiled so that managers can identify the most effective way of reaching them and ultimately more efficiently spend their limited marketing dollars.
The volunteer matrix: positioning of volunteer organizations
International Journal of Nonprofit …, 2010
In the fierce competition that volunteer involving organizations face nowadays over people's willingness to donate their time, marketing strategies should be used. In order to enhance the organization's recruitability (ability to recruit suitable volunteers), it is important for volunteer organizations to understand what the positioning of the organization is and the type of volunteering that is being offered. In the current article we suggest using a marketing tool to increase the ability to recruit volunteers: positioning and perceptual mapping. Our perceptual mapping -the volunteer matrix is based on two dimensions: price (different costs attached to the volunteer experience) and quality (the overall quality of the volunteering experience). Thus, the matrix includes four different positions, and we demonstrate the manners in which different volunteer organizations or roles are positioned in each. Discussed are also the possible implementations of the matrix in order to recruit suitable volunteers and retain them.
Mimetic Marketing in Environmental Volunteering Organisations
2005
The last decade has seen increased competition amongst voluntary organisations. This has resulted in a number of changes to the nonprofit sector, such as increased levels of scrutiny and accountability. Voluntary organisations compete not only for limited numbers of volunteers but also for limited grant funding made available at local, state and federal government levels. Increased competition has placed pressure on organisations to take a more commercial approach to the management of their organisations and to adopt what have been previously considered 'for profit' business practices such as marketing. This empirical study uses neo-institutional theory to investigate the marketing of nonprofit organisations, specifically the concept of "mimetic isomorphism". The 'Bushcare' program in NSW is examined to determine the extent to which competitive pressures are forcing nonprofit environmental volunteering organisations to copy each other and grow more homogenous in terms of their marketing strategies. Since the most commonly accepted marketing practices are not necessarily the most efficient, managers of these organisations are faced with the challenge of attracting new volunteers and need to assess their current strategies and motivations for recruitment programs.
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2019
A steady increase in the marketing-based managerial point of view by the third sector manifests itself when exploring the question of what motivates volunteers to make unpaid contributions to a nonprofit organization (NPO). An in-depth investigation into volunteer motivations can be approached by looking at the quantitative marketing method of market segmentation. In this context, the purpose of the present study is to conduct a segmentation analysis of volunteers in Istanbul based on their motivations to volunteer and to enrich these segments with concomitant variables. Findings from the segmentation analysis identified five distinct segments of volunteers: self-improver, career-driven, benevolent soul, social networker, and faithful spirit. For theorists, this study presents an application of segmenting and a profile of volunteers based on the motivations to volunteer, whereas on the management side, the study provides knowledge constructed on empirical findings that shall serve t...
Volunteer hiring, organizational form and the provision of mission-oriented goods
Mission-oriented organizations, such as nonpro…t organizations and NGOs, rely critically on volunteer recruitment to achieve their organizational goals. Besides serving as an outlet of altruistic motives, volunteering often acts as a stepping-stone for a paid position in the nonpro…t sector. This paper provides an explanation for the fact that nonpro…t employers are uniquely able to attract such volunteers with social concerns and career aspirations and for the related observation that nonpro…ts …gure prominently in mission-related activities. Our theory is predicated on that -by committing to not distributing pro…ts -nonpro…t incorporation relaxes the incentive constraint that employers face when implicitly contracting with volunteers, without relying on ex ante di¤erences in workers' preferences over the employer's identity or inherent asymmetries between nonpro…t and for-pro…t providers. The not-for-pro…t commitment is shown to be e¤ective only in activities where producers, who can choose to be for-pro…t or nonpro…t, care about the level or quality of the service being provided. Thus, in the equilibrium of the model developed here nonpro…t entry in sectors where missions play a de…ning role and the hiring of volunteers arise endogenously due to economic forces. This equilibrium outcome has some desirable welfare properties.
Volunteer choice of nonprofit organisation: an integrated framework
European Journal of Marketing, 2020
Purpose This paper aims to explore how volunteers choose one nonprofit organisation (NPO) rather than another. It identifies the drivers of choice, and the relationship between them, to enable NPOs to strengthen their volunteer recruitment. Design/methodology/approach A total of 51 service-delivery volunteers were interviewed, drawn from 5 leading NPOs. A laddering technique was used to understand the context in which the choice of organisation was made and the underlying personal needs and goals. The data was analysed using means-end chain (MEC) methodology to uncover the relationships between, and hierarchy of, the decision drivers. Findings Brand, cause, and role were found to be important in meeting personal needs and goals through volunteering. The paper makes three contributions. Firstly, it presents a clearer understanding of NPO choice through adopting an integrated theoretical perspective. Secondly, it identifies the decision-making process and key relationships between the...