Volunteerism is a fact of life for most recreation professionals. Because of perpetually tightening budgets and staff who often feel overworked, many recreation providers and facilities have come to depend on the service of volunteers. The economy does not appear to be getting brighter and the need for volunteer help is not likely dry up any time soon. Looking to the future of volunteer help may be a key component to the success of staffing recreation programs.
Professionals who have had a chance to spend time working with or as a volunteer know that a motivated, skilled, and properly trained volunteer has the potential for being the most valuable resource available to recreation programmers. Although volunteerism should never be used as a proxy for work performed by paid employees, volunteers can complement existing staff by offering skilled and enthusiastic help (Henderson & Silverberg, 2002; Tedrick, Davis, & Coutant, 1984).
Getting volunteers is often an issue of knowing who to ask and how. Program planners should not wait to be approached by people seeking an opportunity to volunteer. The majority of people who volunteer do so because they are asked (Tedrick, Davis, & Coutant, 1984; Winter, 1998c). Therefore, the task for recreation program planners is to understand who likely volunteers are and where they might be found.
Leisure researchers have applied numerous surveys to ascertain who chooses to volunteer and why (Tedrick, Davis, & Coutant, 1984). However, it is just as important to look ahead and predict who may be enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers in the future. Recreation programmers in need of a few good volunteers may find what they are looking for in the baby-boom generation.
Who are the baby boomers?
The baby-boom generation describes those who were born between the years 1946 and 1964. Approximately seventy-six million people in this cohort will be leaving their professional lives for retirement in the next five years (AARP, 1999). Members of the baby-boom generation will not likely move quietly from a routine of productive work to a passive life of shuffle-board and cafeteria lines. Many baby-boomers enthusiastically look forward to their retirement and expect to find new outlets for their creativity and talents. An AARP survey (1999) conducted to understand how baby-boomers plan to spend their retirement discovered that eight in ten of those surveyed expect to continue working in some manner. This desire to work does not seem to be out of monetary necessity. Almost three-quarters of the people surveyed explained that they expected their retirement to be financially secure because of personal financial planning.
The baby-boom generation is an educated and skilled group. Nearly ninety percent of baby boomers hold at least a high school degree, which is far more than any other generation in history (AARP, 1999). When they retire, a great deal of the baby boomers will be leaving careers where they have spent much of their adult lives cultivating professional competencies that can prove valuable to an organization interested in skilled volunteers. Most important to recreation programmers, the AARP (1999) survey points out that half of those surveyed plan to devote a considerable amount of time to community service and volunteerism.
What the Baby Boomers Have to Offer
A retiree who chooses to volunteer offers two assets that are most valuable to recreation program planners: time and sagely experience. The newfound spare time that retirement affords people often comes as a shock to retirees who are used to spending forty or more hours in a week working (Miller, 2001). It is not uncommon for retirees to experience a retirement-renaissance where new hobbies and sources of entertainment are sought to fill their time. The old stereotype of retirees who fill their days swatting golf balls holds somewhat true. In fact, three million people begin golfing each year (Miller, 2001). However, people’s interest in golf does not seem to stick. Approximately the same amount of people lose interest with the sport each year as well (Miller, 2001). This suggests that retirees will require something more substantial to fill their free time. Retirees may find what they are looking for in volunteerism.
Serious versus casual volunteerism is a concept presented by Stebbins (2000) that explains volunteerism as two levels of commitment. Some people may volunteer without long-term commitment, participating in a volunteerism opportunity consisting of brief programs such as a day event. Participating at this level of commitment is referred to as casual volunteerism, where relationships developed between volunteers and organizations are minimal.
Casual volunteers are avowedly an indispensable component for large special events and single day programs. However, in this context volunteers normally have little ownership in the values of the program, and often the organization knows very little about what the volunteer has to offer. What may result is uninspired work on behalf of the volunteer and inefficient use of the volunteer’s time by the organization.
On the other end of Stebbins’ (1982; 2000) volunteer spectrum are serious volunteers. These individuals make volunteerism a constant part of their lives, participating in long-term commitments to organizations. Extra effort is offered by a volunteer participating at this level based on special knowledge, training, and/or skill (Stebbins, 1982). When it is possible for a volunteer to make a long-term commitment, both the organization and the volunteer stand to gain the most.
Participation in a serious volunteer environment can be a prime opportunity for retirees to express their skills. Retirees bring with them an expertise in crafts and trades that have been cultivated with years of practice. In fact, it is not uncommon for a volunteer to possess skills that cannot be found among paid staff (Sugarman, 1990). These skills may go unnoticed without effective methods for understanding what the volunteer has to offer. It is therefore crucial that volunteers not simply be tossed into the mix of working for an organization without an introductory or preparatory process. A formal interview is just as important when accepting a volunteer as it is when hiring a new employee (Tedrick & Henderson, 1989). A formal interview offers the opportunity to discover the skills and abilities a volunteer has to offer while at the same time discovering the needs of the volunteer—an important component in retaining volunteer help.
Successful Volunteer Programs
Many organizations depend solely on retirees’ impulse to share their talents. The following three organizations have had great success matching retirees who wish to donate their time to volunteer opportunities that match their skills and interests. First, the Service Corps of Retired Executives Association, whose voluntary membership is comprised of former chief executive officers, small business owners, computer consultants, doctors, lawyers, government officials, airline pilots, and university professors, offers advice for those who are or consider running a small business. Over 300,000 small business people receive advice from 13,000 SCREA volunteers each year (Buffam, 1990).
Second, the National Retiree Volunteer Center seeks to reestablish retirees place within the community by offering opportunities to volunteer (Cross, 1990). The NRVC gathers the knowledge and expertise of retirees to be effectively re-infused into community programs.
Third, AARP maintains a computerized data base of volunteers above the age of 50 who wish to contribute to their communities (Costello, 1990; Helein, 1990). This data base contains many thousand people registered and available for volunteerism positions along with their interests and skills. Amazingly, over half of the registered volunteers within the data base are still waiting to be matched to open volunteer positions.
A Reciprocal Relationship: Giving Back to the Volunteers
Though volunteers offer a way of economizing an organization’s staff, their efforts are not offered without an expectation of something in return. To keep volunteers satisfied with their participation, as well as keeping them interested in continued participation, it is the responsibility of a volunteer coordinator to be aware of the benefits they expect to receive in return for their efforts. Retirees who wish to volunteer have unique expectations of benefits.
The roles aging people take on after retirement (e.g., grandparenting) are meaningful but not always linked to community involvement (Chambre, 1990). As a result, loneliness may become a serious concern for retirees. Volunteerism can combat loneliness by offering the bridge that links a retiree to the outside world (Chambre, 1990; Scott, 1996). Henderson and Silverberg (2002) explained volunteer work as an occasion where people may connect and exchange with other people in the form of social capital. Social capital is described as the link between people who participate in social networks (e.g., schools, bowling leagues, volunteer opportunities) where knowledge, ideas, and /or good will, may be shared (Hemingway, 1999; Putnam, 1995). Together, civic engagement and social trust–encouraged by social capital–are assumed to influence the “quality of social life and the performance of social institutions” (Putnam, 1995 p. 65). In other words, the social capital shared in a volunteer situation benefits both the volunteers and community as a whole.
Counterpole most types of resources (e.g., natural, physical) social capital increases with use and depletes when unused or fallow (Hemingway, 1999). Therefore, once signed up for volunteering, recreation professionals should maintain retirees link to community. Because of the difference in age, retiree volunteers may be left out amidst the comradery of an organization. Younger staff may wish to socialize with people their own age and supervisors may forget to include a retiree volunteer (Pliska, 1997). The benefits of volunteerism should not end as soon as the work is over. It is important to remember to include retiree volunteers in the fellowship and comradery of an organization by offering opportunities to interact socially with employees and other volunteers after the work is done.
Because volunteering is considered to be a leisure activity to many who chose to participate (Henderson, 1981; Stebbins, 1982), volunteers, even serious volunteers, require a certain amount of flexibility in their schedule (Henderson, 2002; Scott, 1996). Volunteering at any level requires a certain amount of obligation that is not necessarily undesirable. Stebbins (2000; 1982) recognized that people who participate in serious leisure and particularly serious volunteerism can experience agreeable obligation. Being challenged and depended on makes a volunteer feel needed and appreciated. However, once the obligation becomes disagreeable with a volunteer, it is their tendency to abandon the position for something else (Stebbins, 2000). Therefore, in order to keep a volunteer’s obligation an agreeable experience, there should be flexibility offered in scheduling where volunteers can regulate their own level of commitment.
Flexibility is a necessity for the millions of retirees who live a life of semi or complete transience. Many retirees move about the country seasonally as so-called snowbirds (Chambre, 1990). Many more retirees explore the roads of North America living full-time in a recreational vehicle, staying in one place only weeks or months at a time. Transience should not preclude a retiree from access to volunteerism, however. Though these retirees do not commit to a stationary community, they still desire and depend on the benefits of community association (Parentin, 2003). Transient retirees1 may wish to volunteer but not know how or where. Including transient retirees in a volunteer staff will be a matter of understanding their (a) travel patterns (e.g., Naples FL in winter, Asheville NC in summer), (b) residence (e.g., retirement communities, RV parks), and (c) publications (e.g., Good Sam Club News, RV View). Like other prospective volunteers, inspiring transient retirees to participate may simply be a matter of approaching them.
Finally, the simplest and possibly most important thing a recreation professional can offer a retiree volunteer is the recognition of a simple thanks. According to Scott (1996) a sincere acknowledgement of a volunteer’s work may be the most powerful incentive a recreation professional can offer. It is also the cheapest.
As the baby-boomers embark on their retirement, constituting nearly one-third of their life, they will seek new experiences to fill their free time while making use of the talents they have acquired throughout their lives. Recreation professionals will also have a perpetual need for the help of volunteers. Combining these two factors may be key to the future of volunteerism in recreation. Critical caveats include: (a) recreation professionals must be careful not to exploit volunteers by expecting them to do the work of a paid employee, and (b) employees should not be exploited by filling paid positions with volunteers. However, if on one hand baby-boomer volunteers receive challenging tasks, social connections, and recognition and on the other hand recreation professionals receive skilled and enthusiastic help, a mutually beneficial relationship is possible. Best of all, maintaining that relationship may be as simple as a please and thank you.
Footnote
(1) Transient retirees should not be mistaken as one monolithic culture, but instead a term encompassing several cultures and subcultures within a lifestyle.
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Gentleman Afield 