Ask Not: Enhancing the Culture of Volunteerism in America

MaryAnn Almeida, Student

National tragedies like the September 11th World Trade Center attacks and Hurricane Katrina cut deeply into the collective conscience of the United States. Citizens experience their individual roles in society more acutely during these hardships than in times of national serenity, as each person experiences the impact of such tragedy in a unique and personal way. As a consequence, recent national disasters have provided a strong and persuasive framework for a rise in volunteerism, resulting in record rates of civic and humanitarian engagement. This trend can be seen as a cognitive reordering of the relationship of an individual to the community. Individuals, formerly apathetic to the needs of the greater society and their personal potential to fulfill them, are awoken by intense national calamity and forced to recognize their power and more importantly, their duty to give back to their community. It is in this recognition that the relationship between an individual and his community is formed.

Yet, these community bonds of service and sacrifice are sadly impermanent. A report from the Corporation for National and Community Service indicated a decrease of fully six percent in the rate of volunteerism in America between 2005 and 2006 (Corporation for National and Community Service 2008). In examining the American mentality of volunteering, the relationship of United States citizens to the greater needs of their collective society becomes clear. Americans step up with voluntary contributions in times of great community need, especially when they feel in some way connected to the loss or crisis experienced by others, but are quick to revert to former inaction once the calamity has passed. Therefore, in order to create a sustainable volunteer society, organizations, government leaders, and involved citizens must find means of communication that successfully and persistently remind individuals of social needs that they are capable of fulfilling.

The Volunteer Framework: What it Means to Give Back

In order to understand actual manifestations of volunteerism in society, one must first examine the meaning of volunteering. In this essay, this definition will be found through a consideration of two distinct parts of the process of volunteering-the motivation to serve one's community and the actual execution of unpaid, community-oriented work. It is only through a definition of this depth that a wide array of popularly considered volunteer activities could be placed under a cohesive framework, as perspectives and functional definitions of the act itself vary radically across social subsections (Musick and Wilson 2008).

Though a wide variety of causes may stimulate individuals to volunteer, certain motivations can be seen as common fundamental reasons for civic engagement. Of these motivations, there are two easily apparent categories: the anticipated benefits to the volunteering individual and the estimated fulfillment of a perceived social need. In considering these two principal drives, the basic nature of the human compulsion to volunteerism becomes evident.

First, in considering the anticipated benefits to oneself of volunteering, it is clear that individuals receive a wide variety of rewards from civic engagement. To begin, one of the most fundamental benefits of giving of one's time to charitable causes is what may be called the "feel-good factor"- the feelings of self worth and esteem that increase through volunteerism. E. Gil Clary and Mark Snyder have examined these psychological results in a variety of studies, and remark upon their conclusions in Cultures of Giving: How Heritage, Gender, Wealth, and Values Influence Philanthropy. As they explain, volunteering and charitable giving work not only to fight feelings of negativity, but also to proactively cheer a giving person. Negative feelings are lessened, for instance, by the sense of justification gained by giving back to a society from which a person has benefited personally. As Clary and Snyder argue, "[Individuals] may donate as a way to reduce feelings of guilt (for example, guilt that they have so much while others have so little). Or they may give now in the hopes that this will cause them to deserve good things in the future" (Clary and Snyder 1995). This sense of duty derived from what one has may be seen to portray a negative aspect of volunteerism, that individuals give of their time only to assuage their personal guilt. Yet, as Clary and Snyder go on to explain, this shows only half of the picture. Volunteers and donors also receive a positive psychological benefit from their engagement with charitable causes:

Charitable donations may serve to enhance or maintain feelings of self-worth and self-esteem, and more generally, to increase positive mood states. From the Independent Sector survey we learn that 81 percent of the sample indicated that "gaining a sense of personal satisfaction" was a major or minor motivation in their charitable giving or volunteering (p. 224). Moreover, a considerable body of research indicates that helping generally can be increased by creating a positive mood state in the potential helper.

These psychological benefits function on a subconscious level to reinforce actions of volunteering and charitable donation. Though individuals may not always cognitively recognize the direct effects of their actions on their mental and mood states, the human instinct to sustain such positive feelings increases the likelihood that people will give repeatedly of their time and/or money. In fact, as argued by Louis A. Penner et. al in a study of volunteer motivations, these mental and mood states lead many individuals to assume a personal identity based partly on their experience as a volunteer (Penner 2005).

Evidently, the positive feelings experienced in the process of civic engagement can be so powerful that, over time, they lead to a fundamental identity shift to include volunteerism among a person's most basic perceptions of their place in society.

Though the psychological implications of volunteering are immense, many individuals seek civic engagement for a more tangible form of personal benefit. In fact, studies abound on the virtue of volunteerism for one's personal growth and professional connections, in addition to one's general happiness. John Raynolds tells a variety of volunteers' success stories in his book Volunteering: How Service Enriches Your Life and How its Unexpected Halo Effect Boosts You Career. Anecdote after anecdote recounted adds support to Raynolds' list of the career benefits of volunteering including résumé building and distinction, various and expanded contact networks, the ability to experiment with new kinds of skills without putting one's primary employment at risk, and converting volunteer work into paid positions (Raynolds 1998). Quantitative research agrees-an article in U.S. Society & Values analyzed a 1993 report by the Conference Board and the Points of Light Foundation, finding that corporate attitudes in the United States are beginning to give serious value to the volunteer experience of employees (Stallings 1998). Clearly, as corporate America increasingly values community service and volunteer work in employees, the benefit of volunteer experience to career growth and success becomes even greater. This trend builds directly upon Raynolds' "halo effect"-that giving back inevitably returns the favor, creating a cyclical system of benefit to the individual and his or her served community. Still, despite the personal benefits derived from such civic engagement, a primary motivation for many volunteers is the desire to help others and/or to fulfill a perceived greater social need.

An individual's sense of duty to improve the status of society at large or the urge to fulfill a perceived societal need should also be considered potent drives for volunteerism. This is, perhaps, the most intuitive explanation for why individuals choose to express their relationship to their community in the form of voluntary civic engagement. Inherent in voluntary service is a sense of altruism, of giving of oneself for the benefit of others. Yet, conducting reliable sociological surveys on the strength of this social value-based motivation becomes complicated by the nature of self-reported beliefs. As John Wilson of Duke University commented in his 2000 article in the Annual Review of Sociology, the bulk of research on this subject has been unable to establish definitive ties between values and beliefs and volunteer action (Wilson 2000). Wilson also lists the variety of investigational barriers to determining the actual correlation between personal ideals and the practice of volunteering, citing radically different conclusions drawn by those with apparently similar values systems and the difficulty in appropriately surveying moral beliefs through generalized survey questions, as well as the diverse possible manifestations of volunteer work originating from a single belief. Yet, even considering the complexities of academic study of personal values as motives, it remains evident that individuals generally volunteer in order to contribute to society in a way congruent with their values and beliefs. For example, in a study of the influence of personality traits on volunteer tendencies, Gustavo Carlo et. al conclude that deep personal characteristics greatly affect the likelihood that certain individuals will seek volunteer activity as a method of helping others:

Indeed, nearly 56% of the total effect of agreeableness on volunteerism was mediated through prosocial value motivation. Individuals who are agreeable with others and who seek social stimulation are oriented toward, and motivated to respond to, the needs of others. Prosocial value motives might provide the impetus for volunteerism among individuals who have an agreeable (and extraverted) disposition. (Gustavo et. al. 2005)

Thus, it may be considered an intersection of personality and belief that establishes a value-based motivation for many volunteers. Helen Bussel agrees in her 2002 article in the International Journal of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, concluding, "There is indeed evidence that altruism exists in many types of voluntary activity... Helping others has been found to be an important factor among volunteers of all ages: student volunteers and those over the age of 60" (Bussel and Forbes 2002). Clearly, despite the inherent indefiniteness of values surveys concerning volunteerism, a link can be seen between a concern for the greater well being of society and participation in voluntary community service.

Given these motivations, in their varied natures and persuasive strengths, it remains only to consider the manner in which these motives are expressed. An exploration of the act itself is necessary to understand the context in which the individual-societal relationship is developed and reflected in volunteerism.

It is this second piece of the framework, the execution of volunteer action, which causes such difficulty in determining a coherent context for volunteerism. The wide variety of volunteer activities prohibits easy delimitations. It is intuitively obvious that an elderly woman knitting scarves for the homeless is engaged in a form of voluntary civic engagement, as is participation in programs like Americorp and Teach for America. Yet, the knitter may well be volunteering her time independently from any organized community project, and participants in these federal programs are compensated for their work, blending vocation and volunteerism. Still more complicated examples include court-mandated service time, businesses or schools that require employees to do community service, unpaid activism for political causes, and relatively self-serving civic engagement, like organizing a Neighborhood Watch group with one's neighbors or helping in one's child's classroom. Even homemaking, arguably the largest unpaid sector of the economy, could be considered volunteering under a broad and/or purely economic definition (Pitt-Catsouphes 2005).

Given these difficulties, the most appropriate manner in which to define the execution of volunteer action is through self-reporting. If an individual considers the unpaid work that he or she does to help others to be volunteering, it likely matches the socially-defined perspective of the community in which he or she volunteers. This is intuitively obvious, as individuals adopt the basic definitions held by the dominant community so as to be able to communicate with other members. Because of the differences in social vocabulary, the terms "community service" and "volunteering" should be considered interchangeable, so long as they refer to this basic definition. Additionally, as individuals naturally consider their own motivation behind the action they describe as volunteering in the process of self-reporting, the fundamental consistencies of working for a greater social good and helping others further advance the accuracy of their responses under a generalized definition of volunteerism itself.

Thus, a framework of volunteerism may be derived through a consideration of why individuals chose to volunteer (including the effects of volunteering to self and others) and what actions they identify to be their personal voluntary social contribution. With this context in mind, an exploration of the unique American volunteer culture becomes possible.

Doing Good Daily? The State of American Volunteerism

Considering the common social characteristics of volunteers in the United States and their principal motivations, it remains necessary to examine the empirical trends in American volunteerism in order to derive a conclusive view of the attitudes prevalent in the volunteer culture thereof.    These trends, both constant rates over periods of years and short-term spikes in times of crisis, provide insight into the customs of community service. A survey of such trends indicates a dangerous tendency to remain apathetic to and uninvolved in the fulfillment of community needs until some national crisis explodes the magnitude of such exigencies and ignites public motivation.

Volunteerism, taken as a whole, has maintained a relatively steady rate in the United States over the course of the past few decades. The concept of volunteering as a social act worthy of sociological study is a relatively new development, making any investigation of a lengthy history of the practice of volunteerism in this country incredibly difficult. What is known, however, is that the percentage of Americans who spend time volunteering according to the US Census Bureau has fluctuated just over two percent in surveys over the past decade, hovering between 26.7 and 28.8 percent of the population (Michaels 2007). The numbers from this decade are only slightly increased from the only volunteerism rates previously recorded: 20.4 percent in 1989 and 23.6 percent in 1974. This data can be interpreted in two ways because of the limited scope of the information available. On one hand, there is a reasonable jump in the rate of volunteerism between 1989 and 2002. On the other, the gap of more than a decade makes it impossible to inductively conclude the nature of any trend over that period of time. Whichever the interpretation, it remains obvious that there has been no significant change in the percentage of Americans involved in community service over the past decade, and only a minimal shift since this information was first recorded more than 30 years ago.

Despite the constant trends in volunteerism over the course of recent years, certain events have caused dramatic, short-lived spikes in the rates of community service. In examining trends of volunteerism directly following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in late summer 2005, the responsive nature of American volunteer service becomes clear.   As mentioned in the introduction to this essay, sharp increases in the rates of volunteerism following national tragedies in the United States coupled with nearly immediate returns to previous levels of volunteer work indicate the fundamental inconsistency in the American attitude toward community service. This inconsistency, more than the usual rate of volunteerism, is cause for concern as members of the American society, as it indicates an untapped community potential left latent until some disaster or calamity shocks people into action.

Following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, volunteerism rates in the United States jumped sharply. An analysis by Louis Penner on the response to the attacks expressed through volunteer activity noted a two- to three-fold increase in traffic on volunteer-matching websites-and an eight-fold increase for crisis-related organizations (Penner 2004).   Other surveys of volunteerism agree: in a study from Indiana University at Bloomington, 10 percent of respondents reported increasing the frequency with which they volunteered for charitable organizations because of the attacks; a University of Michigan study found an average increase in time spent of 36% (Torabi and Seo 2004, Traugott 2002).

This spike in service is logical considering the greater framework of volunteerism. Individuals from all kinds of backgrounds were mobilized to volunteer because of a well publicized, immediately evident community need. The feelings of community sympathy and anger present for many Americans after such a devastating attack led individuals to seek the positive energy of others working to remedy the situation. This emotional response functioned on two levels. Initially, individuals may have sought community service to help correct a wrong that they felt against their society. Whether on a personal level (knowing someone killed or injured in the attack) or a conceptual level (association with fellow citizens), volunteering was perceived as a way to mend the damage done to the collective body, an emotionally appealing cause. Secondarily, the positive emotions experienced in the process of volunteering served to reinforce the behavior: the relief of guilt, the positive relationships with other volunteers, and a release of sadness or anger connected to the attacks were all good things in hard times, leading volunteers to continue their service (at least until the negative emotions were dispelled). These sentimental motivations were especially salient as individuals renegotiated their role self-identities in the greater community. As Kraig Beyerlein and David Sikkink explain in a 2008 article in Social Problems, the surge in volunteerism in response to 9/11 represented an important mechanism for "expressing solidarity with America and symbolically defending dominant notions of the American way of life" (Beyerlein and Sikkink 2008). The need for social comfort and personal affirmation strengthened the power of the collective identity formed through community service.

As Beyerlein and Sikkink conclude from their research, increased feelings of sorrow related to the attacks and deeper associations with the victims enhanced rates of volunteer participation, since these people had greater emotional motivations. Taking the context of volunteerism one step further, it may be seen that this initial emotional response led to a short-term increase of volunteer work across the board. As more people got involved, the social benefits to the individual increased greatly, as volunteering acquired more social value. While peer pressure may be considered generally detrimental, it functions well to increase civic engagement. Following the attacks, neighbors pressured neighbors to get more involved in the community by increasing the expectation for such actions and making volunteer opportunities more accessible by providing a personal link to the organization with which they may have volunteered. This increased social pressure helps to explain the surge in volunteerism, especially among individuals unlikely to have been personally affected by the World Trade Center attacks. Though on some level this pressure is constantly present in a variety of social groups, as articulated previously in the framework of volunteerism, it becomes more salient at times of crisis when individuals increasingly turn to others for emotional support. Clearly, the common motivations for community service were extraordinarily high after 9/11, explaining the record rates of volunteerism very rationally.

Yet, this powerful increase in volunteer action was short-lived. Though records were set in the weeks and months immediately following the September 11th attacks, the overall rate of Americans participating in some volunteer service was just 27 percent between September 2001 and September 2002. Though this is an increase of roughly seven percent since 1989, the most recent year in which the Census Bureau had collected such information previously, it hardly compares to the doubled number of operating public nonprofits between 1989 and 2004 (Reingold 2006). To consider a more focused timeline, the previously mentioned spike of action on volunteerism Internet sites noted by Penner lasted only 12 weeks before returning to previous rates. Americans volunteered in droves following 9/11, but their volunteerism did not last long.

Examining rates of volunteerism following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita indicate a similar short-term reaction to a national crisis. News reports from the months after the hurricanes hit were full of stories of volunteers and aid workers. The Red Cross alone reported 219,500 disaster relief workers in the aftermath of the storms (American Red Cross 2006). Further, though the Red Cross response was the largest mobilization of disaster-relief volunteers in the organization's history, their official workers represented only a small fraction of the volunteer response in communities across the country (Villagran 2006). This outpouring of volunteerism speaks to a remarkable shared sense of duty in the United States to help the survivors of the hurricanes, especially among individuals with the resource capacity to help. For instance, Louisiana State University sociologist Lacie M. Michel surveyed citizens of nearby Baton Rouge regarding their feelings of duty to help victims of the hurricanes. Her results indicated that, much like attitudes of volunteerism in non-crisis situations, individuals with great social capital are more likely to consider themselves socially obliged to volunteer (Michel 2007). In all, 92.4% of respondents agreed that they had some individual duty to aid in the recovery efforts. Though a significant portion of respondents failed to volunteer at a level in accordance to their perceived social duty, it is evident that the extreme nature of the crisis was a persuasive motive for community service. Examining the reasons for this discrepancy-the gap between what drive individuals to not only perceive an obligation in times of national disaster but also to actually fulfill it- makes evident both the somewhat lackadaisical attitude of American volunteerism and the potential to change it.

Of course, as evidenced by the reaction to Hurricane Katrina and explained in the framework of volunteerism, individuals are more likely to act to fulfill a perceived duty if they are, on some level, personally affected by the need they see. Surveying students at four universities in the Gulf Coast region, Carol Ann Plummer observed a strong correlation between the manner in which students were affected by the hurricanes and the level at which they responded through volunteerism. In her article published in the Journal of Social Service Research, she notes that regardless of other obligations in their lives, students who experienced more "disaster-related stressors and previous traumas" were more likely to engage in community service after the storms (Plummer 2008). Though Plummer concludes that being affected by the disaster influenced students' volunteer service, it is interesting to note that students surveyed as most likely to volunteer at the highest levels were not necessarily immediately affected by the hurricanes: previously experienced traumas (23.8%) and guilt over not being able to help more (56.7%) were among the most common disaster-related motivators. This indicates that crosscutting cultural and social experiences may lead individuals to serve their community, much on the same level as being personally affected by a disaster. Further, her comments suggest that students who were influenced by the hurricanes (through their own experience or as a recollection of previous trauma) found resources in their lives to be able to help out, in spite of the typical busyness of many students. This flexibility signifies the relaxing and rearranging of priorities, in which individuals reevaluate their needs in relation to the needs of their community. Self-sacrifice in these crisis situations defines the American mindset of volunteerism: viewing the immediate exigency of others as reflections of previously experienced needs leads individuals to redefine the importance of their present wants and to give of themselves for the good of society.

Though Hurricane Katrina saw countless citizens renegotiating their personal interests out of concern for the more drastic needs of others, the change was, once again, short-lived. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics under the US Department of Labor noted a 2.1 percent decrease in the number of people volunteering between September 2005 and September 2006 (US Dept. of Labor 2007). Between 2006 and 2007, this rate dropped another half of a percent (US Dept. of Labor 2008). According to an article by Marty Michaels in Chronicle of Philanthropy, "Of the 65.4 million adult Americans who volunteered in 2005, 20.9 million-nearly one-third-did not continue to donate their time in 2006" (Michaels 2007). Clearly, the huge humanitarian crisis catalyzed by the storms left no lasting impression on the face of American volunteerism.

It may be argued that the overall rates of volunteerism in the United States are relatively healthy, given the demands of the American workplace and how busy people are socially expected to be in general. This is a valid perspective, and matches the media portrayal of the prevalence of community service in this country. Yet, this popular opinion ignores the true potential for service: the radical spikes in volunteerism exhibited by Americans following national tragedies indicate a massive, latent corps of volunteers waiting to be motivated into action. The fact that these people feel called upon to serve only when the community needs are greatest underscores a fundamental passivity of the American attitude toward community service. This passivity is dangerous, and must be remedied by reshaping the portrayal of community needs to include a role for volunteers in solving the long-term, structurally-complex problems facing our society.

The risks of defining the individual duty to serve his or her community in terms of extreme calamity or immediate need are dire. It is precisely this attitude that contributes to slow mobilization of agency and individual volunteers when such crises arise. More importantly, however, this approach prohibits preventative volunteerism, which in many cases could lessen the scope of national disasters from the beginning. For example, in the case of Hurricane Katrina, the grim situation of many residents of the Ninth Ward neighborhood-many homeless or impoverished-contributed to the intensity of the hurricane's after-effects. Had better and closer attention been paid to the failing schools, the high rates of crime and drug abuse, and the dismal condition of community infrastructure including hospitals and medical centers, rebuilding this and other New Orleans neighborhoods would likely have been a smoother process. Instead, by blindly trusting government bureaucracies to perceive and remedy community problems instead of everyday citizens taking individual responsibility for the well being of their area, the residents of New Orleans-and their neighbors throughout the country-allowed the disaster of the hurricane to wreak even more havoc than the natural force of the storm itself.

There is no obvious antidote to the apathetic attitude of American society regarding this kind of preventative and sustentative community service. Such a mindset is so fundamentally ingrained in the fabric of a community, in each individual's relationship with the perceived greater society, that to foment actual attitudinal change must necessarily require a variety of pressures in a plethora of directions. The magnitude of the disasters recently experienced by the United States serves as one kind of demand. Organizational communication and improved messaging of the problems facing society today could exert a second pressure upon individuals to get involved in volunteer work. Governmental policy, abetting and encouraging increased community service both through rhetoric and in tangible incentives could be a third. Examining this potential of official top-down support for bottom-up community-building volunteerism as expressed in the policies of other countries especially illuminates the differences in this American context of civic engagement as compared to neighbors throughout the world. Additionally, the role of peer-to-peer resource development and social pressures for sustainable volunteerism may serve as a final possibility in reshaping the popular attitude toward community service in the United States.

It Takes a Village to Build a Village

Given the dangers of the unmotivated American attitude towards volunteerism and the general apathy regarding community needs in times of relative calm, it remains relevant to consider whether there can be a solution. It causes despair to think that citizens must wait for a national disaster to be aided by their neighbors (and then for just a short period of time), but the path toward a culture of volunteerism is unclear. Perhaps the best approach, in terms of policy and individual philosophy, is to revisit the fundamental motivations for volunteering and to create a system in accordance with these basic drives. To access the objectives of perceived help to others and improved social standing, organizations, the government, and individuals must renegotiate the messaging and mechanisms employed in encouraging volunteerism.

On the organizational level, there is much to be done to improve volunteer recruitment and retention. As the number and strength of nonprofit organizations grows, they must invest resources in becoming accessible to volunteers. This could be in the form of media advertising, recruitment events, or simply offering a variety of volunteer opportunities that may be more convenient for nontraditional volunteers, such as assignments that can be done in spare time over the course of a few weeks. Making it easier to volunteer makes it more likely that people will do so, especially if they were not previously engaged in community service environments.

Further, volunteer organizations must improve communication regarding the causes they support. It is essential that individuals perceive a real and fixable problem to motivate them to get involved. Hazy community issues like "poverty" or "drug addiction" are frequently ignored by the sensationalist news media and sound-bite driven politicians, erasing the daily impact of such long-term troubles from public attention. These issues, as addressed as a whole, appear-and realistically are-unmanageably large and complex. The challenge, therefore, to nonprofits and other community organizations is to present the problem in controllable sections, convincing individuals that their contribution of time can make a tangible difference while simultaneously indicating the scope of the situation as a crisis to validate the need at hand. The message to the public must be nuanced but clear. Individuals should not be bullied or frightened into action, but instead motivated through empowering ideas of their own faculty to aid the people around them. This message is quite a dilemma for marketing consultants and nonprofit directors, with a solution that must be carefully teased out over time. Yet, support and concomitant communication from the governmental and personal sectors can make this task more easily accomplished.

The role of government policy in encouraging volunteerism has been explored in various manners throughout the world. Though the prevalence of civic engagement in the United States appears reliant upon shifting perception of social need and changing attitudes of the individuals' relationship to such greater societal problems, systems in place in other nations seek to stabilize trends in volunteering by encouraging citizen participation. A survey of such systems, such as those in place in Switzerland and Nigeria for example, illuminates alternatives to the American governmental perspective of volunteerism.

Switzerland provides a strong example of a culture of volunteerism. In this country, citizens learn to volunteer over the course of their lifetime, contributing in different ways during different stages of life. This profound attitude of voluntary service sits in surprising contrast to the Swiss system of military conscription, but a deeper exploration of the system itself makes it clear that mandatory service actually reinforces volunteer ideals in Swiss society.

In Switzerland, all men (women may choose to be a part of the program) are enrolled in the military system at age 18 and subsequently called to serve at age 20 (Mannitz 2007). Recruits spend either 260 days split over the course of several years or 300 days consecutively in service to what is considered to be a civilian militia. Individuals who are philosophically or theologically opposed to military service may conscientiously object and be assigned to civil service as an alternative. However, though technically an armed service, the Swiss policy of international neutrality leaves the majority of "soldiers" working principally in civil protection and disaster control. These expressions of mandatory service indicate the fundamental reasoning for Swiss conscription: a need for citizens to commit to advancing the common good of their nation. As described in Armed Forces XXI, an amendment to Swiss military law, this commitment is to be considered a duty directly derived from the rights of citizens:

Every citizen must be ready for a certain time to protect Switzerland and its interests, and even defend it with the risk for their own life and health in the extreme case. Civilian service is possible... The advantages of the militia are that it makes use of the citizens' potential; it produces extraordinary commitment; it brings civilian knowledge and up-to-date capabilities of all kinds in; it strengthens the cohesion of our four-lingual community (2000).

Given this view of the role of military service in fostering strong relationships between individuals and their society, in addition to the prevalence of civic service in place of armed action among conscripted men, it is clear that the Swiss system of conscription fosters voluntary civic engagement in not only recruits, but also within the greater social context. In civilian life, in fact, workers volunteer some 44 million hours each month- a yearly economic contribution of $16 billion USD-in any variety of service projects (Tognina 2004). During the past decade, the government has even begun to issue certificates to volunteers, documenting their training and the value of their voluntary contribution. This formalized tracking system not only enables individuals to be recognized for the work they have done, but also to help them parlay their volunteer experience into professional opportunities. Here, again, the formal government sponsorship of service increases the sustainability of volunteerism throughout Swiss society.

In Nigeria, governmental support for programs of volunteerism links civic engagement to patriotism and national growth in a manner complementary to the local cultures and lifestyles. Though globalization continues to modernize Nigerian society, the latent culture of volunteerism is a resource being cultivated by the government's developmental policy. As a report from the Sir David Osunde Foundation, an organization focused on eradicating poverty among people with disabilities in Nigeria, noted, "Volunteerism is a concept embedded in the local Nigerian culture and draws largely from primordial social ways of interaction in farming, self help in community causes, and other aspects of social life in the pristine community settings" (Okafor 2003).

By recognizing the historical potential for volunteerism, coupled with a vision of success experienced by other countries, the Nigerian government has been working to incorporate volunteerism as an essential part of its modernized society, empowering individuals to take over some aspects of social programs traditionally controlled by the government. In partnerships with United Nations organizations and a variety of corporations operating in the country, Nigeria has focused on building both business involvement in community building and grassroots volunteer organizing to check and complement corporate growth.

From this unique perspective, the success of the Nigerian program to enhance volunteer service is clear, both as a mechanism for social development on the ground and as a source of patriotic pride for citizens. Evidently, governmental support for grassroots community service does more than build wells and hospitals: it fosters strong and cohesive relationships between individuals and a roadmap for cooperation.

Clearly, countries throughout the world have implemented a variety of programs to increase volunteerism among their citizens. The United States could benefit from further experimentation with service programs, until one is found that resonates particularly well with the current culture and community structures. Working with corporations and nonprofits could improve cooperation between the two sectors, which may mutually benefit from increased involvement with one another. However, the ability of a government to accomplish change without support of the citizenry is limited, especially when it comes to deep societal attitudes and perceptions. Considering, then, the role of individuals in fostering a culture of volunteerism provides the last piece of the equation-and arguably, the most crucial.

Individuals who consider volunteering to be of social value have a responsibility to encourage such behavior among the people with whom they associate. This duty follows cleanly from most volunteers' perceptions of their role as servants to their community: their perceived obligation to help others, taken to its logical conclusion, includes a responsibility to maximize the help that their target cause receives, including recruitment of more volunteers like themselves. The exponential power of volunteers who also accept the role of advocates serves not only to increase the potential strength of the volunteer force of their chosen organizations but also reinforces their own ties to the work that they do. As a result, the potential of interpersonal recruitment is an important resource in enhancing the volunteer network in the United States.

This responsibility may be considered even greater due to the value of this kind of social pressure. The persuasive strength of peer-to-peer recruitment, in the context of self-serving motivations, is much greater than contact originated from an unfamiliar organization and, therefore, significantly more effective at getting volunteers involved and keeping them participating regularly. When individuals find others in their community-at their workplace, in the neighborhood, in the churches or social organizations to which they belong-involved in volunteer work, they are likely to modify their attitudes to match those of their immediate society. The esteem that would then accompany their volunteerism, in addition to the psychological benefits they may experience through participation would positively reinforce their behavior. Given this immense social power, individuals who volunteer have an even greater responsibility to influence others to share their perspectives and work.

Thus, all is not lost in the American attitude toward volunteerism. Persistent and carefully-crafted communications from organizations themselves, governmental policies, and interpersonal relations can strengthen the bonds between individuals and the problems of the larger populace on a level that may motivate community service. It is therefore incumbent upon each of these groups to exercise what persuasive force they may wield to increase the rates of consistent volunteerism in the United States. This shift in attitude is necessary, not only for the incredible benefits that volunteers experience, but also for the greater welfare of society. The often-quoted President John F. Kennedy entreated Americans to "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." Americans must now take the ideal to the local level-and ask what they can do for their communities.

References

American Red Cross. "Facts at a Glance: American Red Cross response to Hurricane Katrina." http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/hurricanes/katrina_facts.html (Accessed August 10, 2008).
Beyerlein, Kraig, and David Sikkink. 2008.Sorrow and Solidarity: Why Americans Volunteered for 9/11 Relief Efforts. Social Problems 55, no. 2: 190-215.
Bussell, Helen and Forbes, Deborah. 2002. Understanding the Volunteer Market: The what, where, who, and why of volunteering. International Journal of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, 7, no. 3: 244-258.
Carlo, Gustavo, et. al. 2005. The Interplay of Traits and Motives on Volunteering: Agreeableness, Extraversion and Prosocial Value Motivation. Personality and Individual Differences 38, no. 6: 1293.
Clary, E. Gil and Snyder, Mark. 1995. Motivations for volunteering and giving: A functional approach. In Cultures of Giving: How Heritage, Gender, Wealth, and Values Influence Philanthropy, ed. Charles H. Hamilton and Warren F. Ilchman. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 116-7.
Corporation for National and Community Service. Volunteering 61 Million Strong; Need and Momentum Grow. http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/press/press_releases.cfm.
Finkelstein, Marcia A., Louis A. Penner, and Michael T. Brannick. 2005. Motive, Role Identity, and Prosocial Personality as Predictors of Volunteer Activity. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal 33, no. 4: 403-418.
Iroegbu, Senator. 2007. Volunteerism key to development in Nigeria. World Volunteer Web, http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/int-l-volunteer-day/doc/volunteerism-key-to-development.html. (Accessed August 13, 2008).
Korn, Melissa. 2008. Grads Can Find Relief with Loan Forgiveness. The Wall Street Journal, July 25, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121699723873784823.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.
Mannitz, Sabine. 2007. The Normative Construction of the Soldier in Switzerland: Constitutional Conditions and Public Political Discourse. Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, 23.
Michaels, Marty. 2007. Charities Face Trouble Keeping Volunteers and Attracting New Ones, Study Finds. Chronicle of Philanthropy 19, no. 14: 37-37.
Michel, Lacie M. 2007. Personal Responsibility and Volunteering after a Natural Disaster: The case of Hurricane Katrina. Sociological Spectrum 27, no. 6: 633-652.
Musick, Marc A. and John Wilson. 2008. Volunteers: A Social Profile. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Okafor, Leonard. 2003. Enhancing Business-Community Relations. Sir David Osunde Foundation- Nigeria. http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/fileadmin/docs/old/pdf/2003/031201_EBCR_NGA_davidosunde.pdf. (Accessed August 13, 2008).
Penner, Louis A. 2004. Volunteerism and Social Problems: Making Things Better Or Worse? Journal of Social Issues 60, no. 3: 645.
Pitt-Catsouphes, Marcie, Ernst Kossek, Ellen, and Sweet, Stephen. 2005. The Work and Family Handbook: Multidisciplinary Perspectives and Approaches. London: Routledge.
Plummer, Carol Ann, et al. 2008. Volunteerism Among Social Work Students During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Report from the Disaster Area. Journal of Social Service Research 34, no. 3: 55-71.
Raynolds, John. 1998. Volunteering: How Service Enriches Your Life-And How its Unexpected Halo Effect Boosts Your Career. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
Reingold, David. 2006. Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974. Corporation for National and Community Service, December 2006. http://www.cns.gov/pdf/06_1203_volunteer_growth.pdf. (Accessed August 10, 2008.)
Stallings, Betty B. 1998. Volunteers from the Workplace. U.S. Society & Values: USIA Electronic Journal 3, No. 2. http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0998/ijse/corp.htm. (Accessed August 5, 2008).
Teach for America. Financial arrangements. Teach for America. http://www.teachforamerica.org/corps/financial_arrangements.htm (Accessed August 7, 2008)
Tognina, Andrea. 2004. Volunteers play vital role in Swiss society. Swiss Info, (July 7). http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/index.html?siteSect=106&sid=5047355. (Accessed August 10, 2008)
Torabi, Mohammad R. and Dong-Chul Seo. 2004. National Study of Behavioral and Life Changes since September 11. Health Education & Behavior 31, no. 2: 179.
Traugott, Michael, et al. 2002. How Americans Responded: A Study of Public Reactions to 9/11/01. PS 35, no. 03: 511.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Volunteer rates in 2006. US Department of Labor. http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2007/jan/wk4/art02.htm. (accessed August 10, 2008).
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Volunteering in the United States News Release. U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/volun_01232008.htm. (accessed 10 August 2008).
Villagran, M. M. 2006. A Problematic Integration Approach to Capturing the Cognitive, Cultural, and Communicative Experiences of Hurricane Katrina Volunteers. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 6, no. 1: 87.
Wilson. John. 2000. Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology 26: 215-240.

Works Cited

American Red Cross. "Facts at a Glance: American Red Cross response to Hurricane Katrina." 19 January 2006. http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/hurricanes/katrina_facts.html. Accessed 10 August 2008.
Beyerlein, Kraig, and David Sikkink. "Sorrow and Solidarity: Why Americans Volunteered for 9/11 Relief Efforts." Social Problems 55, no. 2 (May 2008): 190-215.
Bussell, Helen and Forbes, Deborah. "Understanding the Volunteer Market: The what, where, who, and why of volunteering." International Journal of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, 7, no. 3 (2002), 244-258.
Carlo, Gustavo, et. al. "The Interplay of Traits and Motives on Volunteering: Agreeableness, Extraversion and Prosocial Value Motivation." Personality and Individual Differences 38, no. 6 (2005): 1293.
Clary, E. Gil and Snyder, Mark. "Motivations for volunteering and giving: A functional approach," in Cultures of Giving: How Heritage, Gender, Wealth, and Values Influence Philanthropy, ed. Charles H. Hamilton and Warren F. Ilchman (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1995) 116-7.
Corporation for National and Community Service. "Volunteering 61 Million Strong; Need and Momentum Grow."28 July 2008, accessed 10 August 2008 http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/press/press_releases.cfm
Eidgenössisches Departement für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport: Politische Leitlinien des Bundesrates zum Armeeleitbild XXI 1-2/20 and 7/20, 31.5.2000, as quoted (translated) in Sabine Mannitz, "The Normative Construction of the Soldier in Switzerland: Constitutional Conditions and Public Political Discourse," Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, 2007, 23.
Finkelstein, Marcia A., Louis A. Penner, and Michael T. Brannick. "Motive, Role Identity, and Prosocial Personality as Predictors of Volunteer Activity." Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal 33, no. 4 (06, 2005): 403-418.
Iroegbu, Senator. "Volunteerism key to development in Nigeria," World Volunteer Web, 28 March 2007. Accessed August 13, 2008. http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/int-l-volunteer-day/doc/volunteerism-key-to-development.html
Korn, Melissa. "Grads Can Find Relief with Loan Forgiveness," The Wall Street Journal, 25 July 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121699723873784823.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Mannitz, Sabine. "The Normative Construction of the Soldier in Switzerland: Constitutional Conditions and Public Political Discourse," Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, 2007.
Michaels, Marty. "Charities Face Trouble Keeping Volunteers and Attracting New Ones, Study Finds." Chronicle of Philanthropy 19, no. 14 (May 03, 2007): 37-37. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed August 16, 2008).
Michel, Lacie M.. "Personal Responsibility and Volunteering after a Natural Disaster: The case of Hurricane Katrina." Sociological Spectrum 27, no. 6 (November 2007): 633-652.
Musick, Marc A. and John Wilson, Volunteers: A Social Profile (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008), 14.
Okafor, Leonard. "Enhancing Business-Community Relations," Sir David Osunde Foundation- Nigeria. November 2003. Accessed August 13, 2008 http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/fileadmin/docs/old/pdf/2003/031201_EBCR_NGA_davidosunde.pdf
Penner, Louis A. "Volunteerism and Social Problems: Making Things Better Or Worse?" Journal of Social Issues 60, no. 3 (2004): 645.
Pitt-Catsouphes, Marcie, Ernst Kossek, Ellen, and Sweet, Stephen. The Work and Family Handbook: Multidisciplinary Perspectives and Approaches (Routledge, 2005), 24.
Plummer, Carol Ann, et al. "Volunteerism Among Social Work Students During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Report from the Disaster Area." Journal of Social Service Research 34, no. 3 (March 2008): 55-71
Raynolds, John. Volunteering: How Service Enriches Your Life-And How its Unexpected Halo Effect Boosts Your Career (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1998)
Reingold, David. "Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974." Corporation for National and Community Service, December 2006. Accessed August 10, 2008. http://www.cns.gov/pdf/06_1203_volunteer_growth.pdf
Stallings, Betty B. "Volunteers from the Workplace," U.S. Society & Values: USIA Electronic Journal, 3, No. 2 (1998). http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0998/ijse/corp.htm.
Teach for America, "Financial arrangements," Teach for America, http://www.teachforamerica.org/corps/financial_arrangements.htm
Tognina, Andrea. "Volunteers play vital role in Swiss society," Swiss Info, 7 July 2004. http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/index.html?siteSect=106&sid=5047355
Torabi, Mohammad R. and Dong-Chul Seo. "National Study of Behavioral and Life Changes since September 11." Health Education & Behavior 31, no. 2 (2004): 179.
Traugott, Michael, et al. "How Americans Responded: A Study of Public Reactions to 9/11/01." PS (Washington, D.C.: 1968) 35, no. 03 (2002): 511.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Volunteer rates in 2006." 23 January 2007, accessed 10 August 2008. http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2007/jan/wk4/art02.htm.
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Volunteering in the United States News Release." 23 January 2008, accessed 10 August 2008. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/volun_01232008.htm.
Villagran, M. M. "A Problematic Integration Approach to Capturing the Cognitive, Cultural, and Communicative Experiences of Hurricane Katrina Volunteers." Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 6, no. 1 (2006): 87.
Wilson. John. "Volunteering," Annual Review of Sociology. 26 (2000): 215-240.