Helping, Giving and Volunteering

Helping, Giving and Volunteering

Helping, Giving and Volunteering

Introduction

During the past 2 decades, nonprofit organizations have increasingly expanded their roles in dealing with policy problems in areas that have been traditionally left to the function of government, such as health, education, and social services. Among the major challenges these expanding roles present is the need for increased financing and volunteer support. Two major concurrent trends in the United States are attributed to these challenges (Salamon, 2002). First and most importantly, despite the increase in total individual giving over the last several decades, individual giving as a share of personal income has been falling. The percentage of total nonprofit revenues attributed to private charitable giving has been in steady decline from 37% in 1943 to 18% in 1992 (Hodgkinson, 2002, p. 393). This trend of diminishing generosity is a serious concern, considering the importance of individual contributions to nonprofit organizations in terms of sustaining the financial resources that are essential to building strong and healthy organizations. Individual donations account for about 80% of all philanthropic giving compared to corporate contributions, which account for less than 5% (Mathur, 1996).

Why Give and Volunteer?

To start, it is important to define what constitutes individual philanthropic behavior. First, philanthropy entails actions that promote others' welfare (Monroe, 1994). Good intention or well-meaning thought is one of the important components for altruism but is not the defining factor. In other words, positive attitudes toward helping others must lead to actions, in this case, donations and volunteering, to be considered philanthropic behavior. The second important criterion for philanthropic behavior is that philanthropic actions always demand some sacrifice of the actors' welfare, typically in the form of either money or time, on behalf of others (Monroe, 1994). The action that benefits others without costing some of the actor's own welfare is not defined as philanthropic behavior. While the first element is related to an action, the second element describes a motive for the action.

Economic Perspectives

The main thrust of the economic perspective is to promote economic benefits and material interests through philanthropic activity. Philanthropic activity is considered one of the strategic means to maximize individual utility. Reciprocal donation—what is offered in return for charitable actions—is the most important consideration in this perspective. The economic return that donors realize can be “the recognition granted by the recipient organizations in the forms of a name placed on a plaque or building … [or] an invitation to serve on an influential nonprofit board … [or] an invitation to a special gala celebration” (Frumkin, 2006, p. 261). Other individual economic benefits from charitable activity include the promotion of favorable publicity and stronger connections with customers.

Psychological Perspectives

The principles of psychological perspectives reflect views held by economists who accept self-interest as an underlying premise of philanthropic acts. Psychologists understand the act of helping others as a way to obtain psychic gratification; making others happy brings happiness and pleasure to philanthropic actors in return (Monroe, 1994). Basically, philanthropic behavior is a purposeful action to satisfy ...