This study was an exploration of nonprofit human service volunteer training as related to the retention of volunteers. In their pursuit to fulfill client needs, human service nonprofit organizations often rely heavily on volunteers, which emphasizes the need for a better understanding of the means through which organizations may affect positively the retention rates of volunteers. Training long has been thought to be an effective tool for decreasing attrition and engaging volunteers. By investigating the training experiences of volunteers with a focus on retention, this study hoped to further develop the research community’s understanding of how training helps or hinders volunteer retention and may serve as the basis for further research on the link between training design and retention.

To effectively provide services to citizens, local governments have had to be creative. One approach has been the creation of volunteer programs to meet demands and expanding needs. Volunteer programs hold promise for creating meaningful engagement opportunities for citizens. However, limited organizational capacity, inadequate volunteer management practices, and difficulties in maintaining volunteer retention are concerns plaguing local government volunteer programs. Volunteer programs are often structured around a set of best practices thought to be necessary for ensuring the retention of volunteers. To apply best practices across the board would suggest that local government volunteer programs are similar in organizational structure, budget size, amount of citizen engagement, accountability concerns, and that they adopt similar bureaucratic procedures. Using human relations and bureaucratic theories as theoretical frameworks, four research questions are asked and answered: 1) What are the managerial and political challenges in volunteer management and retention for local government volunteer coordinators?, 2) What challenges are local governments' volunteer coordinators facing in using volunteer management practices?, 3) What strategies are helpful in retaining volunteers in local government volunteerism?, and 4) What challenges do local government volunteer coordinators face in engaging citizens? Data collection for this qualitative study was conducted using online surveys and telephone semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that creating meaningful work for volunteers and coordinating this work with local government managers was an important "best practices" challenge. Although local government volunteer programs also have a mission of engaging citizens, the practices actually used may directly conflict with their mission. Many volunteer management practices are supporting organizational goals rather than supporting the needs of volunteers. The study findings suggest that the best practices used by local governments are not given equal weight and "one size does not fit all." Instead, local governments must prioritize their practices carefully.

Volunteer organizations face two challenges not found in non-volunteer organizations: recruiting and retaining volunteers. While social media use is increasing amongst individuals, its use and effectiveness for volunteer recruitment and retention by volunteer organizations is unknown. The dissertation reports the results of three studies to investigate this important question. Using a mixed-methods approach, it addressed the dual nature of social media and its effectiveness by including volunteer organizations and social media users. This dissertation found that although volunteer organizations are not using social media effectively, they could virtualize requirements of the recruitment process by focusing on relatable events instead of sterile marketing. This dissertation contributes to information systems literature by extending the post-acceptance model of IS continuance to show that social media mediates volunteer continuance. It further contributes by revealing a potential new area of research, i.e., the use and effectiveness of online social media for volunteer organizations.

Tyrimo objektas – savanorių išlaikymo valdymo vertinimas. Probleminis klausimas – kaip turėtų būti vykdomas ir vertinamas sporto organizacijos savanorių išlaikymo valdymas? Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti sporto organizacijos savanorių išlaikymo valdymą. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1. Apibrėžti savanorio ir savanorystės sampratą bei reikšmę sporto sektoriuje. 2. Atskleisti valdymo sampratos modernioje vadybos teorijoje sąsajas su savanorystės valdymo principais. 3. Remiantis moksliniais literatūros šaltiniais sukurti teorinį sporto organizacijos savanorių išlaikymo valdymo vertinimo modelį. 4. Empiriškai patikrinti sukurtą sporto organizacijos savanorių išlaikymo valdymo vertinimo modelį. Tyrimo metodai: • Mokslinės literatūros analizė. • Anketinė apklausa. • Matematinė analizė. Darbo apimtis – 47 puslapiai. Darbe panaudotos 2 formulės, 3 lentelės, 28 paveikslai, 1 priedas ir 47 literatūros šaltiniai. Išvados: 1. Savanoriams priskiriami asmenys, laisva valia atliekantys naudingą darbą visuomenei, negaudami už tai piniginio atlygio. Savanorystė susijusi su plataus spektro, laiko sąnaudų reikalaujančia neapmokama veikla, kurios tikslai susiję su pagalba organizacijai, bendruomenei ar visuomenei. Savanorystė labai svarbi sporto sektoriuje, nes ji yra pagrindinis didžiausių sporto renginių įgyvendinimo elementas; nevyriausybinėse organizacijose savanorystė yra pagrindinė darbo jėga. 2. Klasikinėje teorijoje valdymas susideda iš tokių principų, kaip planavimas ir sprendimų priėmimas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / -.

Nonprofit leaders face challenges retaining volunteers to support their organizations' human resources. The shortage of volunteers threatens nonprofit sustainability with increasing personnel cost for maintaining quality services. Grounded by Burns's transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies nonprofit leaders from southeastern Michigan used to improve volunteer retention. Data were collected through face-to-face semistructured interviews with 3 nonprofit leaders and a review of organizational documents such as volunteer implementation plans, strategic plans, and volunteer committee notes. Data were analyzed using a methodological triangulation process of sorting comments, which involved a chronological review of the interview transcripts and a descriptive coding for emerging themes. Three distinct themes emerged from the data analysis: collaborative relationships improved volunteer retention, team motivations improved volunteer retention, and strategic communication improved volunteer retention. The findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by providing nonprofit leaders with a better understanding of the need to improve volunteer retention and leadership strategies as methods to continue building viable communities for those in need. Furthermore, the implications for positive social change could include the improvement of other nonprofit organizations and the well-being of the volunteers in the organization.

This diploma thesis deals with the study of the world of reflexive volunteers and their retention in a selected non-profit organization. The theoretical part provides an overview of the motivations for volunteering and the current functioning of volunteering in the Czech Republic and the European Union; it also focuses on transforming the way volunteers are involved from the perspective of modernization and describes in detail the process of volunteer management. The empirical part consists of interviews with ten volunteers in a selected organization in order to understand its motivations, length and intensity of work, relationships with other volunteers and employees. Finally, practical recommendations for the volunteer coordinator are presented regarding selected aspects of volunteer management, with special emphasis on the retention of volunteers. Keywords Collective and reflexive styles of volunteering, traditional, modern, volunteer management , volunteer retention.

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources / Candice A. Shoemaker / Once a fixture of American schoolyards during the early 1900’s, school gardens in the United States are again growing in popularity. It is estimated that one-fourth of all public and private schools in the U.S. have a school garden. Funding, teacher involvement, support of the principal, volunteer help, garden coordination, maintenance assistance and site availability are all factors found to contribute to the success of school gardens and are also found to be the barriers to sustainability of school gardens. Many of these challenges can be overcome with the support of volunteers. Little is known however, about individuals who volunteer their time to a school garden program and more importantly no research has investigated the specific variables influencing volunteer retention in an after-school garden club program setting. A case-study of long-term adult after-school garden club program volunteers was conducted to determine the variables affecting one’s decision to continue volunteering after one semester with a program of this type. Twenty long-term after-school garden club program volunteers were interviewed. Interview responses were grouped into main theme and subtheme categories using NVivo, a qualitative analysis software. Main themes that had responses from at least 95% of the volunteers participating in the case-study, were isolated for further analysis. The top five subthemes for each of these isolated main themes were assessed and four of these main themes were found to have similar top five subthemes. These subthemes and the long-term volunteer demographics were then used to determine the variables affecting volunteer retention in an after-school garden club setting. Age, marital status and level of education were all found to affect length of volunteer service. Organizational commitment, positive volunteer relations, organizational support, learning opportunities and the opportunity to work with children all contributed to the decision of after-school garden club program volunteers to continue volunteering after one semester of service. Furthermore, it can be concluded that these volunteers continued to volunteer because their initial motivations, expectations and/or needs were met through their participation in the program.

Research has shown that long-term volunteer retention is critical for sustaining the viability of youth mentoring programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS). Data from recent studies have indicated that volunteers must continue their service for at least 1 year in to have a sustainable effect on the mentee. Results from prior studies have indicated that the support provided by the agency to the volunteer can predict volunteer retention. However, a gap in current literature exists regarding the effect of support communication on volunteer retention. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the relationship between organizational support, communication, and retention of volunteers in the BBBS agency. The VPM was developed to explain the life cycle of volunteerism and was the theoretical framework for this study. The primary research question examined how well the variables related to organizational support communication predict the likelihood of volunteer retention. This study used secondary data collected by BBBS as part of the support communication process they provide to their volunteers. Results from a logistic regression analysis revealed that the amount of face-to-face contact and the number of match support specialists positively predicted volunteer retention of at least 1 year. Results from this study can contribute to social change by informing best practices on the types of support communication for long-term volunteer retention. Specifically, leaders and managers of volunteer agencies should develop policies and procedures that maximize the amount of face-to-face communication provided to volunteers from the agency.