• Inclusion

• External Shocks

• Accommodating newcomers

Assessing the ‘Why’ in Volunteering for Refugees: Exploring Volunteer Motivations Hop in and Drop Out: How are Changes in the Life Course Related to Changes in Volunteering for Humanitarian Organizations? Socio-structural Determinants in Volunteering for Humanitarian Organizations: a Resource-based Approach Trends in Forms of Civic Involvement in the Netherlands between 2008 and 2020

Refugee aid organizations depend to a large extent on volunteers. These organizations have difficulties retaining volunteers. The question then is: what can refugee aid organizations do to keep their' volunteers inside? Prior work suggests that satisfaction with the organization and motivations to continue volunteering may be of particular importance for volunteer retention. Therefore, this article assesses (1) which organizational factors contribute to satisfaction with the volunteer organization and (2) what personal factors contribute to volunteers' willingness to continue doing this work. Based on analyses of data from volunteers at a Dutch refugee aid organization (N = 1090) to both open-ended and close-ended questions, we find that volunteers who feel more valued for their work express stronger organizational connectedness. Moreover, we found that a bridge function that volunteers are theorized to be motivates them: volunteers are motivated to continue because they contribute to the facilitation of refugee inclusion and to increasing societal tolerance toward refugees. Further, work conditions need to be in place to prevent volunteers from leaving the organization. Moreover, the experienced appreciation for their work turned out to be a crucial factor for organizations to retain volunteers. These results give refugee aid organizations and volunteer managers concrete steps on what they can do to retain volunteers. This paper discusses these results and their practical implications as well as the limitations of the study.

(1) Which organizational factors contribute to satisfaction with the volunteer organization? (2) What personal factors contribute to volunteers' willingness to continue doing this work?

• Collected during project

• Questionaire

No

• Structured
• Unstructured

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None