Why Do People Volunteer?
The practice of working on behalf of another person or for a particular cause with no compensation for one’s time and services is called volunteering. It is considered as an activity that is highly altruistic. Volunteerism intends to promote good and improve the quality of human life. However, not all answers to “Why do people volunteer?” appear to be altruistic as there are those who volunteer only to pursue self-improvement.
Why do people volunteer? People will volunteer for many different reasons. Some volunteer for altruistic purposes or to make a positive difference in the lives of other people. They will also volunteer to satisfy their desire to learn new skills, to enhance and develop one’s current skills, to meet other people and make new contacts for future employment, and other self-serving reasons. Others engage in volunteer activities to have fun.
There are a number of forms for volunteering and it is performed by a variety of people. There are many volunteers who are specifically trained for the kinds of activities they sign up with, including education, medicine, or emergency rescue. Some other volunteers, such as those who volunteer to respond to a natural disaster or to help in a beach cleanup, are on an as-needed basis.
One of the common answers to “Why do people volunteer?” is that these people find something, such as a cause, that they are passionate about. These people want to be able to do something good not just for themselves but also for others. For example, volunteers for community involvement usually have strong personal attachments to the place and they have this desire to make the community a better place not just for themselves but for others as well. A number of volunteers think that they are fortunate to have lived the way that they do, so they want to be able to give back to their society.
Another answer to the query regarding “Why do people volunteer?” is that it provides the volunteer with unique opportunities. For example, for those who are interested with animals, they can volunteer to work with animals and for a conservation project. Other opportunities include interacting with new people to discover new cultures, trying out foreign food, and learning to speak new languages.
Many volunteers also seek personal growth, a sense of accomplishment, recognition of one’s efforts, and receiving positive feedback. Volunteer work is also an efficient way to gain experiences in the fields you choose to work in. Plus, engaging in volunteer work can be your stepping-stone for employment. In the same way that interns are exposed to their fields of expertise, volunteers can also try out whether a chosen field suits them.
