15/12/2025
“Altruism is the selfless concern for the well-being of others, and it’s the heartbeat of volunteering”
It further explained:
“Volunteering is one of the most visible expressions of altruism in society.”
And while that is of course true its important to note that volunteering is not always about altruism. During my time as a Volunteer Centre manager I met hundreds of people who were thinking about volunteering and while ” giving something back” was a common reason for looking into volunteering there were equal numbers of people wanting to use their skills, learn new things, gain experience, stay busy or meet new people. All of those are motivations that benefit the individual not just the selfless giving of time.
I’ve met young people starting out looking to build their CVs and stand out to future employers, older people who have realised that they need to put some activity into their retirement and parents whose children have gone to school and they have time on their own when they would like to be around people.
I’ve heard so many life stories about how people got to where they are and their ambitions for the future (including one story about feeding drugs to greyhounds in the 70s but thats for another day).
The reasons for people deciding to give up their time is a marvellous melting pot of individualism and this is so much of what makes the voluntary sector great. There are people out there who are skilled and passionate quietly shaping their communities because they get something out of it themselves. Then there are others who are looking to change their lives for the better through volunteering – suggested to them by employment advisors, recovery workers or support workers.
A good volunteer manager knows that everyone is different and can capitalise on it through adapting recruitment messaging, highlighting development opportunities, creating training and mentoring for their volunteers and being person centred with their volunteering offer.
Volunteering can be for mutual benefit and could be seen as an exchange between the individual and the organisation. Exchanging skills and/or time for social connections, skills development, purposeful activity.
Consider promoting volunteering as what you can do for or offer to the volunteer rather than highlighting what volunteers bring to the community and your organisation. Perhaps take some time to reflect on what you offer volunteers and how this is communicated and make adjustments
To effectively promote this exchange, where skills and time are traded for experience and connection. You may need to tweak your recruitment messaging. We have put together a guide on Writing Role Descriptions for Volunteers to help you highlight the specific opportunities you can offer the individual. Getting the description right helps you find the right person, but whatever their motivation, always remember to say thank you.
