September 30, 2004 | Read Time: 1 minute
Voluntarism, Community Life, and the American Ethic
by Robert S. Ogilvie
This study of the Partnership for the Homeless, in New York, is both an analysis of what makes a successful volunteer program and an examination of the role that volunteerism plays in society.
Mr. Ogilvie, an assistant professor at the University of California at Berkeley, draws on interviews with people who contribute their time and talents to the Partnership, and on his own stint there as director of volunteers, to explore why people donate their time. He writes that while some people first make a decision to volunteer and then seek out specific opportunities, the majority of volunteers do so after being asked. The book details how the Partnership’s shelters sought those potential volunteers, and how other nonprofit groups can follow suit.
Mr. Ogilvie says that the volunteers to the Partnership gain just as many benefits as the people they serve. By working with homeless people, the volunteers gain new perspectives about the struggles of fellow citizens, which prompted some of them to become more involved in other types of civic activities.
For instance, volunteers at the Partnership built ties with the New York Fire and Police Departments and other government agencies because they wanted to influence decisions those departments made about homeless shelters.
Publisher: Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, Ind. 47404-3797; (812) 855-4203; fax (812) 855-8507; iupress@indiana.edu; http://iupress.indiana.edu; 272 pages; $35; I.S.B.N. 0-253-34423-9.
