respond to katherines post How do I encourage new volunteers to join my non-profit organization while maintaining value driven organization?

Volunteers are some of the most important people in an organization. They are the backbone for success in a non-profit. The New Public Service Model encourages organizations to look at how they serve the public interest and what tools they need to implement to encourage a new wave of diverse citizens to volunteer their time. Volunteers are driven to help or walk away by different factors. If people do not trust organizations or their motives, they will not engage in support for that cause. Working with them to serve them in the long term creates citizens. Citizens are vested in the organization and its success because they believe in its mission. "Shared leadership based on the values of mutual respect, accommodation, and support, should be used to enhance and reinforce the public service motivation of workers." Denhardt, R. B., Denhardt, J. V., Aristigueta, M. P., & Rawlings, K. C. (2020). Managing human behavior in public and nonprofit organizations (fifth). SAGE.

Volunteers will be more inclined to offer their services if they feel the organization is focused on the public interest and the contributions to society rather than entrepreneurship. If you have paid employees, successes, and failures are usually attributed to the owners of the company. In a non-profit, when people are invested in the success of a mission, they will work to achieve that goal and have shared responsibility for the successes and failures. Including and involving citizens in an organization and making them part of the process means empowering the community and people within it. Treating them with respect and maintaining ethical practices helps to grow a volunteer base. Being accountable and transparent will help them to trust the organization. To maintain success in an organization, using citizen surveys, involving them in problem-solving, and allowing them a say in the result allows the citizens (volunteers) to have a stake in the outcome and be positively perceived by them.