Motivating And Retaining Adult Volunteer 4-H Leaders

Abstract

Highly motivated volunteers can greatly extend organizational andprogrammatic outreach to involve audiences which may otherwise be unserved. Determining what motivates individuals to volunteer is a keycomponent of volunteer administration. The purpose of this study was to identify the motivators of adult volunteer 4-H Leaders and to determine if positive and negative motivations were similar for current and former 4-H volunteers. Findings from this study revealed three primary motivations which influence people to volunteer: Youth (issue/cause motive), the 4-H Program (affiliation motive) and Perceived Need (personal motive). Two negative motivators were found for current andformer 4-H volunteers and included a lack of adult assistance, (which volunteers coupled with feelings of being unwanted or unneeded); and a lack of time and employment conflicts.