Marketing Initiatives and Campaigns to promote Volunteering - a ...

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4. Findings from the Case StudiesThe case study analysis was undertaken to find practical examples of, and gain insightinto, ways of promoting volunteering and related issues regarding volunteers. Thissection aims to summarize and analyze the findings in the four case studies. The detailsof the case studies are presented in a matrix, which can be found in Appendix D.The findings are categorized under the following headings:1. Motivation of volunteers2. Promotion of cause3. Support for promotion4. Volunteer recruitment5. Tasks undertaken by volunteers6. Hours worked7. Length of service8. Volunteer profile9. Volunteer numbers10. Trends in volunteering11. Is there a need for more volunteers12. Biggest issueThe four organisations chosen were Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, State EmergencyService (SES), Country Fire Service (CFS), UnitingCare Wesley Lifeline and DomesticViolence Helpline. Information was obtained through interviews, brochures and website.Motivation of volunteers was the first question presented and is categorized under thefollowing headings: philanthropic, professional and career benefits; andpersonal/financial benefits. It appears that philanthropy is the common motivation acrossall four organisations. Therefore, the notion of helping other people underlies people’sdesire to volunteer. This corresponds with Bussell and Forbes (2002) who found altruismas a central motive of volunteering and one of the motives for community involvement(Batson, Ahmad and Tsang, 2002). Professional and career benefits can be regarded as amotive to improve human capital where volunteering is viewed as a way to ‘developskills which may be useful in a future career or help to obtain employment, gainacademic credits or even aid career advancement’ (Bussell and Forbes 2002). Some ofthe personal/financial benefits may be viewed as egoistic (Bussell and Forbes 2002;Batson, Ahmad and Tsang, 2002) motives of volunteering whereby the volunteer aims toimprove its own wellbeing. It is worthy of note that young volunteers at CFS and SESindicated that volunteering has been a family tradition. This confirms a research findingwhich suggest that young people are more likely to volunteer if their parents had beeninvolved in volunteering (Bussell and Forbes, 2002).Secondly, with regards to promotion of the cause, two organisations, Red Cross andMeals on Wheels that are well recognized in the community are able to capitalize from14
their name with little promotion required. In addition, as later mentioned, theyexperienced steady numbers of volunteers, which may indicate the ease of attractingvolunteers. It is also found that image building is practiced among all organisations,except Red Cross, primarily in making themselves known to the community.Conventional marketing methods in the form of paid advertising, use of websites, unpaidmedia publicity, and word of mouth are generally adopted by all four organisations. Freemedia coverage and print-work are used by all four organisations in promoting theircause. It is interesting to note that the more well-known organisations (Red Cross andMeals on Wheels) use their website for their promotions whereas SES and CFS, and theUnitingCare Wesley Lifeline and Domestic Violence Helpline rely on talks as a way toreach directly to the public in promoting their cause. It is also valuable to emphasize thatRed Cross acknowledged word of mouth to be the best form of promotion. This,therefore, highlights that volunteer experience leads to promotion of volunteering andvolunteer recruitment. It is clear that all four organisations, in general, promote in similarways, although as later revealed that the profiles of their volunteer are quite distinct.Hence, it may be worth considering some ways of differentiating promotional methods tothe various groups targeted. Segmenting potential volunteers to create a more targetedpromotional message can do this. Bussell and Forbes (2002) suggested volunteer profilemight differ according to educational attainment, gender, age, family background, andemployment status.In terms of support for promotion, the fourth question, it appears that the organisationsare required to raise their own funds through corporate support, donation, user-pay feeand levy due to little government funding (with the exception of the Domestic ViolenceHelpline which is funded by the government). This may reveal a possible trend thatservices traditionally provided by the government is shifting to the voluntary sector. It isalso indicative that both the public and private sector’s support are required for thecontinued voluntary work. It is important to note that SES and CFS, and the UnitingCareWesley Lifeline and Domestic Violence Helpline have insurance cover with the laterhighlighting no problems with liability or insurance.The fifth question relates to methods of volunteer recruitment. There are common themesacross the four organisations whereby they rely on the media for advertising andpublicity, on word of mouth and print-work. Other methods include the use of websites(own and Go-Volunteer recruitment websites), letterbox drop, open days and recruitingthrough Volunteering SA. Meals on Wheels, and UnitingCare Wesley Lifeline andDomestic Violence Helpline advertise their need for volunteers through newspaperadvertisement as they would with paid employees. It is interesting to note that the laterorganisation, which has a religious affiliation, is viewed as a community rather than areligious organisation. SES and CFS express the difficulty of recruiting young people dueto high mobility in country area. This may reflect the general trend of difficulties inretaining young volunteers. Red Cross, and UnitingCare Wesley Lifeline and DomesticViolence Helpline detail their recruitment process, which also consist of interview,induction and training programs. The later organisations require a two-year commitmentfrom its volunteers and views its training program unique and thus would benefitvolunteers.15
Page 1 and 2: Marketing InitiativesandCampaigns t
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTSpage1. Introduction 4The Br
Page 5 and 6: The subsequent structure of the Rep
Page 7 and 8: and allocating funding to enhance v
Page 9 and 10: The US Government Department of Sta
Page 11 and 12: United KingdomOrganisational sites
Page 13: AustraliaOrganisational sites exami
Page 17 and 18: community, which leads to an ease o
Page 19 and 20: disassociate themselves from volunt
Page 21 and 22: AgegroupUp to18Comments Target segm
Page 23 and 24: There are some theories that seek t
Page 25 and 26: Factors associated with the Idea (V
Page 27 and 28: 8. ConclusionsWe have: surveyed rel
Page 29 and 30: References:Bussell, H. & Forbes, D.
Page 31 and 32: B. Literature ReviewCountry of Publ
Page 33: • The awarding of academic credit
Page 36 and 37: • ‘A whole-of-government approa
Page 38 and 39: 17. Source: ‘Volunteering as part
Page 40 and 41: • Developing promotion activities
Page 42 and 43: 200426. Source: ‘Booming Recruiti
Page 44 and 45: 200431. Source: Strategic Plan of
Page 46 and 47: population, the reward people seek
Page 48 and 49: o The public needs to be aware and
Page 50 and 51: 200446. Source: ‘Enhancing the ap
Page 52 and 53: C. Volunteering organisation websit
Page 54 and 55: The Trade for African Development a
Page 56 and 57: trained, dedicated people to help n
Page 58 and 59: “Americans of all ages are alread
Page 60 and 61: On issues from military policy to h
Page 62 and 63: United Kingdom1. National Council f
Page 64 and 65:
Full-time volunteering opportunitie
Page 66 and 67:
What We DoStudent Volunteering Engl
Page 68 and 69:
http://www.experiencecorps.co.uk/Th
Page 70 and 71:
Valuing volunteers in EuropeA compa
Page 72 and 73:
3. Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)
Page 74 and 75:
Young volunteers Scotland launches
Page 76 and 77:
through the state/territory volunte
Page 78 and 79:
Volunteering Western Australia is t
Page 80 and 81:
• Volunteer Referral Service• R
Page 82 and 83:
VOLUNTEERING QUEENSLAND VISION• W
Page 84 and 85:
‣ Youth - AustraliaIt is suggeste
Page 86 and 87:
It is found that local government c
Page 88 and 89:
‣ Australia - Federal GovernmentA
Page 90:
• piggyback events eg. Announceme
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