The Motivation to Volunteer
What motivates people to do volunteer work? This is a question that many people ask, and some may not understand others motives. There are countless reasons why someone would decide to volunteer their time to a cause, and to understand why, you must understand their motives. Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. There is nothing we do in our lives without motivation, whether it be self motivated or caused by some external factor. Motivations for volunteering may be self indulgent or giving. Some people may feel the need to make the world around them a better place while others, such as a minor who has committed a crime, may be forced to volunteer due to disciplinary actions. A persons reasons for volunteering could also be that they are new to the community and feel it would be a good way to become acquainted with their neighbors, or it could be an opportunity to meet new people in your own area that may have similar interests. Some people have experiences in their lives that motivate them to volunteer, such as the death of a loved one due to a disease or some other traumatic experience in their life. By volunteering, these people may feel that they can help others who are going through the same experiences they once did. Some may volunteer to test out a career field. They may not be sure if a career in a specific field is to their liking and may volunteer their services to obtain an insight in to that career field. They may volunteer to see if that career field fits their own personality, likes or dislikes. There are those people who will use the volunteer time as a job reference. The army offers volunteer awards as an incentive, therefore offering additional motivation to soldiers who may otherwise have no desire to do volunteer work. As we can see there are a great number of reasons that may motivate someone to volunteer. Not everyone has the same views and values, and so may not volunteer for the same reasons. Volunteer work
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