scholarly journals Understanding Motivations for Volunteering in Food Insecurity and Food Upcycling Projects

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Rondeau ◽  
Sara M. Stricker ◽  
Chantel Kozachenko ◽  
Kate Parizeau

For non-profit organizations relying on volunteers to operate, investigations into the motivations of volunteerism are critical to attract new volunteers and to support the current ones. This study looked at volunteerism in the not-for-profit project The SEED in Ontario, Canada, which is looking to address food insecurity through a new social enterprise project that will create value-added “upcycled” products from second-grade produce while offering training opportunities for youth facing barriers to employment. The aims of this paper were to explore why volunteers chose to offer their time to this project and to gauge the current volunteers’ interest in volunteering with the organization’s new “Upcycle Kitchen”. Thirty-seven volunteers responded to a self-administered survey. They reported altruism, self-development, and social life improvement as their main motivations for volunteering. The volunteers expressed enthusiasm toward the Upcycle Kitchen initiative, which seems to be attributable to the multidimensional, creative, and educational aspects of the project. Tackling food insecurity and reducing the environmental impact of food waste are values which would most likely influence the respondents’ willingness to volunteer in food upcycling activities. We believe that this study is a good model to learn about the many facets of volunteerism for social enterprises developing upcycling-based food projects.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Martyna Wronka-Pośpiech ◽  

The modern business model means that, regardless whether for-profit or non-profit, an organization should have both the willingness and the ability to learn and develop. Nowadays social enterprise has emerged as a key factor in efforts to address the many complex issues facing the world today. Its focus on providing a benefit to society as a whole rather than just the owners of the enterprise make it ideal for addressing the global concerns of the environment, healthcare, education, economic growth, and poverty alleviation. This article demonstrates specific examples on how Social Economy Support Centres create policy programmes for social enterprises and support their legal, financial and know-how development.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽  
Rafiqul Islam Molla

Private (first sector) and public (second sector) sector economics, both individually and jointly, have failed to ensure the wellbeing of human societies on the national and global levels. In response, social enterprise (third sector) economics, which features cooperatives and not-for-profit social enterprises, foundations (awqāf), and similar undertakings, has emerged as a make-up strategy in an attempt to counter the deficiencies of the market-state economic model. However, there is a strongly felt belief that the third sector needs to be broadened and mainstreamed in order to include both not-for-profit and for-profit businesses blended with social justice (via provision of such social welfare programs as corporate social responsibility) so that they can play a major role in poverty alleviation and economic growth. Islamic entrepreneurship, which is basically a community-centric mode of business initiative, is an antidote to the problem of intolerable economic and social dualism, a natural strategy against all forms of capitalist exploitation and attempts to control a nation’s resources. Moreover, it is the natural model for solving economic inequity, wealth concentration, and social divides. Based on its potential and using examples from Bangladesh and Malaysia, we present the Islamic style of entrepreneurship. We contend that this particular style is the most efficient and desirable one for effectively widening and mainstreaming community-centric third sector economics so that it can ensure development with equity and social justice especially in developing countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Aarushi Mahajan ◽  
Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes have been prepared in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956). After completing the case, the students shall be able to do the following: • describe the challenges faced by the not-for-profit, non-governmental and voluntary organizations operating at a local level in a conflict-ridden zone (knowledge). • Explain the key features, roles and typologies associated with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (comprehension), apply such typologies to specific organizations (application) and differentiate between social enterprises and NGOs (analysis). • Analyse various scaling-up techniques and infer the technique(s) used or can be potentially used by a particular organization (analysis). • Synthesize different elements of the organizational environment and reflect on the potential influence of these elements on an organization (synthesis). • Develop frameworks by applying institutional theory and motivations for volunteerism to map challenges of organizational legitimacy and volunteer turnover, respectively, as well as make recommendations to tackle these challenges (synthesis and evaluation) • Develop recommendations for the problems faced by not-for-profit voluntary NGOs (evaluation). Case overview/synopsis Balgran, a local not-for-profit non-governmental voluntary organization operating in the conflict-ridden state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), India was established in the year 1975 to empower destitute, orphans, abandoned and socially handicapped children. Since its inception, Balgran has expanded its services at a rapid pace including Bal Bharti public school, health care centre, vocational training and a computer centre. Mr A.K. Khajuria, President of Balgran, was concerned about the high turnover of the voluntary staff, mistrust among the potential donors concerning fund management of NGOs and inadequate funding. Mr Khajuria after a few failed attempts at resolving these issues, called for a meeting of the members of the governing body in February 2019 to decide the future plan of action to resolve these issues. Through this case, the students can understand the challenges faced by local NGOs in general and unique challenges (mistrust among potential donors) faced by NGOs operating in conflict-ridden areas such as J&K. The students will be able to enhance their skills in brainstorming and making recommendations while framing possible solutions to the challenges faced by Balgran. The case seeks to enable the students to comprehend the features and typologies associated with NGOs; the role played by local NGOs in community development; differences between social enterprises and NGOs; scaling-up techniques and paths with special reference to local NGOs and the environmental factors that can potentially influence the operation of NGOs. Complexity academic level This case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate-level students learning social entrepreneurship, social work and management of alternate organizations such as NGOs. This case could be used to discuss concepts related to not-for-profit organizations operating in voluntary settings. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1136-1141
Author(s):  
Deborah Walker ◽  
Dave Garrett

PMI is the world's leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project, program, and portfolio management profession. Now in its 46th year, the association provides global advocacy, collaboration, education, and research to more than 2.9 million professionals working in nearly every country in the world. To better support project practitioners in their role as “change agents,” PMI utilizes popular social media platforms, as well as a robust virtual community. Through social media, PMI creates an environment in which project practitioners create, curate, and share strong value-added content, take part in well-informed discussions, and collaborate to seek effective solutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan C Clift

In the context of social welfare austerity and non-state actors’ interventions into social life, an urban not-for-profit organization in the United States, Back on My Feet, uses the practice of running to engage those recovering from homelessness. Promoting messages of self-sufficiency, the organization centralizes the body as a site of investment and transformation. Doing so calls to the fore the social construction of ‘the homeless body’ and ‘the running body’. Within this ethnographic inquiry, participants in recovery who ran with the organization constructed moralized senses of self in relation to volunteers, organizers, and those who do not run, while in recovery. Their experiences compel consideration of how bodily constructions and practices reproduce morally underpinned, self-oriented associations with homeless and neoliberal discourses that obfuscate systemic causes of homelessness, pose challenges for well-intentioned voluntary or development organizations, and service the relief of the state from social responsibility.


2020 ◽  
pp. 376-390
Author(s):  
Amir Manzoor

Crowdfunding has been applied to equity investments as well as in a preproduction consumer purchase model. Crowdfunding is projected to become a $US90-96 billion industry by 2025, and is being touted as a valuable tool for fundraising for charitable non-profits. For leading non-profits around the globe a critical question is whether charitable crowdfunding is a threat or an opportunity for them. This chapter demonstrates that charitable crowdfunding represents a powerful new fundraising tool for leading, start-ups and not for profit organisations. This discussion contributes to the financial knowledge, specifically in the online crowdfunding and non-profit organisations and concludes that non-profit organisations through crowdfunding has the potential to expand the donor base.


Author(s):  
Catherine Needham ◽  
Kerry Allen ◽  
Kelly Hall

This chapter focuses on enterprise and care considering the contribution that new delivery models such as social enterprises make within public services more broadly and care in particular. The chapter also considers the ambiguity of the social enterprise label and its capacity to be claimed by a range of governance types, including the for-profit as well as the not-for-profit. The chapter then draws together the evidence on micro-enterprises into four research hypotheses that are tested in later chapters of the book, through qualitative and quantitative research. These are derived from the policy claims that are made by proponents of micro forms of service delivery: that micro-enterprises are more personalised, innovative, cost-effective and outcomes-oriented than larger organisations.


Author(s):  
Sultana Lubna Alam ◽  
Ruonan Sun ◽  
John Campbell

While most crowdsourcing (CS) cases in the literature focus on commercial organisations, little is known about volunteers’ motivation of initial and continued participation in not-for-profit CS projects and importantly, about how the motivations may change over time. It is vital to understand motivation and motivational dynamics in a not-for-profit context because a fundamental challenge for not-for-profit CS initiations is to recruit and keep volunteers motivated without any formal contract or financial incentives. To tackle this challenge, we explore high performing volunteers’ initial motivation for joining and sustaining with a GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) CS project. We situated our interpretive exploration in a case study of the Australian Newspapers CS project initiated by the National Library of Australia. Based on the case study, we found that high-performing volunteers were motivated by a combination of personal, collective, and external factors classified into intrinsic, extrinsic, and internalised extrinsic motivations. Further, we found that these motivations changed over time. Specifically, many volunteers presented substantial personal (i.e., personal interest and fun) and community-centric motivations (i.e. altruism and non-profit cause) when they initially joined the project, whereas external motivations (i.e., recognition and rewards) had a greater impact on long-term participation. Our findings offer implications for CS system design (e.g., user profiles, tagging and commenting), incentive structure (e.g., reputation-based ranking, leader boards), and relational mechanisms (e.g., open communication channels) to stimulate sustainable contributions for not-for-profit CS initiatives.


Author(s):  
Zbigniew Zontek ◽  
Christopher Whitworth

The authors have extensively researched motivation and situated learning in social organisations and enterprises via qualitative processes. This was an original work in an under-researched area. The use of open interpretative phenomenological analysis allowed an in-depth study of over 30 individual’s motivations and processes. Their findings clearly demonstrate the role of, and need for, knowledge acquisition, restructuring and transfer into new and evolving NGO’s and similar not-for-profit ventures. Study of 10 very different organisations in two European countries revealed common mechanisms for gaining and utilising knowledge in new ways and for new applications. All were Communities of Practice (CoPs) with a well-defined purpose and rationale. Almost all those interviewed reported utilising their knowledge from earlier experiences, in new ways, and situations. This need for internal and external knowledge transfer was stressed by almost all participants, and how they solved it in their CoP forms a key outcome of the research.Keywords: Management, social enterprise, knowledge transfer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian O’Boyle

This paper examines the role of corporate governance in non-profit sport organisations. Governance within the traditional business environment is a crucial issue for the ultimate success or failures of an entity. This study analyses if the structures and systems of governance within traditional business can be transferred to a sport organisation. The various governance theories are examined to assess their applicability within a sport organisation and the role of the board is also analyzed within the study. Finally, this paper examines areas of conflict which may arise relating to governance and concludes by offering a best practice approach to this integral issue within any modern sport organisation.


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