Personal needs of volunteer community service providers during crises

What is it about?

In the community service sector, supply and contribution are emphasized unilaterally, while self-interest needs in altruistic services are always ignored. Through semi-structured interviews with 13 NGOs and questionnaire responses from 430 volunteers, this paper assesses volunteer community service providers’ personal needs during the COVID-19 based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. What's more, practical recommendations focused on these needs were proposed to ensure satisfactory volunteer experiences during crises, which can assist state agencies and NGOs attract potential volunteers and effectively manage them during crises.

Featured Image

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We found that volunteer community service providers had safety, love, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization personal needs, all of which were closely related to family, partners, organizations, society, and the government, and that more experienced volunteers tended to be under greater safety needs pressure. Focused on these needs, we put forward some practical suggestions to contribute to volunteer management in crises, particularly non-governmental organizations need to focus on providing greater safety support, motivation, and professional development, and also coordinate external relations with partners and the government.

Perspectives