My favourite discussion at ISTR 2024 was around the notion of ‘misfit’ in volunteering – a catchy way of looking at unsuccessful volunteering experiences. 

Having enough volunteers and retaining them are key preoccupations of nonprofit organisations.  Today, there are a number of government or higher education backed programs that encourage, incite or even require young people between the ages of 18-25 to volunteer, gain experience and practice civic engagement.  Having a successful or unsuccessful experience in volunteering can affect a young individual’s volunteering trajectory. 

I think I enjoyed this notion of misfit because of two reasons:  I’m a pracademic and practice what I research.  I’ve been a misfit volunteer (and may be again) and just finished advising students at SciencesPo Paris in France on their civic engagement capstone project where some “misalignment” between expectations and experiences clearly took place. 

My own misfit experiences are more linked to poor management of volunteers in the organisations.  I lived firsthand the divide between the volunteer recruitment narrative “of we need you and appreciate you” and the “Oh, you’re here, go do X”, I’ve also experienced discomfort in the type of work I was asked to do and ended up leaving the organisation.  Both situations could have had a more positive outcome if there had been dialogue, a discussion and that personal touch so important in managing people in general.  But I didn’t feel the dialogue was possible and they didn’t call me back, so clearly there was a misfit!

A handful of the students I advised, however, experienced more of a misalignment between their expectations and the reality on the ground.  They expressed disappointment around how the mission appears somewhat disconnected to what a nonprofit organisation can accomplish in a given amount of time. They were also surprised at the fragility of the material conditions they found themselves in. The promise of meaningful activities and impact heightened their expectations, however, an adjustment had to take place between the idealised activity and what it takes to create change, help others in need or address injustices in society.  The perpetual lack of resources (financial, human) forced them to be resourceful with their skills, their audacity and often their time to get the job done.  In the end this “misfit” became an important learning experience, but it was not always positive.

What was the common outcome between my experiences and those of the students I advised?  We changed organisations, sometimes issue areas and looked more closely at what we were getting into to find a better “fit”.  In my case, I will keep experimenting with different forms of volunteering, however, for younger people, it may be a stopping point.  That is why exploring and making explicit how  “misfit” volunteering is perceived and what volunteers do in response is important.  I look forward to reading more about it in the future!

This session took place on Wednesday,  July 17, 2024, Retaining Volunteers – Misfit in volunteering. The session was titled, ‘How do volunteers perceive and deal with misfit?’ Presented by Lena Wolber, PhD student, University of the Bundeswehr Munich  

Pat Danahey Janin, PhD, is a qualitative researcher working on climate and ocean issues and international philanthropy.  She has worked for the University of Essex, SciencesPo Paris, PHILEA, the UN Decade for the Ocean at UNESCO, and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.