The Volunteer Community: Creative Use of Human Resources.

This report of the authors' study and reflections about voluntarism and the present and future of volunteer activity is intended to be useful as a resource, stimulus, and guide for those using volunteers; for organizers of "cause movements"; for professors of graduate students in service professions; and for anyone interested in voluntarism. Chapter 1 begins with some assumptions about the relationship between democracy, voluntarism, and personal development. Ten social trends thought to have relevance for the development of voluntarism are summarized in the second chapter; Chapter 3 analyzes the variety of needs and opportunities for volunteers, and reviews some new patterns and trends in the use of volunteers. Chapter 4 explores the bases of motivation of those who volunteer, and challenges professionals to extend their use of and trust in volunteers. Chapter 5 summarizes and analyzes the problems and practices of recruitment and orientation of volunteers. Goals, methods, and designs for training volunteers are explored in Chapter 6, and the need for training of trainers is discussed in Chapter 7. A "case study of the future" is described in Chapter 8. In a concluding epilogue, the authors attempt to help the reader make a bridge between this volume and his own situation. It is followed by a comprehensive, classified, annotated bibliography of significant literature about voluntarism. (Author/JLB)