The use of volunteers in hospitals has been an age-old practice. This nonmarket community involvement is a distinctive aspect of North American life. Hospitals may be attracted to increase the use of volunteers, both to provide increased quality of care and to contain costs. Hospitals rely on the use of professional administrators to use the donated time of volunteers efficiently. This study examines the benefits and costs of volunteer programs and derives an estimate of the net value of volunteer programs that accrue to the hospitals and volunteers. In particular, the costs and benefits to hospitals are detailed. Using 31 hospitals in and around Toronto and surveying hospital volunteer administrators, hospital clinical staff members, and volunteers themselves, a striking pay-off for hospitals was found: an average of $6.84 in value from volunteers for every dollar spent—a return on investment of 684%. Civic and community participation is indeed valuable.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bergel, V. R. (1994, Spring). The many (unexpected) advantages of volunteering. The-New-Social-Worker, pp. 22-23.
2.
Bowen, P. (1997). Trends in volunteerism: A Canadian perspective. Journal of Volunteer Administration, 15(3), 4-6.
3.
Brown, E. (1999). Assessing the value of volunteer activity. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 28(1), 3-17.
4.
Brudney, J. (1990). Fostering volunteer programs in the public sector. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
5.
Canadian Healthcare Association. (1999). Funding Canada’s healthcare system: CHA policy brief. Ottawa, Canada: CHA Press.
6.
Chambre, S., & Lowe, I. B. (1983-1984). Volunteering and the aged: Abibliography for researchers and practitioners. Journal of Volunteer Administration, 11(2), 35-44.
7.
Culp, K., & Nolan, M. S. (2000, November). Societal trends which will impact volunteer administration in the next 10 years. Paper presented at the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action Conference, New Orleans, LA.
8.
Day, K. M., & Devlin, R. A. (1998). Volunteerism and crowding-out: Canadian econometric evidence. Canadian Journal of Economics, 29(1), 37-53.
9.
Dow, W. (1997). The voluntary sector: Trends, challenges, and opportunities for the new millennium. Vancouver, Canada: Volunteer Vancouver.
10.
Emanuele, R. (1996). Is there a downward sloping curve demand curve for volunteer labor? Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 67, 193-208.
11.
Freeman, R. (1997). Working for nothing. The supply of volunteer labor. Journal of Labor Economics, 15, 140-166.
12.
Hall, M., Knighton, T., Reed, P., Bussiere, P., McRae, D., & Bowen, P. (1998). Caring Canadians, involved Canadians: Highlights from the 1997 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Ottowa, Canada: Statistics Canada.
13.
Hall, M., McKeown, L., & Roberts, K. (2001). Caring Canadians, involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Ottowa, Canada: Ministry of Industry.
14.
Handy, F., Cnaan, R., Brudney, J., Meijs, L., Ascoli, U., & Ranade, S. (2000). Public perception of “who is a volunteer:” An examination of the net-cost. Approach from a cross-cultural approach. Voluntas, 11(1), 45-65.
15.
Handy, F., & Srinivasan, N. (2003). Aview from the top: How hospital CEOs perceive volunteer resources. Unpublished manuscript, York University, Toronto, Canada.
16.
Independent Sector. (2001). The new nonprofit almanac in brief: Facts and figures on the Independent Sector. Washington, DC: Author.
17.
LaPerriere, B. (1998). Volunteerism in the Canadian health sector. Ottawa, Canada: Volunteer Canada.
18.
Macduff, N. (1997). Solving the hazards of unions and volunteer relations in government organizations. Journal of Volunteer Administration, 14(1), 34-39.
19.
McFarlane, S., & Roach, R. (1999). Making a difference: Volunteers and non-profit (Research Bulletin 2). Calgary, Canada: Canada West Foundation.
20.
Menchik, P., & Weisbrod, B. (1987). Volunteer labor supply. Journal of Public Economics, 32, 159-183.
21.
Montmarquette, C., & Monty, L. (1987). An empirical model of a household’s choice of activities. Journal of Applied Economics, 2, 145-158.
22.
Ontario Association for Volunteer Administrators. (2000). Impact: A discussion paper on the impact of the absence of an administrator of volunteers. Toronto, Canada: Don Mills, OAVA.
23.
Parmegiani, M. (1997). Who are Ontario volunteers. Fact Sheet #16. National Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating, NSGVPOnline. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy.
24.
Ross, D. (1994). How to estimate the economic contribution of volunteer work. Ottawa, Canada: Voluntary Action Directorate, Department of Canadian Heritage.
25.
Ross, D. P., & Shillington, E. R. (1989). A profile of the Canadian volunteer. Ottawa, Canada: National Voluntary Organizations.
26.
Sharpe, D. (1993). A portrait of Canada’s charities. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Centre of Philanthropy.
27.
Statistics Canada. (1993). Employment earnings and hours (Cat.no 72 002). Ottawa, Canada: Minister of Industry, Science, & Technology.
28.
Statistics Canada. (2000). Average weekly hours and hourly earnings of hourly-rated wage earners, (SEPH), by Standard Industrial Classification, 1960 (SIC), monthly. Retrieved August 2002 from http://cansim2.statcan.ca/
29.
Steinberg, R. (1990). Labor economics and the nonprofit sector: A literature review. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 19, 151-169.
30.
Sues, A. M., & Wilson, P. (1987). Developing a hospital’s volunteer program. Health and Social Work, 12(1), 13-20.
31.
Tuckman, H., & Chang, C. (1994). The health care volunteer. Hospital Topics, 72(2), 23-27.
32.
Vaillancourt, F. (1994). To volunteer or not: Canada, 1987. Canadian Journal of Economics, 27(4), 813-826.
33.
Van Dijk, J., & Boin, R. (1993). Volunteer labor supply in the Netherlands. De Economist, 141(3), 402-418.
34.
Wolff, N., Weisbrod, B. A., & Bird, E. J. (1993). The supply of volunteer labor: The case of hospitals. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 4(1), 23-45.
35.
Wymer, W. W., Jr. (1999). Hospital volunteers as customers: Understanding their motives, how they differ from other volunteers, and correlates of volunteer intensity. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 6(2/3), 51-76.
36.
Zahnd, L. (1997). Volunteer staff relationships in a unionized environment. Journal of Volunteer Resources Management, 6(1), 8-9.
