Third sector - Volunteers in Nonprofits Term Paper

Third sector - Volunteers in Nonprofits - Term Paper Example There are different types of nonprofit organizations as explained below: Charitable Organizations which include institutions like homeless shelters which provide poverty assistance, religious institutions like churches and their ancillary possessions, independent research institutions,universities,hospitals,clinics,nursing homes,treatment centers, libraries,museum,schools.These charitable institutions work for the preservation of natural resources,the promotion of social welfare,and the promotion of music, theatre and other forms of fine arts. Social Welfare organizations work for influencing the legislative and/or political processes. Social/Recreational Organizations such as fraternity and sorority organizations,sports tournament organizations,hobby clubs,garden clubs,country clubs which can all be termed as nonprofit organizations only under the condition that they follow the basic rule of net earnings distribution. However, unlike other nonprofit organizations their income is tax able. Satellite Organizations: These are certain nonprofit organizations whichare subsidiaries or auxiliaries other organizations.These may be retirement benefit funds,employee benefit funds,co-operatives or title holding companies. Membership Groups like fraternal organizations, business associations and veteran groups (Pearce, 1993). Volunteer Characteristics Volunteers are an integral part of a nonprofit industry and it plays a vital role in the working of these types of organizations. Volunteering follows the concept of giving something as input such as time without expecting or receiving any material compensation. Volunteers are a type of non-profit customers in the sense that they contribute to the workings of the organizations and expect some returns other that material compensation from the organization. Volunteers may have varying roles in the organization which include assisting fundraising projects, soliciting for funds, services like visiting the senior citizens or the s ick people, building new homes for the homeless people, participating in membership committees, guiding and mentoring youths as well as looking for the betterment of the environment and the society. Volunteer Expectations Though the volunteers do not look for material gain, they have certain expectations while working for the organization. Nonprofit organizations should therefore try as much as to support and train their volunteers. These organizations should develop management skills to recruit and retain their volunteers a swell as give proper training and development to their volunteers. If the availability of resources is low, the non-profit organization should make the work of the volunteers project based which will mean allocating hours to the volunteers according to the need of the project and not to use continuous time for one work that can be done in lesser time. These organizations should provide opportunities to their volunteers that will provide them the opportunity to l earn new things and develop new skills. For this purpose to be solved, both the organizations as well as the volunteers have to be flexible. Volunteers also expect reciprocity from the organization they are working for. As the population and their needs are changing, so is the need of the volunteer population. The society requires a wide range of services from the nonprofit organizations. So the nonprofits will have to train and educate their