The Power of Volunteerism

Volunteers are amazing people.

Here at the Drury University Center for Nonprofit Communication we are privileged to work with dozens of nonprofit organizations and community groups each week. Some are large operations with hundreds or thousands of employees. But the vast majority are very small operations, with only a few paid employees.

Volunteers play a critical role in helping organizations and are essential to the health and well-being of our communities. They use all their assets - time, talent, voice and money - to help build strong, vibrant families and neighborhoods.

There are great differences in the types of work nonprofit organizations perform. But nearly all have one thing in common: they rely heavily on the generosity of local men and women to volunteer their time and resources.

Some of the volunteers' work is visible - greeting visitors and giving directions at the hospital front desk. But much of what volunteers do is quiet, behind the scenes. Delivering meals to homebound seniors. Cleaning cages and walking dogs at an animal shelter. Sorting clothes and food.

Most work such as this is unknown to the general public - far from bright lights and the media. Yet this type of work helps make our communities stronger, safer, healthier, smarter, and happier.

The Drury University Center for Nonprofit Communication is conducting an exhaustive study of volunteerism. We're surveying organizations and people in Greene and Christian counties of Southwest Missouri 

We seek to learn more about the importance of volunteer work, how much organizations and the people they serve rely on volunteers, and what motivates people to donate their time and resources to a specific cause.

Our survey (web based) has been open for about 4 weeks now. We've heard from almost 900 individuals and almost 150 organizations that use volunteers. The data is impressive.

We are anxious to finalize the study and disseminate to the public. 

If you haven't taken the study yet (and live in our study region), we'd love to hear from you.

Here are the links:

Civic/Nonprofit organizations - https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GPP6TDX

Individual volunteers - https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6WMKZHC