Humans are social beings. Reciprocity and mutuality are innate characteristics of our collective culture. These are traits that we can use to build an equitable society or traits that can be used by nefarious actors to manipulate us. Using the principles of sociocracy to build an enduring culture of volunteerism from the ground up, is the most effective way for a community to achieve their collective goals — and the most effective way to silence outside influence.
Although volunteerism may often be viewed as a selfless act, it is more of an act of love. Love of people, love of a sport, love of nature, love of an animal species … fundamentally, it is the love of the community one lives in. And, furthermore, although volunteerism may be seen as altruistic when viewed through the lens of narcissistic capitalism or its evil twin, catabolic capitalism, volunteerism is ultimately the self-fulfilment of our innate community spirit.
Volunteers get a lot out of volunteering. I would posit that they get more our than what they put in. So, in effect, volunteerism is positively addictive when one balances volunteering with self-love. This is key. Interestingly, a culture of volunteerism is an anathema for people with narcissistic & sociopathic traits — they may only volunteer because others are. Probably why you don’t find many high net worth individuals volunteering — they may profess to be too busy but …
I repeat, a balance between volunteerism and self-love is of paramount importance to the volunteer, the organisation and the community. A balance ensures that volunteers build their own lives while they build community. In the context of this article, community can be defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common — a shared: place, objectives, identity, practice, circumstance, etc.
The profound impact volunteerism has on people and communities is often underestimated because no money is paid out for a volunteer’s time — it is thus difficult to measure in economic terms. Furthermore, local volunteerism trickles-up and empowers society as a whole — even with the smallest tasks completed at the volunteer’s discretion. The tenet here is that many small tasks completed by many independent volunteers, seamlessly ends up being equivalent to a major project.
A volunteer model that is bottom up and distributed, encourages individual and small group volunteerism that is not dependent on tiered leadership. Using sociocracy to collectively lead projects, further devolves the role of traditional management styles. Even though it aggregates volunteer activities, the RESCUE.exchange platform decentralises volunteerism because it supports a diverse network of localised projects.
Supporting a diverse network of localised projects is crucial for community building. It allows for individualism and free choice within the umbrella of collective responsibility. When members of a community are encouraged to take responsibility for the welfare of their own neighbourhoods, they are more likely to adopt a culture of volunteerism. Eventually, volunteerism becomes ingrained in their collective culture! A virtuous cycle emerges … and good things happen!
The biggest issue for most volunteerism based projects is being able to find enough money to pay for inputs that are not labour. The funding needs are mostly moderate, but they are not affordable for poorer communities. It is in the interest collective society that funds are raised to support the non-labour input costs of volunteer projects. The world needs many more platforms similar to the RESCUE.exchange platform to achieve this goal.
Lastly but not least, volunteering helps improve the health and wellbeing of volunteers and provides opportunities for individuals to acquire skills and knowledge that can enhance their career development and employment prospects. This is often the most undervalued part of volunteerism. Young people should be encouraged to volunteer in order to gain skills and work experience. Volunteer organisations should also provide programmes for young volunteers.
In conclusion, building an enduring culture of volunteerism from the ground up is crucial if we are to weather the broad global crisis we are already experiencing. If we are to succeed, we need to facilitate the development of multi-faceted systems that cover a diverse range of volunteer needs. To build a broad-based culture of volunteerism, the approach needs to shift from volunteers being ‘welcome helpers’ doing the dirty work to human development — ultimately, people matter!
