Current Research Provides Managers of Volunteers with New Recruitment Slant

“Volunteer with us and you’ll have MORE time on your hands!”  “Give us 30 minutes and get an hour in return.” Leaders of volunteers and volunteer programs may start using these types of lines to recruit new volunteers after they read the Association for Psychological Science’s July 12, 2012 press release entitled “Giving Time Can Give You Time .”  A new research study  may prove that people who spend their limited time on others -- even when they feel what the researchers call a sense of "time famine"  -- may actually increase their sense of “time affluence.”

Lead researcher and psychological scientist Cassie Mogilner of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania believes this is because giving away time boosts one's sense of personal competence and efficiency, and this in turn stretches out time in our minds. Ultimately, giving time makes people more willing to commit to future engagements despite their busy schedules.

Please read the full press release for whom you can contact to learn more. In the meantime, get those creative juices flowing because it may be time to redesign your latest volunteer recruitment campaign.

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Thanks to Maelor Himbury, Library Volunteer at the Australian Conservation Foundation, who first brought the new studies to our attention by posting a report on the OzVPM news group.