Hello All,
I’ll start off with the “about me” portion of this post. I assume we share the same purpose for this blog, since it was assigned for a course we are all taking. I will be blogging about my experiences as a psychology major exploring the world of nonprofits, and sharing with you what I learn throughout the term. The way I see psychology connecting to the nonprofit sector is simple: by social services and public health. Psychology is part of everyone’s daily life as are nonprofits, so, they pretty much go hand in hand. In my past I have volunteered at a shelter for women and children (and I remain interested in this population), but I have a fairly broad curiosity for all populations within mental health. I am taking this course as part of my nonprofit minor and to learn about the ever-growing nonprofit sector. I hope to learn about existing nonprofits in or related to mental health that may be good fits for me to work within, as well as how nonprofits work within our social system.
On to the reading…
I was first shocked by the vastness of the nonprofit sector. I had no idea how it was defined, or how many different nonprofit organizations exist! I guess I had just never given it much thought before. The section on volunteering in chapter one was engaging to me because it discusses the differences between formal and informal volunteering, which is primarily deciphered by whether you volunteer with an organization or do—what one of my grade school teachers called—random acts of kindness in your daily life (p. 31). The study mentioned found that around 75% of respondents informally volunteered for example in their neighborhoods, whereas only 50% actually volunteered with an organized group. In psychology the study of altruism is a popular topic because there are so many conflicting findings. One semi-famous experiment was Darley and Batson (1973) study of bystander altruism in which they tested whether people going from one place to another within a given time window would help a stranger in need. One group was given, I think it was, only 10 minutes to get to where they needed to go, while the other group was given anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. They found that people in the least “hurry” were the most likely to help (~60%) and the most hurried were the least likely (~10%). I always wonder when we are discussing altruism, if people are as accurate at gauging their altruistic behavior as they think. Surely the people in the group given the least amount of time would have helped someone if they had been given more time, right? So in our hurried and often overbooked lives I wonder if people tend to report their intentions of volunteering informally, or even formally for that matter, just by wishful thinking.
Okay, enough with my psychology rant. The first chapter overall, was a little overwhelming with all the charts and statistical information. However, this information was mostly new to me. Especially surprising was the fact that the U.S. nonprofit revenue exceeds the GDP of all but the 6 highest GDP nations in the world (p.33). Taking into account the lack of clarity in tracking how much money is truly being gifted, or otherwise made, it’s still a shocking figure. Chapter 2 was more enjoyable because the material was less foreign to me. I found that I agreed a lot with the four reasons put forth by political scientists why nonprofits have become the entity they are today (p. 46 & 47). These hypotheses seem to be true in my own experience and I think they are solid enough reasons that people can really grasp onto one or two or even all four as reasons they work for (or would like to work for) a nonprofit organization. Lastly, the section on interdisciplinary theories I thought was the best approach to finding a unified theory because it would feel wrong to leave out the contributions of one of the fields of study and include all the rest (p.50). I thought that each field brought something valid to the table, and that something could be taken away from each to find a combined definition.
Videos that are somewhat relevant:
(I'll post from youtube I think, still figuring this part out, sorry.)
These are both 10-minute videos that I was reminded of while doing the reading. I posted them in case anyone is interested. They are pretty entertaining J
Superfreakonomics, about the economic and psychological mechanisms behind altruism, and how altruistic we really can be!
21st Century Enlightenment, about what motivates us in the work place and why purpose driven organizations are more fulfilling (and attractive) to us.
I agree that there is a major difference between acts of kindness or donations and volunteering for an organization. It would be interesting to dig deeper and understand what those polled consider volunteering because I think it is important to give someone or an organization or time as well as your extra money. :) I also agree that each field in chapter two could help contribute to a unified theory though I'm not sure of the perfect equation to that theory either. It is interesting to read everyone's blogs and see what they take from that chapter especially because I think so far it directly correlates with what each person has a back ground in or what they see their own future in.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the second chapter was much more tangible than the first because I too am easily overwhelmed by charts and stats. I really liked the videos you posted and found it interesting that the first one discussed human behavior as being merely a reaction to the world around us and not separate or autonomous to the individual. It made me wonder "do we give or volunteer because we want to or because our surroundings tell us to?" His accent was really cool too!!
ReplyDeleteI love that it was pointed out that people volunteer by helping others informally. I do SO much of that an so little formal volunteering so it made me feel a little bit better. At the same time, I think if people are not informally volunteering that something is wrong with them. I hope we all do it! The study you mentioned about being in a hurry was interesting too. I think that being in a hurry can sometimes just be poor planning. I think people can stress themselves out by overbooking, booking too close, not leaving enough time to recuperate, etc. that they aren't doing any one any favors. I need to get out of a hurry so I can watch your videos! Very cool!
ReplyDeleteI think your correlation between time and volunteerism is spot on. It's been my experience that as I get busier with work and family, my drive to volunteer with my charities diminishes. On the flip side, I have been around leaders in both non-profits and for-profits that have more on their plates than most of us can imagine,yet they still dedicate a part of their life to help others. I think its a matter of priorities and discipline that drives a person to volunteer. I've also noticed that many great volunteers have come from a family where volunteering is a core value, implying that volunteering is learned behavior.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great intro post - it gave me a lot to think about! I'm excited to hear your perspective as a well-versed psychology major while the term progresses and we keep exploring the relationship between goodwill, nonprofits and money.
ReplyDeleteThe study you cited about altruism was very interesting and it made me wonder if similar results would be found for a test on who is more likely to give monetary donations between the hurried and the more relaxed. I've heard before that Portland is in the top for all cities in the country in terms of number of hours residents spend volunteering - definitely makes me think our "slower" Pacific Northwest lifestyle might have something to do with that!