Acting on Our Values: Do Social Workers Volunteer?(Report‪)‬

The notion of volunteerism as a key component of civil society has been widely accepted and is consistent with democratic principles and religious precepts (Brooks, 2002; Etzioni, 1994; Salamon, 1999). Herman and Renz (1999) proposed that knowledge building about nonprofits can be facilitated by exploring the views of various organizational stakeholders, among which a relatively understudied group are social workers themselves. The NASW Code of Ethics (2000) articulates a responsibility to contribute time and professional expertise to activities that promote the general welfare of society. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that social workers are not, compared with other professional and community groups, major contributors of volunteer time (or charitable contributions), based on the premise that giving of self on the job diminishes or negates obligations to give of oneself in a volunteer capacity. This article reports on a study that explored patterns of volunteer activity among social workers. Specific focus was on the motivation, level, and type of such activities, and the factors that influenced decisions to volunteer. The volunteer behavior of a national sample of social workers was then compared with data on giving and volunteering among the U.S. population (Boraas, 2003; Independent Sector and Urban Institute, 2004; U.S. Department of Labor, 2003).