Bittersweet and Paradoxical

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21250
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017

353

N M  L, vol. 27, no. 3, Spring 2017 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21250

Journal sponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

Bittersweet and Paradoxical

DISASTER RESPONSE VOLUNTEERING WITH THE AMERICAN RED

CROSS

Stephanie L. Smith , 1 Celatha J. Grove 2

1 University of New Mexico , 2 Northwest Colorado Council of Governments

The American Red Cross is the most active nonprofit organization involved in disaster

planning and response in the United States. The organization deployed nearly 50,000 vol-

unteers to provide essential support to victims of some 125,000 domestic disasters, includ-

ing home fires, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, in a recent two-year period. This study

asks how American Red Cross disaster response volunteer experiences function to cultivate

satisfaction and, at the other end of the spectrum, the kind of dissatisfaction that leads

people to quit; it pays particular attention to ways in which volunteer management shapes

dissatisfaction and fatigue because of implications for volunteer retention. Paradoxically,

the Red Cross facilitates the highly satisfying act of helping victims, but volunteers feel

dissatisfied when management practices get in the way of helping. The study suggests vol-

untary organizations that rely on skilled, long-term volunteers to deliver services should

evaluate and strengthen their communication strategies, recognition practices, and support

systems for volunteers in distress.

Keywords: volunteer management , volunteer experience , volunteer satisfaction , disaster

response; emergency management

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS ( 2013a , 2013b , 2014a , 2014b ) spent approximately

US$830 million on domestic disaster services, deploying nearly 50,000 relief volunteers to

some 125,000 domestic disasters, including home and apartment fires, hurricanes, tornadoes,

wildfires, and floods, over the two fiscal years leading up to this study. The organization and

its 90 percent volunteer workforce provided more than 20 million meals, nearly 9 million

relief items, and access to nearly 3,000 shelters, in addition to connecting with a quarter mil-

lion individuals needing health and mental health services during this period (American Red

Cross 2013b , 2014b ). Skilled, long-term volunteers who provide support to survivors (such as

volunteers who deliver food, shelter, and mental health services under the American Red Cross

Correspondence to: Stephanie L. Smith, University of New Mexico, School of Public Administration, Social Sciences

Building, 3008 MSC05 3100 1, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131–0001. E-mail: slsmith@unm.edu.

We are grateful to representatives of the American Red Cross for supporting this study and to the volunteers who so graciously shared their

time and insights with us. We thank Jeff Brudney, Bin Chen, Kun Huang, and anonymous reviewers who provided valuable feedback on

various versions of this article. Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Association for Research on Nonprofi t Organizations and

Voluntary Action ’ s 44th Annual Conference and American Society for Public Administration ’ s 2016 Annual Conference.

Nonprofi t Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml

354 SMITH, GROVE

banner) are vital to emergency management, but are understudied in comparison with those

who provide immediate life-saving support services (such as firefighters and paramedics). There

has been little systematic investigation into how disaster-support volunteers ’ experiences func-

tion to cultivate satisfaction and, at the other end of the spectrum, the kind of dissatisfaction

and fatigue (a stop-off on the path to burnout) that lead volunteers to quit.

We investigate these phenomena among skilled, long-term volunteers with the American

Red Cross, the most active nonprofit organization involved in disaster planning and response

in the United States (Brudney and Gazley 2009 ; Waugh and Streib 2006 ). We interviewed

nearly half of the volunteer disaster responders ( N = 16) in one state in the Southwest and

Rocky Mountain Region of the American Red Cross in late 2014. We asked participants to

identify factors contributing to satisfaction and dissatisfaction related to their Red Cross vol-

unteer experiences. We also asked about sources of fatigue and coping strategies because these

condition the experiences of volunteers who support people in distress and have received

relatively little attention in the literature on volunteers (Hellman and House 2006 ; Jaffe et al.

2012 ; Skoglund 2006 ; Yanay and Yanay 2008 ). Our study paid particular attention to man-

agement practices as principal sources of dissatisfaction and fatigue, identifying issues vol-

untary organizations might address to enhance satisfaction and retention among the skilled,

long-term volunteers who are so critical to them.

We find tensions and paradoxes between the most- and least-satisfying aspects of disaster

response volunteering, with volunteer management practices playing a significant role in con-

ditioning satisfaction. For instance, the Red Cross facilitates the highly satisfying act of help-

ing disaster victims, but volunteers feel dissatisfied when management practices get in the

way of helping. And, volunteers cope with fatigue by relying upon informal strategies; they

suggest the Red Cross needs to develop more robust systems to prevent and alleviate fatigue.

Our study shows the Red Cross is vulnerable to losing volunteers to dissatisfaction and

fatigue. Several sources of dissatisfaction and fatigue might readily be addressed, however.

Voluntary organizations should evaluate and strengthen communication strategies, recogni-

tion practices, and support systems for volunteers in distress. Doing so is likely to increase

satisfaction and retention among disaster response and other skilled, long-term volunteer

groups who work under stressful conditions.

Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Fatigue among

Disaster Response Volunteers

Satisfaction refers to the pleasure derived from fulfilling one ’ s wishes, expectations, or needs and

is related to intentions to continue volunteering (Clary et al. 1998 ; Hellman and House 2006 ).

Galindo-Kuhn and Guzley ( 2002 ) observed that there is a tendency to assume volunteers are

satisfied. Thus factors that might detract from satisfaction are often downplayed. We drew

upon scholarship on satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and fatigue to inform our study of long-term

volunteers who widely experience these related conditions.

Satisfaction

As among paid employees, satisfaction among volunteers is widely understood to have bases

in personal motivations (Clary et al. 1998 ; Dwyer et al. 2013 ; Herzberg 1968 ; Omoto and

Snyder 1995 ; Stukas et al. 2009 ). Motivations prompt volunteers to undertake activities that