Episodic Volunteering at a Religious Megaevent

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21268
• Author: Ram A. Cnaan,H. Daniel Heist,Melissa Heinlein Storti
• Published date: 01 September 2017
• Date: 01 September 2017

85

N M  L, vol. 28, no. 1, Fall 2017 © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21268

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

Episodic Volunteering at a

Religious Megaevent

POPE FRANCIS ’ S VISIT TO PHILADELPHIA

Ram A. Cnaan ,1 H. Daniel Heist , 2 Melissa Heinlein Storti 3

1 University of Pennsylvania, Kyung Hee University , 2 University of Pennsylvania , 3 Veterans Aff airs

Medical Center

In preparation for Pope Francis ’ s visit to Philadelphia and the 2015 World Meeting of

Families, organizers looked for thousands of volunteers to help carry out these events. This

is common for many one-time and episodic events, such as large sporting events (from mar-

athons to Special Olympics), arts and cultural events (such as festivals and concerts), and

fundraising events. After the pope ’ s visit, volunteers were asked to respond to a question-

naire about their experiences and the volunteer management of the event; 2,408 responded

(34.4 percent). Data on motivation, who volunteered, recruitment, training, assignment,

supervision, communication, satisfaction, and suggestions for improvement were elicited.

We focused on episodic volunteering at a religious event and on a broad spectrum of issues

pertaining to management of episodic volunteers. Our findings add to the knowledge

regarding volunteer management and also add to conceptual understanding of the distinc-

tion between ongoing and episodic volunteers.

Keywords: episodic volunteering , religion , megaevent , volunteer management

LARGE, ONE-TIME, COMMUNITY events, such as sporting, arts and cultural, religious, and

fundraising events commonly rely on masses of short-term helpers. Individuals who engage

in one-time or short-term volunteer opportunities are known as “episodic volunteers” (EVs).

Traditionally, volunteers were perceived as individuals committed to a cause or an organiza-

tion, who helped on a regular basis over a long period of time.  is notion of volunteering

refl ects the Tocquevillian perception of citizens belonging to voluntary associations to engage

in community service.  e phenomenon of episodic volunteering, also known as ad hoc or

one-time volunteering, is gaining popularity and recognition, forcing the fi elds of volun-

teer research and management to expand and adapt (Cnaan and Handy 2005 ; Corporation

for National and Community Service [CNCS] 2006 ; Fischer, Mueller, and Cooper 1991 ;

Macduff 1990 , 2005 ). Researchers are still trying to build an empirical basis for understand-

ing episodic volunteering. Our aim in this article is to examine who is most likely to engage

in large-event episodic volunteering, what aspects of the volunteering experience lead to

higher satisfaction, and how those factors predict repeat episodic volunteering.

Correspondence to: H. Daniel Heist, University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy and Practice, 3701 Locust Walk

Caster Building, Room D-20, Philadelphia, PA 19104–6243. Email: heist@sp2.upenn.edu.

Research Article

Nonprofi t Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml

86 CNAAN, HEIST, HEINLEIN STORTI

We use Pope Francis ’ s historic visit to Philadelphia and the 2015 World Meeting of Families

(WMOF), where thousands of people helped to carry out one weekend of multiple large

events. Two features distinguish this research setting. First, Getz and Page ( 2016 , 59) defined

such an occasion as a “megaevent,” one “that brings an extraordinary level of tourists, media

coverage, prestige or economic impact for the host community.” Pope visits are usually mega-

events, such as John Paul II ’ s visits to Ireland and the United States, where masses were held

for more than one million people in Dublin, New York, and Boston (Tum, Norton, and

Wright 2009 ), and Benedict XVI ’ s visit to Valencia (Gallarza et al. 2009 ). Second, and no

less important, it was a religious event. Although we hope many of the findings from this

article are generalizable, we pay close attention to the religious nature of the event and how

that may have affected the types of volunteers and their experience.

Reporting on results from a survey of thousands of EVs who participated in this religious

megaevent, we explore several dimensions of episodic volunteering. It examines how back-

ground variables and experiential factors affect volunteer satisfaction and likelihood to do

episodic volunteering again. The background factors include demographics, volunteer his-

tory, and motivations for volunteering. Experiential factors include volunteer recruitment,

training, task assignment, supervision, and appreciation. We focus on volunteer satisfaction

and the likelihood of volunteering again as a key outcome, because we know from research

on regular volunteering that there is a strong correlation between these two variables. Fur-

thermore, these outcomes are important to nonprofit managers who may need to pull off

such events again and again, and because of the broader implications to the sector as a whole.

Hyde et al. ( 2014 , 1) identified two problems with episodic volunteering: it (1) “reduces vol-

unteer availability,” and (2) “increases turnover and costs for NPOs, many of whom do not

have established programs or capacity to support episodic volunteers.” Although it may not

be possible to reverse the trend toward episodic volunteering, it may be possible to improve

the episodic volunteer experience, increasing the likelihood of repeat volunteering, and thus

attenuate some of the challenges of this form of volunteerism.

The first section summarizes what is known about EVs and the management of episodic

volunteering. Because there is much that is missing in the literature about the management

of EVs, we end this section with a set of specific research questions. This is followed by a

description of the megaevent and the management techniques used for volunteers. We then

present our research methods. This is followed by our findings along with discussion, and we

conclude with general implications and recommendations.

Episodic Volunteering

Many people today commit their services for a one-time event and do not expect to assist

beyond that event. Relatedly, volunteer managers know that the success of events often depends

on recruiting large numbers of one-time volunteers. The dynamic is different than relying on

“active members” of an organization. The volunteering may last an afternoon, a day, a weekend,

or even a month at a time, and when it is completed, the volunteers disappear. The contract

between the volunteer and organization is short-term, event specific, and usually task specific

(Hyde et al. 2014 ). This form of volunteering has increased in recent decades (CNCS 2006 ).

Yet, for as long as there have been large events, there have been episodic volunteers; academics,

however, have just recognized it as such in the past few decades. Although widely acknowledged

as a critical and growing phenomenon, empirical basis for explaining episodic volunteering is