Congratulations to SCOOP researcher Maikel Meijeren on his new article about volunteer retention, published in Nonprofit Management & Leadership.
Written with SCOOP colleagues Naomi Ellemers and Marcel Lubbers, in “How to Keep Them Inside? Organizational and Motivational Factors That Influence Volunteer Retention for Refugee Aid Organizations,” Maikel collected data from a Dutch refugee aid organization to discover the best strategies to keep volunteers taking part. The SCOOP co-authors found that to retain volunteers, refugee organisations need to offer a professionalized work environment (with task-oriented support), where volunteers’ work is outwardly valued and appreciated (emotion-oriented support). In short, what is most often needed is giving volunteers a “pat on the back.” These are concrete tools that humanitarian organizations can use to ensure long-term volunteer commitment.
You can read Maikel, Naomi, and Marcel’s article here.
Maikel’s research has also continued to gain media attention. He was recently interviewed in the newspaper de Gelderlander in, “Bestaat onze maatschappij uit te veel ego’s of geven we nog om elkaar? ‘Mensen willen wel helpen, maar alleen tijdelijk’”. He was also featured in Radbound University’s Radboud Recharge media outlet, in “Waarom de ‘lintjesaffaire’ vrijwilligerswerk niet kan breken.”
