Designing for Higher Commitment of Volunteers in NPOs : Why and how to build a warm and inspiring volunteering experience: a immersion study of Hjärta till Hjärta

Sammanfattning

For non-profit organizations, volunteers play an important role in terms of participation and dedication to serve the organizations’ purposes and objectives. Unpaidness and flexibility are the most significant characteristics of voluntary work. Thus, a challenge for NPOs management is to increase volunteers’ commitment level. In this immersive research project, the aim is to design for a higher commitment level of volunteers in NPOs. The external collaboration is Hjärta till Hjärta, an aid NPO which runs several second hand stores. The context of the research is based on the volunteers' experience in one of the second hand stores in Linköping, Sweden. Seven semi-structured interviews and an immersive study were conducted, where volunteers’ motivation, comparison between voluntary work and professional career, trust building and needed change were indepthly investigated. The insights drew a pain point of rigid routines and mindsets from professionalism misfit the voluntary environment and a need of designing a warm and inspiring volunteer experience. Three activities were developed as possible solutions for building a warmer and more inspiring volunteering experience.