Voluntary or Mandatory?

mandatory, serviceSaturday, August 26th, 2006
I take the position that volunteering should not be voluntary but rather a responsibility of active citizenship. We seem to have connected the two words that according to the OED don’t have the same etimology. Voluntary comes from Latin “voluntas” meaning will and means (1)acting of your own free will (2) work done without payment. While volunteering has an aspect of both (1)and(2), it also contains language in the definition that suggests community commitment. In its earliest sense a volunteer was someone who enlisted for military service out of patriotism, commitment, and service. May people who volunteer have the same passion and commitment for their causes an organizations but the “Highlights from the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving. Volunteering, and Participanting” suggests that 55% of Canadians over 15 years don’t understand the responsibility of active participation in society by volunteering(p31). Also, a disproportionatley small segment of Canadians are responsible for a very large portion of volunteer participation ( Reed and Selbee, 2001).

Volunteer Canada released a study in July,2006 ” Volunteering and Mandatory Community Service: Choice, Incentive, Coersion, Obligation” http://www.volunteer.ca/volunteer/pdf/MCSDP_ENG.pdf that explores how madatory community service may transform how citizens connect and how we build and sustain community. The writers express some concerns regarding compulsion to serve or obligation to community and the impact this may have on the evolving definitions of volunteerism. They quote the Community Service Council of Newfoundland as stating

“Opponents of mandatory volunteering say when you take away the element of choice and make“volunteering” compulsory, you take away the very meaning of volunteering. They propose that when you no longer freely give of yourself, you are not experiencing the same level of passion and commitment that motivates the thousands of volunteers who maintain the [voluntary,community-based] sector. Their concern is that forcing young people to volunteer actually devalues the experience for all involved.”


While it is difficult to deny that coercing or obliging citizens to participate in their communities may change the experience for them, it does not lessen the service being done or the impact on society. In reality, all volunteers are motivated to serve by concern, commitment, connection or obligation. If getting students to serve 100 hours in their senior year of high school is a requirment for graduation, they will get a taste of service and if the experience is managed correctly we have the opportunity to instill a more positive motivation to serve.

If you have read this far (in this blog and the other posts) you likely have commited or are ready to commit to action that works towards a solution. Would it make any difference to you if it was called manditory or voluntary?