Religious faith, effort and enthusiasm: motivations to volunteer in response to holiday hunger

Abstract

The voluntary sector is playing an increasing role in responding to UK poverty, but there is a lack of attention in cultural geographies to understanding what motivates people to volunteer in this response. In particular, faith-based organisations – and therefore volunteers with religious faith – have been an active part of the voluntary sector response to poverty. However, little is known about what motivates people who have a religious faith to volunteer. Drawing on participatory and ethnographic research with a UK Christian charity working in the area of children’s holiday hunger, this article seeks to make three contributions. First, it moves beyond static notions of religious motivation which tend to characterise quantitative and more reductive qualitative approaches to volunteering in the social sciences. Secondly, it develops analysis of religious faith which foregrounds its relational, fluid and contested role in motivating people to volunteer, highlighting the importance of ongoing volunteering journeys alongside the initial motivations which led to a person starting to volunteer. Thirdly, by focusing on effort and enthusiasm the article seeks to break down the binary between faith-based and secular motivations and highlight instead the ways volunteers at the holiday hunger project experienced challenges in turning an initial motivation into action, and how ‘faith motivation’ itself is inherently relational and is co-constituted in place.

What Motivates Indonesian Students to Become COVID-19 Volunteers? A Pandemic Study

“…These conditions reflect of a previous study which explain that volunteers understood their faith as the personal relationship between themselves and God. Faith was a key motivation to volunteer in three dominant ways: faith as action and motivation to help other people, faith and politics, and faith impacting upon a person's entire life [10,15,16].…”

“…It is important to give emphasis to how volunteers with religious faith behave as volunteers, as well as attention to the organization with which they are volunteering [9]. A study conducted in the United Kingdom explain that volunteers and religion need to engage with a less static notion of motivation in volunteering and give more consideration to people's ongoing volunteering journeys rather than one-off volunteering experiences [10].…”

It’s About the Power of Little People’: the UK Community Sponsorship Scheme, a New Space for Solidarity, Civic Engagement and Activism

“…Older volunteers tend to be more religious, enjoy a good economic situation, belong to more social networks and play a role in social activities in their communities (Finkelstien, 2009). In that respect, religious faith has been considered a 'predisposition' towards volunteering which fits within an ethos framing of motivation to engage in humanitarian causes (Denning, 2021).…”

The influence of enthusiasm and personal constraints on the intention to continue volunteering in an uncertain and turbulent environment

“…An important faith-based motivation is discussed by Denning ( 2021 ) based on her participatory and ethnographic research. She explains the relationship between faith-based motivation, effort, and the enthusiasm of volunteers engaged in a project which responded to children’s holiday hunger.…”

“…She explains the relationship between faith-based motivation, effort, and the enthusiasm of volunteers engaged in a project which responded to children’s holiday hunger. When individuals are motivated by religious faith to volunteer, they think their volunteering activities as something that may cause change that brings about a better future (Denning, 2021 ). Similarly, individuals may be motivated by the need to protect their country and reflect their patriotism.…”