Who Volunteers at Refugee and Immigrant Nonprofits? Results from Two Studies

Abstract

Refugee and immigrant nonprofit organizations rely on their volunteers to carry out services that are critical for supporting their mission. The primary aim of this paper is to explore the types of volunteers who support refugee and immigrant nonprofits. We report findings from two independent, but complementary studies. Study 1 examined the individuals who formally volunteered before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at refugee and immigrant nonprofit organizations. In our analysis, we employed a logistic regression to understand to what extent volunteering at refugee and immigrant organizations is associated with demographic characteristics, religiosity, political views, and civic engagement. We compare volunteers assisting refugees and immigrants to volunteers serving other causes and all individuals who volunteer in the US. In Study 2, we aimed to know individuals volunteering for refugees and immigrants more deeply and conducted 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews with volunteers who supported Afghan evacuees between August 2021 and August 2022 through a refugee resettlement organization or a community sponsorship group. Findings from Study 1 indicate that volunteers supporting refugees and immigrants are more likely to be part-time workers, born outside of the US, are more liberal in their political views, and are more likely to be religious than volunteers who serve other organizations. Results from Study 2 show that volunteers were not new to volunteering for refugee and immigrant causes, were often motivated by personal or family experiences with migration or displacement and were affiliated with a congregation or synagogue. Volunteers showed that they went beyond traditional resettlement support that focused on providing immediate needs and were also active in political advocacy for refugees and immigrants. We conclude by providing exploratory insight into the individuals that support refugee and immigrant nonprofits and we offer practice implications relating to sustaining this unique group of volunteers.