voluntary organizations, "these characteristics are: (a) memberships over time are

relatively stable, (b) most individuals will add and drop memberships in organizations

over time but maintain at least one continuous membership, and (c) the occurrence of

affiliation changes influence the structure and function of association" (Martinez &

McMullin, 2004, p. 114).

Influences on Volunteers

 Penner (2002) identified the organizational variables that are likely to influence a

volunteer's behavior, they are: "(1) an individual member's perceptions of and feelings

about the way he or she is treated by the organization and (2) the organization's

reputation and personnel practices" (p. 458). In a study done by DeChant (2001),

research showed that a person may be committed to an organization but the level of

commitment cannot serve as a measure for the amount of volunteer hours they will

actually perform. Volunteering in an organization provides opportunities to build

stronger ties and commitment to the organization. For those that are not active

participants, believing that they could not contribute effectively to the organization's

activities may be the reason why they do not actively participate (Martinez & McMullin,

2004).

 Eisinger (2002) states "attracting future leaders is as much about knowing what

you want as it is about knowing what members are hoping to gain, that's another

challenge inherent to attracting and engaging volunteer leaders" (p.3). Organizations

who are interested in recruiting new volunteers would benefit by identifying the things

that would motivate a certain target group to volunteer and then highlight those motives

in their recruiting appeals directed at this target group. If an organization has difficulties