Crisis of volunteerism? : the analysis of the causes of volunteers resigning from volunteering

Voluntary work is mainly described as a vital contribution to more active civil society, community engagement - broadly defined - democracy. However, the abundant literature on non-governmental organizations has paid limited attention to inconsistency of volunteerism' leadership and management provided by non-profit sector. This paper reviews recent studies on volunteerism in non-governmental organizations, as well as provides commentary on them, based on the author's research. The main research question was: What are the causes of volunteers' resigning from working in the Third Sector? The method involving semi-structured interviewing covered the total of eighteen respondents. The research aimed at showing both the perspective of volunteers and coordinators managing voluntary work in non-profit organizations, describing the environment of ten non-governmental organizations. Conducted research proved that appropriate communication between non-governmental leaders and volunteers, based on mutual understanding of needs and incentives is the key postulate for efficient management in Third Sector. Even though the research did not provide evidence of a crisis of non-governmental leadership, the analysis showed significant changes in a way of thinking about voluntary work, the inconsistence of expectations and motivations as well as conflict situations on individual and institutional level. It led to concrete conclusions and a set of recommendations for NGO coordinators and leaders.