Benenson & Stagg - An asset-based approach to volunteering
Benenson, J., & Stagg, A. (2016). An asset-based approach to volunteering: Exploring benefits for low-income volunteers. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 45(1_suppl), 131S–149S.
This paper is one of the rare attempts to look at the benefits of volunteering for low-income volunteers, and suggest a particular approach based on assets for measuring the benefits of volunteering. The authors argue that the dominant research characterises low-income volunteers mainly through income deficits. This narrows imaginaries of volunteering and fails to note other forces that undermine participation, apart from economic ones. So far, research has not adequately addressed the potential significance of volunteering as a mechanism for low-income individuals to improve their own lives and support their communities.
Following a detailed overview of current research on volunteering, the article focuses on the ‘volunteer gap’, between those of ‘dominant status’ and marginalised or low-income volunteers. The authors suggest the use of an asset-based approach to understand the resources, including intangible and nonfinancial, that are present within low-income volunteers and their communities. Their framework for volunteering research relies on the use of four nonfinancial assets: social capital, human capital, cultural capital, and political capital. Such a framework allows an analysis of how volunteering can act as a way for low-income individuals to support their communities, allow upward social mobility and improve their social status. However, the authors themselves warn that assets should not be viewed as fixed categories, since asset accumulation is dynamic and context specific. Therefore, future research should shed light on how assets are leveraged, accumulated, and transformed.
Benenson & Stagg “An asset-based approach to volunteering: Exploring benefits for low-income volunteers”