"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
(Galatians 6:10)
(Galatians 6:10)
Overview
Churches need volunteers. A recent survey of pastors by Lifeway Research (2022) found that the most common need to address is developing leaders and volunteers. People’s apathy and lack of commitment was listed as the third-highest need. It’s a good thing we are saved by faith and not by works.
One innovation that could help increase volunteer rates is “micro-volunteering.” Micro-volunteering consists of small-scale, short-duration tasks that individual volunteers can work on that, collectively, accomplish a larger project. For example, instead of having one person in charge of raising funds for a church event, multiple members could raise funds through their own networks at times and places convenient for them. This substantially reduces the amount of time required from any one person.
But research on micro-volunteering is still in the early stages. We don’t know whether including micro-volunteering opportunities alongside traditional volunteering actually increases total volunteer output. On the one hand, offering micro-volunteer opportunities may encourage new volunteers to join or current volunteers to increase their activities. On the other hand, these shorter more convenient tasks may “crowd out” longer-duration volunteering if currently engaged volunteers opt for those easier tasks in lieu of more time-intensive projects.
One innovation that could help increase volunteer rates is “micro-volunteering.” Micro-volunteering consists of small-scale, short-duration tasks that individual volunteers can work on that, collectively, accomplish a larger project. For example, instead of having one person in charge of raising funds for a church event, multiple members could raise funds through their own networks at times and places convenient for them. This substantially reduces the amount of time required from any one person.
But research on micro-volunteering is still in the early stages. We don’t know whether including micro-volunteering opportunities alongside traditional volunteering actually increases total volunteer output. On the one hand, offering micro-volunteer opportunities may encourage new volunteers to join or current volunteers to increase their activities. On the other hand, these shorter more convenient tasks may “crowd out” longer-duration volunteering if currently engaged volunteers opt for those easier tasks in lieu of more time-intensive projects.
The Experiment
We designed an experiment to test how including short micro-volunteering opportunities alongside traditional volunteer opportunities affects two key outcomes: (a) sign-up rates for traditional volunteering and (b) total volunteer hours committed.
We recruited 600 people from Prolific, an online academic research platform, to take a survey about volunteering. At the end of this survey was an opportunity to sign up for one or two volunteer research studies. We randomized whether participants saw just one volunteer opportunity (a long-duration study representing traditional volunteering) or two volunteer opportunities (a long-duration study and a short-duration study representing micro-volunteering).
For generalizability, we tested whether the specific duration of the volunteer opportunities matter by randomizing whether the long study was 30 minutes or 1 hour, and whether the short study was 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes. We also randomized the specific topic of each study, a personality survey or emotions survey, to ensure that study topic didn’t confound the results. Participants were told that the long study was a survey about either personality or emotions; the short study, when included, was listed as the opposite. No significant differences were observed for emotion vs. personality topic.
As an example, below is one version of the volunteer notice that participants could have seen. In this case, both traditional volunteering (1-hour study) and micro-volunteering (5-minute study) are offered.
We recruited 600 people from Prolific, an online academic research platform, to take a survey about volunteering. At the end of this survey was an opportunity to sign up for one or two volunteer research studies. We randomized whether participants saw just one volunteer opportunity (a long-duration study representing traditional volunteering) or two volunteer opportunities (a long-duration study and a short-duration study representing micro-volunteering).
For generalizability, we tested whether the specific duration of the volunteer opportunities matter by randomizing whether the long study was 30 minutes or 1 hour, and whether the short study was 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes. We also randomized the specific topic of each study, a personality survey or emotions survey, to ensure that study topic didn’t confound the results. Participants were told that the long study was a survey about either personality or emotions; the short study, when included, was listed as the opposite. No significant differences were observed for emotion vs. personality topic.
As an example, below is one version of the volunteer notice that participants could have seen. In this case, both traditional volunteering (1-hour study) and micro-volunteering (5-minute study) are offered.
Volunteer for Science!
If you enjoy making a difference, we may have two volunteer research studies available in the future. They're optional, but a great way to help the scientific community. The studies are surveys that can be taken anytime, anywhere.
Personality Survey: 1-hour survey about personality traits
Emotions Survey: 10-minute survey about emotions
If you'd like to participate in one or both of these studies, check the corresponding boxes below and we'll let you know if they become available.
o Yes - Survey on Personality (1 hour)
o Yes - Survey on Emotions (5 minutes)
o Both
o No thanks
If you enjoy making a difference, we may have two volunteer research studies available in the future. They're optional, but a great way to help the scientific community. The studies are surveys that can be taken anytime, anywhere.
Personality Survey: 1-hour survey about personality traits
Emotions Survey: 10-minute survey about emotions
If you'd like to participate in one or both of these studies, check the corresponding boxes below and we'll let you know if they become available.
o Yes - Survey on Personality (1 hour)
o Yes - Survey on Emotions (5 minutes)
o Both
o No thanks
Our two outcomes of interest included (a) the percentage of participants selecting “Yes” to the long study and (b) the total number of volunteer hours signed up for. In the example above, a participant selecting “Both” studies would be counted as a yes for the long study and have total volunteer hours equaling 65 minutes (1 hour + 5 minutes).
We also measured participants’ age, gender, religion (Christian vs. non-Christian, along with denomination), church attendance, and volunteering frequency for the past year to test whether the results differed based on any of these traits or behaviors.
We also measured participants’ age, gender, religion (Christian vs. non-Christian, along with denomination), church attendance, and volunteering frequency for the past year to test whether the results differed based on any of these traits or behaviors.
Results
45.2% of participants signed up for the long study and 67.4% of participants signed up for the short study when it was offered as a volunteer option. The average participant signed up for 21.5 minutes of volunteer time across all conditions.
Volunteer Sign-Ups
First, we tested whether offering the short micro-volunteering study crowded out (reduced) sign-ups for the traditional long study. It actually might, albeit slightly. A chi-square test of independence revealed that, whereas 49.3% of participants signed up for our long study when it was the only study offered, only 41.1% signed up for it when it was offered alongside the shorter micro-volunteering study (p = 0.042). However, this 8.2 percentage difference is actually fairly small and barely outside our margin of error. The graph below illustrates this small yet potential crowding-out effect.
Total Volunteer Time
More importantly, we tested whether including a micro-volunteering opportunity affects total volunteer time. Remember, it’s possible that the decrease in traditional volunteering could be made up for by a much larger increase in micro-volunteering.
In this case, sign-ups for the short micro-volunteering study did make up for some of the crowding out, but it was not enough to surpass the total volunteer time when only the long traditional volunteering study was offered. An independent samples t-test revealed an insignificant difference in volunteer time between the long study-only condition (avg. = 21.9 minutes) and the long-study + short-study condition (avg. = 21.1 minutes), (p = 0.692), as pictured below.
In this case, sign-ups for the short micro-volunteering study did make up for some of the crowding out, but it was not enough to surpass the total volunteer time when only the long traditional volunteering study was offered. An independent samples t-test revealed an insignificant difference in volunteer time between the long study-only condition (avg. = 21.9 minutes) and the long-study + short-study condition (avg. = 21.1 minutes), (p = 0.692), as pictured below.
Duration of Volunteer Opportunities
Next, we tested whether the results changed when the long study was 1 hour vs. 30 minutes, or when the short study was 1 minute vs. 5 minutes vs. 10 minutes. Overall, the results revealed that the duration of each volunteer activity may matter more than the presence or absence of a micro-volunteering option.
Starting with the long study, we found that although a 1-hour study slightly reduced volunteer sign-ups by 17.2%, an 8.5 percentage point drop from 49.5% to 41.0% (p = 0.035), it significantly increased total volunteer hours by 57.0%, from 16.7 minutes to 26.2 minutes (p < 0.001). This increase held regardless of whether the micro-volunteering option was included or excluded.
Starting with the long study, we found that although a 1-hour study slightly reduced volunteer sign-ups by 17.2%, an 8.5 percentage point drop from 49.5% to 41.0% (p = 0.035), it significantly increased total volunteer hours by 57.0%, from 16.7 minutes to 26.2 minutes (p < 0.001). This increase held regardless of whether the micro-volunteering option was included or excluded.
For the shorter micro-volunteering opportunity, the 10-minute study and the 5-minute study yielded the most volunteer time at 24.6 minutes and 22.3 minutes per person, respectively. This was significantly higher than the 1-minute study, which yielded an average of only 16.3 minutes of volunteer time per person, a 24.4% decrease relative to the 10-minute study (p = 0.019).
Demographic Differences
Next, we tested whether participant demographic traits or behaviors affected the results or exhibited a direct relationship with volunteer time. There were no direct relationships between volunteer time and gender, religion, or church attendance. Unsurprisingly, there was a significant relationship between volunteer time and participants’ volunteer activity within the past year, such that each 1-point increase on our 1-4 scale was associated with a 3.3-minute increase in total volunteer time (p = 0.002).
There was also a small positive relationship with age, such that each additional year of age was associated with 0.16 minutes more volunteer time (p = 0.036). This positive relationship between volunteer time and age was even stronger for female participants, such that we’d expect a 20-year-old man to volunteer about 19.3 minutes, but a 60-year-old woman to 33.0 minutes (p = 0.025).
Finally, there was a small but interesting interaction effect between religion and the effect of micro-volunteering on volunteer time. For non-Christians, including the short micro-volunteering study decreased total volunteer time by 18.5% or 4.3 minutes; however, for Christians, including it increased volunteer time by 17.5% or 3.5 minutes (p = 0.052). This interaction is graphically depicted below.
There was also a small positive relationship with age, such that each additional year of age was associated with 0.16 minutes more volunteer time (p = 0.036). This positive relationship between volunteer time and age was even stronger for female participants, such that we’d expect a 20-year-old man to volunteer about 19.3 minutes, but a 60-year-old woman to 33.0 minutes (p = 0.025).
Finally, there was a small but interesting interaction effect between religion and the effect of micro-volunteering on volunteer time. For non-Christians, including the short micro-volunteering study decreased total volunteer time by 18.5% or 4.3 minutes; however, for Christians, including it increased volunteer time by 17.5% or 3.5 minutes (p = 0.052). This interaction is graphically depicted below.
Again, this was a small effect and only marginally statistically significant. But it aligns with a similar finding, that being a Christian was positively associated with volunteering activity in the past year, a 0.24-point increase (17.7%) on our 1-4 volunteering scale (p = 0.002). Church attendance was also positively associated with volunteering, with each additional point increase in church attendance on a 1-6 scale being associated with a 0.24-point increase in volunteering (p < 0.001). Church attendance did not, however, interact with the main results for micro-volunteering.
Further details regarding our methodology and statistical analysis can be found here.
Conclusion
Offering short micro-volunteering opportunities alongside more traditional, longer-duration volunteer opportunities may crowd out a small number of sign-ups for longer-duration volunteering. However, it does not seem to affect total volunteer time. For Christians, there may even be a small positive effect of offering micro-volunteering opportunities on total volunteer time.
Regardless of the type of volunteering opportunity presented, longer durations seem to increase total volunteer time. Total volunteer hours increased by over 50% for the 1-hour volunteer offering relative to the 30-minute offering, and again over 50% for the 10-minute micro-volunteering opportunity relative to the 1-minute offering.
Lastly, for those looking to better identify potential volunteers, older women and people with a recent history of volunteering exhibited the highest rates of volunteer hours in our study.
Regardless of the type of volunteering opportunity presented, longer durations seem to increase total volunteer time. Total volunteer hours increased by over 50% for the 1-hour volunteer offering relative to the 30-minute offering, and again over 50% for the 10-minute micro-volunteering opportunity relative to the 1-minute offering.
Lastly, for those looking to better identify potential volunteers, older women and people with a recent history of volunteering exhibited the highest rates of volunteer hours in our study.