Voluntarism

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Voluntarism is the use of, or reliance on voluntary action to maintain an institution, carry out a policy, or achieve an end. Volunteer management specialist Susan Ellis differentiates between "voluntarism" and "volunteerism": "Voluntarism" refers to everything voluntary. In the United States this includes, for example, religion. It certainly encompasses the entire "voluntary sector," but "voluntary" in the "voluntarism" context means not mandated by law. Many voluntary sector, nonprofit agencies have a volunteer board because that is a legal requirement, but may not utilize volunteers in direct service in any way. There are subjects within "voluntarism" that have nothing to do with volunteers: things like UBIT legislation; proposal writing; compensation law.