A volunteer is someone who goes beyond the call of duty to help others with out expecting monetary gain. This can take on many forms, such as serving food at a soup kitchen, coaching a little league team, selling tickets for a pancake breakfast, providing pro bono work as an accountant, or mowing the lawn for a homebound neighbor. Volunteers are experimenters, activists and dreamers who put time and energy behind their beliefs.
People volunteer for many reasons and often for more than one reason.
Leaders in volunteerism, Susan Ellis and Sue Vineyard, list the following as reasons that volunteers give for their helpful behavior.