Volunteers do so for a sound reason, in the main. Although it is possible to get into volunteering for negative reasons, this is not very often the case. Volunteers feel that they are making a contribution with their life that means they have achieved something that might not be possible within the course of their working lives. It offers a social outlet for retired people, for example, who have organisational skills that would otherwise go to waste. By offering to work for nothing, volunteers can pay back into a community that may have supported them in the past.