Week 11: Who powers it, and why do people give?

This week’s big question

Who does the work, and why do people give their time and money? We look at what volunteers do and what their time is worth, the line between volunteering and activism, and why people give, including the informal gifts that surveys of giving miss. Module 6 · builds LO4 (giving & volunteering vs your values), LO5 (volunteer-labor data) · thread: ethics/global.

Readings

Session 1 · Mon Nov 2: Volunteer-labor data activity (TBD)

We test Eliasoph’s argument on her own examples: three usual definitions of volunteering that each prove hard to apply (pp. 568–571), three Danish groups that serve the same cause in different styles, from welcoming refugees to changing the laws (p. 576), and plug-in volunteers set against long-term staff (pp. 577–578). Then we price volunteer time: volunteers × hours × Independent Sector’s value of an hour in Indiana, with hours from the AmeriCorps summary.

The case is Monroe County CASA, a Bloomington nonprofit whose Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) are trained volunteers who speak for abused and neglected children in juvenile court. In class we read from its own Basic Information page and FAQ. Discuss these questions with your neighbours and record brief notes on sheet 1:

1. The work: what do the pages say a CASA volunteer does, and who relies on it? Is it one child at a time, or changing the laws?
2. The price: the Basic Information page asks each advocate for 8 to 15 hours a month, or 96 to 180 hours a year. At Indiana’s 2025 value of $32.62 an hour (preliminary), what is that year worth? What does the price leave out?
3. Your organization: what do volunteers do at your Rail A organization, and what would a price leave out there? If it reports no volunteers, say what that tells you.

After eight minutes, we compare your answers with our reading of the case and with CASA’s 2024 Form 990. The pages you read show what the program asks and intends, not evidence that it works.

Then you price your own organization’s volunteers on sheet 2: the count on Part I, line 6 (from your A3 table’s People row if you recorded it, otherwise page 1 of the 990), an hours figure, and Indiana’s value for the filing’s tax year, set beside total expenses (Part I, line 18). A 990-EZ does not ask for a volunteer count: say so, and take total expenses from its Part I, line 17. Add what volunteers do there and what the price misses, in one or two sentences for the A4 report. A neighbour checks the line and year, the hours source, the arithmetic, and one thing the price misses, then signs. Visit still ahead? It has to happen before A4 is due on Sun Nov 15. Until then, use the website and Part III of the filing.

Both sheets are Monday’s in-class work and are collected, so photograph sheet 2 first: it feeds A4. Bring the AmeriCorps summary and your A3 table (or your organization’s 990, open to page 1).

Session 2 · Wed Nov 4: Why people give (TBD)

We work through Paxton’s three influences on giving, from what moves a donor and who asks to external forces such as tax rules (pp. 546–551), the informal gifts that surveys of giving miss (p. 544), and Osili and Han’s fewer donors giving more.

We watch the World Bank’s “Dollars Wrapped with Care” (2019, 4:03) in class: economist Dilip Ratha on remittances, the money migrants send home to their families. Treat its figures as historical. Discuss these questions with your neighbours and record brief notes on sheet 1:

1. The practice: who sends the money, to whom, and what does it pay for?
2. Paxton’s lens: which motive fits the sender, and who asks? Would a survey of giving to charities count this money?
3. Your giving: pick one gift of money or goods from you, your family, or your community, here or at home. Which motive fits, and would that survey count it? If no motive on Paxton’s list fits, name what is missing.

After eight minutes, we compare your answers with our reading of the case, check the video’s 2019 figures against the World Bank’s projection for 2024, published in December 2024, and look at a hypothetical student’s year of giving.

Then apply the same questions to your own giving on sheet 2: up to three gifts of money or goods from the past year (yours, your family’s, or one you saw in your community, here or at home). For each, note who asked, the motive and your reason, and whether the survey would count it. Circle the gift that matters most to you and say why, then answer in one sentence: what should count as giving? Write the kind of gift and recipient, not names or amounts. On the rows you choose to show, a neighbour checks who asked, a reason for each motive, and whether the survey would count it (p. 544), then signs.

Both sheets are Wednesday’s in-class work and are collected, so photograph sheet 2 first if you want to keep it. Come with one gift in mind; you choose what to share.

What’s due / prep

• Nothing is due this week. Use it to start drafting the A4 Final report (20 pts, due Sun Nov 15): next week’s Monday clinic works best on a draft, not a blank page.

Looking ahead

• Next Monday (Nov 9) is the A4 writing clinic. Bring a laptop, your A4 draft, your organization’s 990, your A3 table, your visit notes (or the filing and website if your visit is still ahead), and your photos of Monday’s sheet 2 from Weeks 6, 9, and 11. Visit still ahead? It has to happen before A4 is due on Sun Nov 15.