An image problem
"Personal perceptions are a major barrier to recruiting volunteers – if someone doesn’t like the sound of volunteering, or doesn’t think they can cope with its demands, they are unlikely to go any further."
Personal perceptions are a major barrier to recruiting volunteers – if someone doesn't like the sound of volunteering, or doesn't think they can cope with its demands, they are unlikely to go any further. In a recent study, Angela Ellis of the Institute for Volunteering Research collected some vivid comments from school governors on how people's perceptions of volunteering affect recruitment to governing bodies; here is a selection.
Interviewees felt that the public has a stereotypical view of school governors as white, male, middle-class and middle-aged. They thought that many members of the local community might have some difficulty in identifying with this image:
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