News York Cares
STATE OF THE WEBSITE #4
The project description edition...
* Notes on each page are intended for those who weren’t able to attend.
Meeting 2
One aspect of the Booth Ferris grant is to focus on what types of digitally displayed information motivates volunteer participation
Meeting 3
During this meeting we began to tease out possible motivations as well as talked about ways to display impact. This was productive, but it was clear that we needed more generative user research.
Research talking to our users
I conducted a two week long research initiative.
I focused on newly oriented volunteers, reasoning that their motivations might be fresh in their minds. I recruited across different types of orientations, which resulted in a nice mix of recruits. Distinct patterns emerged.
Simple questions
“I just retired in October
So I'm just looking for things to do
Some things that I could, I could occupy my time with.
For me it’s a hassle. I don't like trains.
Like I said I'm just looking for things to occupy my time”
It's just, you know, it's like starting your life all over again. Yeah.
The weather's nice and all that. But you know, that's about it.
“What brought you to New York Cares? “
This interview, my second, was with a older man in Queens who maintained a very flat affect. Towards the end of the interview….(next page)
Emotional equation
“...At this stage of my life, I think giving back is something I'd like to do. Yeah. I mean, I had a good life I think.”
...he came up with this.
All of a sudden he was holding up a rear view mirror to his whole life.
This indicated to me that the decision to volunteer might have a very high emotional component to it. More on this in a bit…..
Transactional terminology
“Give back….”
“Give back to the community….”
“I could provide value there”
“This is a win win for me”
“More achievable”
“More tractable”
“I owe something…”
“…even playing field…”
“….maximize my strength…”
“…in return…”
“.…pledge myself…”
I also noticed a wide usage of transactional language.
Quid pro quo job training
“I am currently doing a post bac degree in speech language pathology. And so I wanted to get some experience interacting with and helping, you know, some of the populations that I plan to work with a speech pathologist.’
“First, I'm looking for opportunities that I can learn [he wanted to learn about how to set up events]”
“I'm just looking around ...what is good for me what kind of job I can do? [she is unemployed and looking for training of some sort]”
“I don't know, be if I'm, you know, ever want to run for office one day, probably, like, it'll give me that leg up in that....”
“I think working with kids in schools is interesting. As someone that doesn't have kids. I am sort of thinking of in the future. [She is researching for her future]”
1. Walking through the most common themes...I am starting with some of the simplest motivators and ending with some of the more complex ones. The first theme involves job training
2. A number of participants were searching for some sort of skills acquisition
3. Training to become a parent or getting experience to run for an elected office is a different kind of skills acquisition, for sure.
Quid pro quo filling time
“I'm just looking for things to do…it's like starting your life all over again” [recent retiree]
“...But you know, things are starting to slow down a little bit more as I progress” [2 years into a new job]
“I've got a little bit of time, most of the spring and summer to do some work. So I've been trying to find the right opportunity to, to put some time into.” [switching to consultant role]
“I need something to do over the summer as well.” [student]
“I'm looking for a job..so I have a lot of time.”[recent college grad]
“This is the first time I'm kind of embarking this on my own, of wanting to do more. Because I feel I'm feeling a little like lull in my life, I guess where I'm just like, coming to work, going home.” [2 years into job]
Another theme was the need to fill a time slot.
Quid pro quo interpersonal connection
To clients and/or to other volunteers
“But it's very immaterial. I am never going to meet the people who I'm involved with that way...I was hoping for more contact with people I impact” [his job involves investing in pension funds]
“It could be just being somebody who can give advice, just somebody who can listen, somebody who could, you know, just be there as a presence.”
“Personally I'm an only child. So I constantly love to surround myself with other people.”
“I thought it was a good way to learn more about the city, connect with people”
“...get to know more people and a new environment…”
“...to meet some other like minded people…”
“Could be something to get involved with and potentially meet people”
“I don't know a lot of people here outside of my, my co workers. And so I felt like that could be something to get involved with and potentially meet people or learn about different organizations. “
A number of people spoke about a desire for connection to others. Some were specific about wanting to meet clients, others were specific about wanting to meet other volunteers, and some comments were ambiguous.
Quid pro quo pleasure
“Specifically, while monetary rewards activated the mesolimbic reward system, including the dorsal and ventral striatum and the ventral tegmental area—as would be expected of something that gives us positive reward—when people donated money to a charity, the same network showed even greater activity—and the activity spread to the subgenual area (implicated in social attachment), which had remained inactive in the pure monetary reward choices. While we may not always agree, our brains seem to suggest that the joy of being a gift giver may eclipse that of being its recipient.”
“Just kind of connect with them for the few hours...that makes me feel good”
“What do I enjoy? Like, I like plants. I like cooking. I like animals. And so I'll try to find projects that get me exposure to, to those types of activities or things.”
“It appealed to me because…I like kids.”
“It just makes me feel better about myself...you're trying to help someone, you know, achieve their dreams. And I think that's a very noble, noble thing to do.”
“I don't really like to be in the background. Like, I like to be giving away something. Like food. ,....I always like to help. I always like to, you know, to go and give people food”
1. People mentioned feeling good, or volunteering for activities that they already knew made them feel good. They also mentioned feeling good by giving, which is a complex behavior that has tinges of being a savior.
2. This feeling of pleasure from giving may be physiologically embedded in humans, in that prosocial societies may thrive more than others. (Not to indulge in too much psych-speak :)
Immediate impact immediate gratification
“Playing catch. I mean, that's so it's just so beautifully simple, but also just such a big impact on someone.... I think our guide during the orientation said something like, you know, seniors sometimes don't have any visitors…
“ ...like to go and be interacting and and giving people something and make them happy.”
“[these projects] ...were also high impact. You know, there are things that really made a difference in people's lives.”
“I feel like the career event, you know, was educational, and it was also really community binding. So that was great. And I was really happy to support that. And then in terms of getting meals to people, especially during winter, I think that can really make a difference in somebody's life.”
“...that I can like, you know, leave from a volunteer project, feeling like whether I did a whole lot, or didn't do a lot, whether .... I hope it impacts something.”
“I have a good personality, and I'm outgoing. And you know, if I can help people who you know, might have a tough life or a tough week, or tough day, or whatever it is, and just kind of connect with them for the few hours...that makes me feel good.”
“I can't say that I changed anything materially in their lives, like took them out of the nursing home or, or anything like that. Just was that in the moment? That was kind of joyous.”
Think global act local?
Other quote….
Example of unrewarding ACT prep
1. Many participants were motivated by tangible and immediate impacts of a project.
2. This volunteer described direct impact, and then said that she had not been expecting to work with seniors but that she would after a clear example of the impact during orientation
Skill matching
“I believe that, As a recent college graduate, I have ...more to offer at that area....especially like math, and computer science.”
“I have a deep computer background. So I'm looking to maybe do some of that type of volunteer with”
“...being a political science major myself, you know, I kind of live for that type of stuff. ....I feel like maybe I would be a little more useful doing something that I actually know that I can do…”
“I chose no... no need English projects. Like farming, and packaging”
“I live in a pretty heavily immigrant community, and I'm an immigrant myself.... helping people apply for citizenship....helping people practice english...It's much easier to understand and communicate with people that don't speak english well, if you're around people that speak other languages.”
“There might be an intersection of demand for need and and what I can actually do.”
“I work in HR. So I would do like the resume prep or interviewing. Those were the projects I gravitate towards, and I still do gravitate towards.”
*Bystander syndrome
1.Another clear theme was the practice of matching their own skills to the project, perhaps due to a desire to strengthen the efficacy of the volunteer opportunity.
2.This volunteer is matching her lack of fluid english with the project :)
3.Skills matching is a key component of this mental model
Skill matching worried about being effective
“Some of the projects, I feel like they might demand some kind of pre existing knowledge... (?) for martial arts projects, or Lego robot building, things like that. But they might need a bit more confidence, which maybe I wouldn't have. [ironically the participant is a doctor, thus highly skilled]”
“Starting off with things that are familiar for me, to be able to open that kind of door for volunteer work. So that way, I feel a little intimidated, sometimes, like going to something new, not knowing people.”
A variant of skill matching was the desire to be skilled enough to satisfy the needs of the project
Giving back
“I'm a big, a big supporter of giving back to the communities where we live and work”
“being able to give back to our communities... is super important for me, my team.....So for me, it's, it's education... giving back in the community that way.”
“And to do it in the place where I actually live”
“Sort of giving back what my parents and I got when we got here”
“if you have the time and you're able to ... you're doing something to give back”
“I want to go out there and give back”
“Just kind of get some experience giving back”
“He got in some trouble in Colorado. So that was part of his his pennance...giving back”
“Since it's available for me to use, why not take advantage of that, but also give back. [Her company gives paid time off for volunteer work]”
Most of the participants used this term in one way or another. In order to understand more I asked them….(next page)
Mental model of ‘other’
“People who want to give back to the community who want to maybe support others that may not have some of the benefits that they have...supporting other people”
“Yeah. I mean, I had a good life I think. And uh... it's, it's, for me, it's good. I mean, you know, doing doing stuff, try to help. A lot of people need help.”
“I really wanted to help people and sort of give back... I feel very privileged, you know, in my life.”
“concept of giving back
is to be able to provide help and care and support to people who, who could use it.”
“I mean, you know, I don't expect anything in return”
“For them to say thank you, or, like, you know, like you've really like helped us. And it just makes me feel good about myself. And it just makes me like... it makes them like feel good about their selves as well.”
...to tell me more. There was a strong sense of ‘otherness’, in that volunteers were responding to a distance between themselves and the people they were helping.
Some participants were overt in their understanding of a transaction between themselves and the clients
Pedagogy gratification, ‘other’
“So I think I'm more into activities in education.”
“So I'm looking for something where I can teach people, whether it's, you know, seniors or teenagers, just more intellectually based on opportunities”
“It can be more than just material resources. It can be teaching.”
“Its an expertise that I can help people who are trying to get back in the workforce or who who are...who have never interviewed”
“I'm pretty interested in teaching”
“so for me, it's a lot more of giving back ...educating... but also being able to... I guess,..from the food side of it, I'm always wanting to give more, give people ...educate people”
“The New York education system like all over the US, is strapped for resources. So if I could choose to put my time anywhere, that's where it would be.”
A surprising number of participants spoke of a desire to teach, which is also a form of ‘otherness’.
This was the only participant of the eighteen that I interviewed who placed a volunteer opportunity in a larger context
Guilt plus obligation
“But I feel like I owe something to any neighborhood that I live in and to my home neighbors. my own....It just does not compute to me to live in an area and completely ignore the people who lived in a community to begin with.”
“I was working on Wall Street at the time and you know, sort of really aware of the imbalance and income, and some of the excesses that people who made that kind of money, engage in...Little things like being at a buffet at a business conference where the food is just get incredibly excessive…”
A few participants addressed a direct sense of guilt. This was a muted theme.
Community exploration
“I was looking to get a bit more involved in the community…”
“I've always been interested in getting involved in the community everywhere I've been”
“Get to know the community”
“I like to see and experience different things in the city. It's one of my goals every week....I just love seeing different parts of the city. “
“So timing and location. So if it's on a work night, it's going to have to be something in Manhattan, where where I work. ....If it's on a weekend, though, I want it to be somewhere, either in a new neighborhood that I haven't like been to yet. So it's an opportunity to, like get on to explore the city…”
“Travel time is fine....it helps me get to know the city”
A clear motivator is the desire to explore the city, and this was often expressed in conjunction with the term ‘community’
Given this desire, I often heard that participants were non-flummoxed by travel time. This is the reverse of what I heard in my research among team leaders, who are often highly aware of travel time
Community New York as a whole
So what brought you to New York Cares?
50% mentioned New York City in first few sentences of the response…..
“I would say the community involves like, everyone in New York City....you're serving the people that, you know, you see on the trains. You're serving the people that you see in the supermarket.”
“Community is a little bit of everything, I think it's the people, the cultures, the, the experiences, and just kind of meshing all of that together”
“You know, we're kind of like a lot of little communities together that form one big community.”
“I'm still getting used to New York and feeling out the city. But I feel like it is a very community based society. Just by being so big each little area has a very community centered atmosphere.”
“I feel like I could go a lot of places, and I think when I volunteer but its nice to have access to, and like, deeply know what's happening here [in her own community in Queens]”
“Community means actually being around and helping in the local area”
Participants strongly felt part of the New York City community, while a few mentioned wanting a more localized experience. We perhaps do not capitalize enough on this sense of a New York City community in our messaging.
Quid pro quo transcendence
Different types of prosocial behaviors are motivated by different ways of fulfilling the need to relate to life beyond one's self
“It's doing something that
you know, it's doing something that's more than myself?... it was also not just be home, hanging out, or be at a like, you know, just a millennial like brunch or something, I want to do something more meaningful....I think we all live in a bubble.”
“And I think that's an issue was was looking to get a bit more involved in the community and outside of my industry”
“thought it would be good to supplement my real life art job with something that interacts with like people from different parts of the city and society. And is just like, that is outside of my usual bubble.”
“It's not that I get bored with work. But it's a pretty closed circuit, in terms of the community. And sometimes it feels like you're not living in the world that everybody else is living in”
There was a strong theme of rising above one’s normal behaviors and understandings.
Order of a sort...
Growth motivated
Deficiency motivated
This is a well established matrix for viewing needs. The themes revealed in my research seem to dovetail with this matrix.
Surface more + (and surface less -)
Newly oriented: Affect-rich descriptions ,
Short term impact
Vs.
Team Leaders:
Methodical,
Location important
Long term impact
New Volunteers
= Location as a datapoint
= Date
Going forward: finding ways to fulfill motivations. Consider varying project descriptions and surfacing different themes on different types of projects. (They are currently pretty homogeneous). Also, consider different criteria on team leader descriptions
Examining ways to surface short term impact of projects is highest priority for the next steps
Next Steps
Test Which Content Motivates Volunteer Signup
•Different methods for delivery of content that conveys immediate gratification to the volunteer. Methods will range from subtle cues, like photos, to pointblank statements, across a variety of types of projects.
•Test different methods for delivery of content that conveys immediate impact of the project. Methods may include photos, bulleted lists, skill definitions, categories.
•Test across a fan of 6 different project types
Still evolving the next steps of research, but here is a broad outline. I expect some findings by the 20th.
Thank you!
Appendix: Deep dive notes
Prosocial behavior is more likely to occur if the cost of helping is low (i.e. minimal time, or minimal effort), if helping would actually benefit the individual providing the help in some way, and if the rewards of providing the help are large.
However, many prosocial behaviors that appear altruistic are in fact motivated by the norm of reciprocity, which is the obligation to return a favor with a favor.
Specifically, while monetary rewards activated the mesolimibic reward system, including the dorsal and ventral striatum and the ventral tegmental area—as would be expected of something that gives us positive reward—when people donated money to a charity, the same network showed even greateractivity—and the activity spread to the subgenual area (implicated in social attachment), which had remained inactive in the pure monetary reward choices. While we may not always agree, our brains seem to suggest that the joy of being a gift's giver may eclipse that of being its recipient.
As the study authors conclude, “Generosity evolves because, at the ultimate level, it is a high-return cooperative strategy…even in the absence of any apparent potential for gain. Human generosity, far from being a thin veneer of cultural conditioning atop a Machiavellian core, may turn out to be a bedrock feature of human nature.”
Is prosociality calming to the person exhibiting the behavior? Are they perhaps fundamentally reaffirming social norms?