The art of retaining volunteers

Abstract

This article is part of an ongoing research project into motivation and retention of volunteers at festivals and events. The overall project is conducted in collaboration with “Muskelsvindfonden”, which is a Danish foundation that runs several large festivals in the Danish festival market. The overall research project spans from 2017 to 2020 and aims to answer questions of future motivational drivers for volunteers at festivals and events in the Danish market. The results suggest that there are three overall motivational drivers which seem to motivate the volunteers at the festivals arranged by Muskelsvindfonden: 1) Directed towards the community that one enters as a volunteer; 2) The personal gain that one achieves as a volunteer, where elements of self-realisation becomes prominent; and 3) The element of contributing to a worthy cause, namely the purpose-driven motivational factors.