Investing in volunteering: measuring social returns of volunteer recruitment, training, and management

In this paper we analyze the costs and benefits of the investments that non-profit organizations (NPOs) make for the recruitment, training, and management of volunteers. Our main research question is whether we can apply the Social Return on Investment (SROI) to the identification and quantification of social returns in monetary terms. We believe that the “SROI of volunteering” may represent an effective instrument of internal control for NPOs for improving efficiency and sustainability. In order to verify the feasibility and appropriateness of the SROI approach, we present a case study on the Italian association Dynamo Camp, which works with children with serious illness through the organization of summer camps that offer “recreational therapy”. We believe that the presented methodology has the potential to contribute to the debate about the socio-economic impact organizations create for volunteers and for society at large.