Methods of Engaging Student Community in Volunteer Practices in Russia and the USA: Сomparative Analysis

This research paper is devoted to the communication process between Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteers in Russia and USA. Within the present environment of increasing the amount NGOs in the world it is relevant to study the development of PR technologies for NGOs. That is the fact that these organizations are forced to fight for the target audience’ attention in almost the same degree as business institutions. Despite the wide representation the topic of volunteer motivations in scientific papers, there are no any researches in the field of the process on NGOs’ communication with volunteers. This project combines the developments in social psychology on the aspect of volunteers’ motivations and the analysis of non-profit organizations’ communication with volunteers. The aim of this study is to determine the specific segments in within a volunteer group by the motivation type and explore how the key messages of NGOs’ communication correspond to these segments. On the first stage the series of expert interviews are conducted to study the current situation in the field of students’ involvement in volunteerism. The next part is the qualitative content analysis, during which we can distinguish typical NGOs’ key messages in Russia and the USA. Then the sociological survey is conducted among students of Russia and the US, which allows to determine the motivation of students and their attitude to the communication of NGOs. The results have practical significance, because on their basis it is possible to create the most accurate and relevant key messages for the target audience.