Volume 5. Issue 4. 2025.
Editorial Preface
In the fourth and final issue of the fifth volume of the online journal Volunteering Review, the main topic of theoretical studies is the role of values and intergenerational relationships in volunteering. The first study provides a literature summary of core values and examines how these are manifested in the transfer of values between generations and in becoming a volunteer. The second theoretical study fills a gap and provides a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of volunteering in different generations – especially X and Y. Although exploring the characteristics of Generation Z is a current topic these days, the authors believe that the path to understanding the characteristics of Generation Z volunteers leads through their Generation X and Y "parents". Relatively few analyses in the Hungarian literature on volunteering deal with the professional foundation of the work of volunteer coordinators. The third theoretical study undertakes to provide a comprehensive overview of the tasks, skills, and roles of volunteer coordinators, and in this regard, the motivations, professional knowledge, and challenges of those applying to the Volunteer Coordinator Network. The topic of practical case studies in the last issue of 2025 is very rich and varied. Two case studies also deal with professional work among disadvantaged communities and children. One case study presents the implementation of a community volunteer action in a segregated area, while the other describes the role of mentoring as a preventive intervention in developing resilience and increasing social equality. The third case study provides a comprehensive picture of the cooperation between organizations relying on formal and informal volunteers in a small village in Székelyföld, and the sustainability of volunteering in local societies. Nowadays, the work of volunteers is becoming more and more specialized, so the fourth case study is particularly interesting, which introduces us to prison mission activities involving volunteers. Finally, the fifth case study provides an excellent analysis of the past twenty years of eleven organizations that implemented successful volunteer programs in 2005. We have chosen a very interesting study as the topic of the review, in which you can read about the marketing challenge of recruiting volunteers.
Schwartz's core values, intergenerational values transfer and volunteering
Zsolt Csák – Hajnalka Fényes
"Based on the research reviewed, the value background of volunteering is not exclusively altruistic: value-ambivalent motivations as well as generational differences indicate an important direction for future research."
"Dream-catcher" and professionalism – on volunteer coordinators in the light of international and Hungarian analyses
Anna Mária Bartal
"Among the main problems of volunteer coordinator work, the emphasis was on motivating and recruiting volunteers (and their techniques), on retention and methods, as well as management (leadership, strategy, time management) issues, in addition to sector-level problems and deficits."
Characteristics of Hungarian volunteers in a generational approach, or what do we know about the parents of generation Z?
Hajnalka Fényes – Anna Mária Bartal – Miklós Gyorgyovich
"New types of volunteer motivations appear not only in Generation Z, but also in Generation Y. We suggest, which further targeted research can confirm, that there may be a transfer of motivational models in this area between Generation Y "parents" and Generation Z "children."
"Together for the bus stop" – a community volunteer action in a rural segregated area
Gábor Vidák
"The study presents in detail the coordination of the volunteer program, the experiences of cooperation between participating organizations, the intercultural and intergenerational learning processes, and the challenges and solutions that emerged in the field."
Opportunities for women in prison: The reintegration program of the Hungarian Baptist Church's Prison Mission
Emőke Kereskedő
"The key to successful female reintegration is a personalized, faith- and community-based support system that begins within the prison walls."
Twenty years later – successful volunteer programs 2005 – 2025
Rita Galambos
"We found that most organizations have gone through difficult times, and several have undergone organizational transformation. A total of three organizations continue to operate as they did 20 years ago and have preserved their volunteer program."
Forms and sustainability of volunteering in Csíkszentmiklós
Botond Dániel – Nóra Erőss
"The research confirmed that local voluntary groups operating within formal and informal organizational frameworks form a strong, closely cooperating, complementary network, the sustainability of which is rooted in the functioning of a complex, non-linear spectrum of participation."
Mentoring disadvantaged students and developing resilience
Gizella Kovács – Anikó Fehérvári
"The experiences of the PTA program support that personal mentoring, as a preventive intervention, can play a key role in developing resilience and increasing social equality for disadvantaged children and their families."
