Lots of nonprofit associations rely on volunteers to fill important leadership roles, and the effort to recruit and retain such leaders raises a pressing question: What motivates people to serve in that capacity—even in the absence of compensation or coercion? The answer to this question has profound implications for the health of civil society. “Societies that have more people who participate in voluntary organizations have stronger, better-functioning democracies,” says Matthew Baggetta,…

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Read more stories by Adrienne Day.