Would game mechanics be a good fit for a volunteer website?

Yes. Some sites are experimenting with this. See e.g. and ifwerantheworld.

Absolutely! Gamification is not just about points for redemption as discounts and real money. The SAPS model (Status, Access, Power, Stuff) works extremely well in any situation where you want your users to do something, and you use game mechanics to influence those actions.   For example, If you need volunteers for a "adopt a village" project, have a game which represents the village - and as you get folks to join the project and do things for the village (which might involve work, or donations), the village in the "game" looks better and brighter. What an awesome way to let your project team members know how they efforts are making a difference, and where more action is needed!   Milaap (http://www.milaap.org) runs a lot of cool gamifications for their projects, too, where donors/lenders are encouraged to contribute "karma dollars" for various micro finance projects.

I think this is an exciting space and there are certainly many examples of gamified goodness. Here are some examples I have come across (and show the spectrum of different approaches people take, for better or for worse): http://www.dailyfeats.com gamifies good things for you and others. Points, reward cards, donations, etc http://www.causes.com gamifies donations and certain activities https://iyouvo.com - making volunteering social. http://www.volunteermatch.org does exactly that! http://www.crowdrise.com adds a fun tone to fundraising and volunteering http://bluedotworld.com is a lot like causes but with a currency you can trade for real things http://sochange.com/

I would generally say yes, for the reasons outlined by Ryan. Game mechanics can be applied to almost anything, and have the power help or hinder. It takes an immense amount of trial and error, discipline, and testing to balance complex games which involve player vs. player activities. Even when it may not seem that players are competing directly (everyone is a winner!), there will often be an underlying competition created for whatever rewards are given out. What can we learn from this? Gaming mechanics are powerful but as with any hot fad, there are a lot of people who do not understand that they can be just as harmful as they are helpful if not implemented carefully. In a well designed implementation, those preoccupied mostly with "gaming the system" for rewards will not be detrimental to the enjoyment of those who see the rewards only as a neat side benefit of behaviors they already find intrinsically rewarding.

The real key to understanding gaming mechanics as it applies to the volunteer/social good area is the difference between a reward and incentivization.   point of focusing on status is true, because if you make the reward something financial, it's taking away from the reason they are there...because status is an ok place to make it about leaderboards and winners, but in the end the ultimate winner has to be the organization. Incentivizing tends to skew results in both advertising and promotions for social good.  If the drive to do this is more the incentive than the overall goal, it will detract from the message, and therefore the results. The best ways to do this is to make the ultimate game be about raising the most money and awareness for the cause, and making it game centered can make it far more interesting and participatory for all involved.

I believe a lot of the volunteering going on is made up of older people ie not very foursquare savvy. If after looking long and hard at the demographic of your volunteers, they are connected enough to latch on the concept, I truly think it's worth a shot.

In short, the answer is ABSOLUTELY YES.  Intrinsic rewards are every bit as powerful as extrinsic.    Credibility, Influence, Status as a volunteer, philantropist, do-gooder is even more powerful than either reward framework.  And Social recognition is the most powerful behavior modifier of all.  If you combine Game Mechanics, Reputation Mechanics, and Social Mechanics, it can fundamentally change a volunteer, social responsibility ,or corporate responsibility site / business.