To examine the relationship between two types of motivation (altruistic and non-altruistic) and perception of the volunteer experience, 43 volunteer workers at St. Elizabeth's, a mental hospital, were surveyed. These student volunteers from Washington, D.C. area universities completed questionnaires at the beginning and end of their 10-week experience. The pretest assessed personal data, the importance of 10 motivation factors for encouraging students to volunteer, and recruitment strategies used to interest them. The posttest included evaluations of the orientation and volunteer program, motivation items from the pretest, discouragement and reasons for it, and assessment of the likelihood of future volunteering. Non-altruistic motives (e.g., useful experience for the future) were stronger than altruistic motives as indicators of positive overall evaluation, more future volunteering, less discouragement, and higher likelihood of recommending the experience to others. The most frequent and influential recruitment strategies were those that involved face-to-face contact between recruiter and prospective volunteer. Findings suggested that institutions might emphasize self-interest as well as altruism in volunteer recruitment strategies. (YLB)