This paper reports on an exploratory study conducted by the researchers of India Development Foundation (IDF) to understand the motivations contributing to community volunteers’ (Skill Sakhis) participation in a skilling project (Disha), in the state of Maharashtra, India. The findings point to a mix of ‘personal’ motivations, namely personal development, personal understanding, reciprocity expectation and joy of seeing others benefit, and also to 'other’ oriented motivations such as helping others, progress of the community and change in the mindset of the community coming into play as the main motivations.