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“ A volunteer is not an employee who is not paid, but an employee of an association is not quite like any other employee”! (Thierry 2012). Yet these two complementary actors who play an essential role in the performance of associations face paradoxes that generate certain tensions. This work argues that we should take into account their reactions in order to propose a form of management in keeping with these specificities. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology based on the case of the association Restos du Cœur was used. The analysis of forty stories of practices, complemented by participant observation and secondary data processing, demonstrate the nature of their perceptions. The results shed light on four paradoxes: namely, identity paradoxes, paradoxes of organizing, paradoxes of practice, and paradoxes of learning. They convey values leading to a positioning problem that may call into question the purpose of the mission. The analysis of defensive reactions gives rise to recommendations regarding the management of paradoxes. It calls for the development of “discussion spaces” in order to enable these two worlds with different perspectives to come together.