Nonprofit groups face significant challenges when it comes to maintaining and expanding a stable base of volunteers, says a new government study. According to the report, of the 65.4 million adult Americans who volunteered in 2005, 20.9 million — nearly one-third — did not continue to donate their time in 2006.
The report's authors say that although overall volunteerism rates remain high, thanks in large part to increased activity by baby boomers, this "dramatic cycling of people in and out of volunteering" illustrates the need for greatly improved volunteer management and recruitment practices at charities nationwide.
The extensive study, which analyzes data culled from annual surveys of approximately 60,000 households, was conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency in Washington that administers AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and other service programs.
The report provides national, regional, and state analyses of trends in volunteerism. Among the study's other findings:
As was the case last year, the report found that Utah residents were more motivated to volunteer than their counterparts in any other state, with nearly 46 percent contributing time between 2004 and 2006. And Nevada residents were once again at the opposite end of the scale, with just under 18 percent volunteering over the same time period.
When looking at geographic regions, people living in the Midwest were the likeliest to have donated their time — 32.1 percent — followed by the West, 26.8 percent; the South, 24.5 percent; and the Northeast, 24.2 percent.
And Minnesota had the highest volunteer-retention rate of any state, with 76 percent of people who volunteered in 2005 returning to serve again in 2006.
Rethinking Volunteer Jobs
Robert Grimm Jr., the Corporation for National and Community Service's director of the office of research and policy development, says that many groups provide weak support for volunteer management, underappreciate their volunteers, and don't provide appealing opportunities that entice people to return year after year.
Mr. Grimm says that charities, especially those experiencing volunteer attrition, should consider rejiggering how they engage volunteers, and that those who do so "will reap substantial rewards" in coming years.
He says that baby boomers want to use their skills, and in general are not interested in activities like cleaning parks, delivering meals, or answering phones. "One could imagine an organization where you paid people to do some of the general labor activities that you used to have volunteers do," says Mr. Grimm, "and have this group of healthy, highly educated older adults who have a lot of skills to bring improving your management's strategic planning or finances or other things consultants and staff members have traditionally been paid to do, resulting in significant cost savings."
He adds that people who volunteer are also more likely to contribute money, and that a growing attachment between volunteers and their chosen charities could result in financial windfalls for savvy nonprofit groups.
In conjunction with issuing the report, the Corporation for National and Community Service is providing a free online resource guide designed to help stanch the number of people dropping out of volunteering, including live chats with experts on volunteer recruitment and retention.
This year's report also provides statistics from 1974 and 1989, which Mr. Grimm says were recently discovered and "resurrected" in order to provide a broader historical context, including state-by-state data that shows how volunteer behavior has changed over time.
For example, in Idaho, 20 percent of volunteers in 1989 gave their time to civic, political, and professional groups such as Rotary International or the Lions Clubs; by 2006, that figure had plummeted to 6.7 percent, a trend seen across the nation. The Chronicle, January 11.
The report also includes new data designed to help gauge broader civic engagement. Researchers worked with Robert D. Putnam, the Harvard professor who wrote Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, to add questions to the survey that can measure and track 12 "social capital" indicators, including not only volunteering but also voting rates, attendance at public meetings, and the number of nonprofit groups and religious institutions per capita.
In a state-by-state comparison, Montana ranked highest on the Civic Life Index, while Nevada ranked the lowest.
Mr. Grimm says that there is a correlation between states with high volunteering rates and those that scored the highest with regard to voting in the 2006 mid-term elections and other indicators.
"When people volunteer today, they not only help solve tough problems in their communities," he says, "they also create tangible benefits that lead to healthier communities where neighbors know each other, are more engaged in government, and so on."
Meanwhile another recent survey, conducted for the McDonald's Corporation, by Kelton Research, found that 45 percent of its sample of 1,000 Americans age 18 and older say they currently volunteer to benefit charity.
Yet when asked how they prefer to spend their free time, respondents were far more apathetic, with 63 percent saying they'd rather read, watch television, visit family, or clean than volunteer during their free hours.
The survey also found that 93 percent felt it was important to promote volunteerism among young people.
The Corporation for National and Community Service report, "Volunteering in America: 2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life," is available free online at http://nationalservice.gov/about/volunteering/index.asp.