Volunteering in America

Factors that influence Volunteer Rates

As reported in Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings, the Corporation for National and Community Service (Corporation) has found that the following factors seem to influence the level of volunteering among metropolitan areas:

1. Attachment to the community
2. Commuting times
3. Socioeconomic characteristics
4. Volunteer retention , and
5. The capacity of a community's non-profit organizations

Attachment to the Community Encourages Volunteering:

Indicators, such as homeownership, the number of multiunit dwellings, and population density help determine whether residents have a long-term commitment and attachment to their communities.

There is a strong positive relationship between homeownership rates and metropolitan volunteer rates, indicating that where homeownership rates are high, volunteering is also high. In 2006, the national homeownership rate was 66.2%.

On the other hand, communities with a large percentage of multiunit housing, such as apartment buildings, are likely to attract a more transient population and likely have lower volunteer rates. At a national level, 34.2% of individuals live in multi-unit housing structures.

High population density can also reduce attachment to the community by increasing the level of anonymity among residents and making community bonding more difficult (see Sampson, et al [1999]). This too can have a negative impact on volunteer rates. The average population density for the nation is 83.8 people per square mile.

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Shorter Commutes Leave Time for Service:

Metropolitan areas with shorter commutes to work also tend to have higher volunteer rates. Nationally, the average time spent commuting to work is 25.1 minutes.

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Volunteering Rises with Education:

Education is one of the most important influences for a community's volunteering rate. Research has shown that as education levels increase, the likelihood of volunteering also rises. Across the country, 80.4% of residents have a high school diploma and 24.4% have a college degree.

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Correlation found between Poverty and Volunteering Rates:

Poverty is another socioeconomic characteristic that tends to be strongly associated with lower volunteering. However, it is difficult to determine whether high poverty rates reduce volunteer rates or whether high volunteering in a community leads to a reduction in poverty, or if both effects occur. In 2006, the national poverty rate was 12.4%.

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Volunteer Retention:

The ability of communities to keep volunteers engaged year after year (volunteer retention) is strongly related to the volunteer rate. The right types of volunteer opportunities and management of volunteers can encourage an individual to continue volunteering. On the other hand, as with paid employment, a poor fit between a volunteer and a nonprofit increases the probability that a volunteer will not be retained. For nonprofits that depend on volunteers, turnover results in the need to incur substantial additional costs associated with recruiting, orienting, and managing new volunteers. On average nationally, one out of three volunteers (64.3%) dropped out of volunteering after one year of service.

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The Capacity of a Community's Associations and Organizations Expands or Limits Volunteering Opportunities

In order to volunteer successfully there must be an infrastructure that can recruit, place, and manage prospective volunteers. Communities with fewer nonprofits per capita are likely to have lower volunteer rates. The Corporation measured the affect of small and large nonprofit organizations in relationship to the volunteer rate.

Large nonprofits as organizations with annual revenues equal to or above $25,000. In contrast, small nonprofits were defined as nonprofit organizations with annual revenues below $25,000. Examples of small nonprofits would be neighborhood civic associations or local community sports clubs.

While communities with more nonprofit organizations per capita tend to have higher volunteer rates, our research suggests that having more small nonprofit organizations in the community may have a greater impact on volunteering. In 2006, there was a national average of 1.96 large and 2.32 small nonprofit organizations per 1,000 residents.

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Find a City

See the factors that influence volunteer rates for a specific city: Please select... Akron, OH Albany, NY Albuquerque, NM Allentown, PA Asheville, NC Atlanta, GA Augusta, GA Austin, TX Bakersfield, CA Baltimore, MD Bangor, ME Baton Rouge, LA Billings, MT Birmingham, AL Boise, ID Boston, MA Boulder, CO Bridgeport, CT Buffalo, NY Burlington, VT Canton, OH Cape Coral, FL Cedar Rapids, IA Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Charlotte, NC Chattanooga, TN Chicago, IL Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Columbus, OH Dallas, TX Davenport, IA Dayton, OH Daytona Beach, FL Denver, CO Des Moines, IA Detroit, MI Dover, DE El Paso, TX Eugene, OR Fargo, ND Fayetteville, AR Fort Collins, CO Fresno, CA Grand Rapids, MI Greeley, CO Greensboro, NC Greenville, SC Harrisburg, PA Hartford, CT Honolulu, HI Houston, TX Indianapolis, IN Iowa City, IA Jackson, MS Jacksonville, FL Kansas City, MO Knoxville, TN Lafayette, LA Lakeland, FL Lancaster, PA Las Vegas, NV Lexington, KY Little Rock, AR Los Angeles, CA Louisville, KY Madison, WI Memphis, TN Miami, FL Milwaukee, WI Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Nashville, TN New Haven, CT New York City, NY Norwich, CT Ogden, UT Oklahoma City, OK Omaha, NE Orlando, FL Oxnard, CA Palm Bay, FL Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Pittsburgh, PA Portland, ME Portland, OR Poughkeepsie, NY Providence, RI Provo, UT Raleigh, NC Reno, NV Richmond, VA Riverside, CA Rochester, NY Sacramento, CA Salem, OR Salt Lake City, UT San Antonio, TX San Diego, CA San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Sarasota, FL Scranton, PA Seattle, WA Sioux Falls, SD Spokane, WA Springfield, MA St. Louis, MO Stockton, CA Syracuse, NY Tampa, FL Toledo, OH Topeka, KS Tucson, AZ Tulsa, OK Virginia Beach, VA Washington, DC Waterloo, IA Wichita, KS Worcester, MA Youngstown, OH

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See the Full List

Download an excel spreadsheet with 125 large and mid-size cities and the corresponding factors that influence volunteer rates.

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Questions?

Go to the Technical Note to find out the data source for the statistics listed above.