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- Volunteering can make you healthier.
- College students like temporary volunteer assignments.
- Home owners boost volunteer rates.
- Volunteer rate higher now than in previous decades.
- Older volunteers can gain greater health benefits than younger volunteers.
- Mentoring is very popular among Black/African-American college students.
- Shorter commutes leave time for service.
- Teens, Baby Boomers, and older adults lead the way in volunteering.
- Volunteering early on can give you benefits down the road.
- College students love to tutor and mentor.
- Cities with more high school graduates have higher volunteer rates.
- Volunteering can make you live longer.
- Volunteering can make you happier.
- Volunteers watch about an hour less of television a day.
- Volunteers spend more time taking care of children.
- In 2007, 3.7 million volunteers caught the travel bug.
- Volunteers serve on the road to help disaster recovery.
- Volunteer retention remains a significant issue.
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Volunteering can make you healthier.
Further explanation: While it might seem obvious that good health and volunteering would reinforce each other, with those who are healthy more likely to volunteer and those who volunteer more likely to be healthy, research also shows a positive causal relationship between the two. Even when controlling for other important factors, such as socio-economic status, age, and gender, research has shown that adults who volunteer are more likely to experience health benefits when it comes to longevity, mobility, and mental health. However, the research also indicates that there is a �threshold� for health benefits �volunteers need to commit a considerable amount of time to volunteering (about one to two hours per week) for there to be a significant relationship between volunteering and good health.
The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research documents selected major findings from studies that look at the relationship between health and volunteering, with particular emphasis on those studies that seek to determine the causal relationship between the two.
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College students like temporary volunteer assignments.
Further explanation: College students� lives tend to be in more of a state of flux than most other adults. This has an impact on their volunteering habits. Compared to the general adult population, college students are more likely to be episodic volunteers, serving fewer than two weeks per year with their main service organization, or occasional volunteers, serving three to eleven weeks per year with their main service organization.
Find out more information about college student volunteers by reading College Students Helping America, the most comprehensive national report conducted on college student volunteering in the United States.
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Home owners boost volunteer rates.
Further explanation: Often when someone makes an investment in a home, they also commit to investment in the local community. This investment, however, is more than just financial-- it involves a personal commitment to cultivating a community that offers a high quality of life. Because homeowners tend to remain in a community for a longer period of time than renters, this commitment can also develop into deeper attachments to others in the community. Volunteering is an expression of this commitment and a way of making a positive contribution. Thus, it is not surprising that we should find that metropolitan areas that have a higher rate of homeownership also have higher volunteer rates.
Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings shows that there is a strong positive relationship between homeownership rates and city volunteer rates�showing that where community attachment is high as measured by homeownership, volunteering is also high. See the full report to find out what other factors influence a city's volunteer rate.
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Volunteer rate higher now than in previous decades.
Further explanation: At 26.2%, the rate of volunteering among adults in America today is higher than it has been historically. In 1989, the average volunteer rate was 20.4% and in 1974, the rate was 23.6%.
To find out more about historic trends in volunteering, read Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974 a report that tracks volunteering over a 30-year period.
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Older volunteers can gain greater health benefits than younger volunteers.
Further explanation: Volunteers ages 60 years and older are most likely to experience health benefits from their service. Some researchers hypothesize that younger volunteers may not experience the same benefits from volunteering because of the greater likelihood that their volunteering is obligatory (e.g., tied to other responsibilities, such as parenting). In contrast, the volunteer activities of older persons are more likely to be discretionary and provide them with a purposeful role in their community; for these reasons, the experience of volunteering is more likely to be beneficial to them. At the same time, younger adults are less likely to experience ill health, thereby making it difficult for studies to measure quantifiable changes to their health.
The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research documents selected major findings from studies that look at the relationship between health and volunteering, with particular emphasis on those studies that seek to determine the causal relationship between the two.
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Mentoring is very popular among Black/African-American college students.
Further explanation: In 2005, tutoring, teaching, and mentoring were the most popular activities performed by college student volunteers. Over a quarter of college student volunteers tutored or taught (26.6%), and 23.8 percent mentored. In comparison, among members of the general adult population, 21.3 percent tutored or taught, and 17.6 percent mentored youth. In fact, tutoring, teaching and mentoring are the most common volunteer activities for college students, when they are analyzed as a group. For both males and females, tutoring and teaching, followed by mentoring, were the most popular activities. The trend was similar for whites and other races. For black/African Americans, however, mentoring was the most popular volunteer activity, followed by tutoring or teaching.
Find out more information about college student volunteers by reading College Students Helping America, the most comprehensive national report conducted on college student volunteering in the United States.
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Shorter commutes leave time for service.
Further explanation: Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings shows that cities with shorter average commutes are more likely to have higher volunteering rates. Why is this? While it may be due, in part, to the fact that those who spend a considerable amount of time commuting to and from work would have less time for other activities, long commutes may also indicate that individuals spend more time isolated in their car and disconnected from both the communities in which they live and work.
See the full report to find out what other factors influence a city�s volunteer rate.
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Teens, Baby Boomers, and older adults lead the way in volunteering.
Further explanation: The rate of volunteering among older teenagers today (22.3%) is almost ten percentage points higher than it was in 1989 (13.4%) and remains higher than the rate in 1974 (20.9%). For mid-life adults today, the volunteer rate is 32.1%, which is higher than it was in 1974 (23.2%) and 1989 (22%), suggesting that Baby Boomers, are volunteering in mid-life at a higher rate than past generations. The rate of volunteering among older adults today (24.2%) is also higher than it was in 1974 (14.3%) and in 1989 (16.9%).
To find out more about historic trends in volunteering, read Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974 a report that tracks volunteering over a 30-year period.
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Volunteering early on can give you benefits down the road.
Further explanation: A number of studies demonstrate that individuals who volunteer at an earlier point in their lives experience greater functional ability and better health outcomes later in life, even when the studies control for other factors, such as socioeconomic status and previous illness (Moen et al., 1992; Lum and Lightfoot, 2005; Luoh and Herzog, 2002; Morrow-Howell et al., 2003).
The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research documents selected major findings from studies that look at the relationship between health and volunteering, with particular emphasis on those studies that seek to determine the causal relationship between the two.
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College students love to tutor and mentor.
Further explanation: In 2005, tutoring and mentoring were the most popular activities performed by college student volunteers (26.6% of students tutor or teach and 23.8% mentor). Other popular activities for college students include fundraising or selling items to raise money (23.1%); collecting, preparing, distributing, or serving food (20.5%); and engaging in general labor or supplying transportation for people (19.9%). The popularity of some volunteer activities differ by gender, with female college students being more likely to fundraise, and male college students more likely to engage in general labor or supply transportation.
Find out more information about college student volunteers by reading College Students Helping America, the most comprehensive national report conducted on college student volunteering in the United States.
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Cities with more high school graduates have higher volunteer rates.
Further explanation: Research on civic participation indicates that the process of becoming an active citizen occurs through a reinforcing cycle in which resources, community engagement, and connections to others develop throughout an individual�s life. Unfortunately, individuals who do not graduate from high school tend to lack these resources, opportunities, and connections, and are therefore less likely to enter into the cycle. Not only is this a concern on an individual level, but in fact research shows that metropolitan areas with low rates of high school graduation also tend to suffer lower rates of volunteering.
For example, approximately 87 percent of Portland, Oregon's residents over the age of 24 have graduated from high school or received their GED. Portland�s volunteer rate is also high; 35.6 percent of residents volunteer compared to only 26.2 percent of the nation. In contrast, only 75 percent of the residents of Riverside, California, have at least a high school degree; their volunteer rate is 18.2 percent.
For more information on other factors that influence volunteer rates, go to Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings.
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Volunteering can make you live longer.
Further explanation: Several studies that keep track of adults over a longer period of time have found that those individuals who volunteer at the beginning of a study tend to have lower mortality rates at the end of the study, even when taking into account such factors as physical health, age, socioeconomic status and gender. (Sabin, 1993; Rogers, 1996; Musick et al., 1999) Researchers have also found that when patients with chronic or serious illness volunteer, they receive benefits beyond what can be achieved through medical care. (Arnstein et al., 2002; Sullivan and Sullivan, 1997)
The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research documents selected major findings from studies that look at the relationship between health and volunteering, with particular emphasis on those studies that seek to determine the causal relationship between the two.
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Volunteering can make you happier.
Further explanation: Research on the relationship between volunteering and depression found that older adults who volunteer (ages 65 and older) are significantly less likely to face depression than those who do not volunteer. Researchers suggest that the impact of volunteering is likely related to positive identity formation based on service in the place of other major role identities, such as �wage-earner� and �parent,� that older adults often lose. Volunteering not only provides a social support network to alleviate stress, it also provides individuals with a sense of purpose and satisfaction with their lives.
The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research documents selected major findings from studies that look at the relationship between health and volunteering, with particular emphasis on those studies that seek to determine the causal relationship between the two.
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Volunteers watch about an hour less of television a day.
On average, recent volunteers watch approximately 15 hours of television per week, compared to approximately 21 hours for former volunteers and 23 hours for non-volunteers. These differences add up over the course of a typical year: 325 more hours of TV watching, or nearly two full weeks each year, between former volunteers and recent volunteers, and 436 more hours of TV watching for non-volunteers compared to recent volunteers.
The How Do Volunteers Find the Time?: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) research brief examines the differences of the activities of a typical day for people who have recently volunteered with organizations and people who have not. The data for the report were collected from respondents to the Current Population Survey's (CPS) Supplement on Volunteering who also filled out time diaries for the American Time Use Survey (ATUS).
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Volunteers spend more time taking care of children.
Time use data show that recent volunteers from ages 25 to 55 overall spend substantially more time caring for children than either former volunteers or non-volunteers do. In a typical day, 29 percent of recent volunteers spend time on child care, compared with 17 percent for former volunteers and 19 percent of non-volunteers. However, counting only those adults who report spending any time caring for children, former volunteers spend more time on this activity � about 738 hours per year, on average � than either non-volunteers (657 hours) or recent volunteers (673 hours).
The How Do Volunteers Find the Time?: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) research brief examines the differences of the activities of a typical day for people who have recently volunteered with organizations and people who have not. The data for the report were collected from respondents to the Current Population Survey�s (CPS) Supplement on Volunteering who also filled out time diaries for the American Time Use Survey (ATUS).
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In 2007, 3.7 million volunteers caught the travel bug.
In 2007, approximately 3.7 million volunteers provided service at least 120 miles outside of their home community. While most American adult volunteers serve within their own community, or close to home, many others travel a considerable distance to volunteer in other parts of the country. In 2007, about 6 percent of all volunteers age 16 and over (3.7 million) reported doing at least some long-distance volunteering, traveling at least 120 miles to volunteer with an organization located within the U.S., but outside their communities.
The Long-Distance Volunteering in the United States, 2007 research brief provides a detailed view of long-distance volunteers � people who travel a considerable distance (more than 120 miles) away from their homes to volunteer. Data were collected through the Current Population Survey (CPS) in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Volunteers serve on the road to help disaster recovery.
Recent research shows that volunteers traveled to serve in Gulf States affected by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. The Gulf States (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas) were still frequent destinations for long-distance volunteers in 2007. As one might expect, a lot of long-distance volunteers serve in the largest states, which tend to contain the largest cities and other tourist attractions. However, Louisiana and Mississippi, which are not large states, nonetheless attract an extraordinary number of long-distance volunteers, almost three years after the devastating hurricanes of 2005.
Where do these volunteers come from? Many long-distance volunteers live in Gulf States themselves, and many travel long distances to serve in affected areas within their home states. Volunteers living in several other states, such as Georgia, Oklahoma, Maryland, Indiana, and Kansas, are also especially likely to travel to the Gulf States to engage in long-distance volunteering.
The Long-Distance Volunteering in the United States, 2007 research brief provides a detailed view of long-distance volunteers � people who travel a considerable distance (more than 120 miles) away from their homes to volunteer. Data were collected through the Current Population Survey (CPS) in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Volunteer retention remains a significant issue.
In 2007 more than out of every three volunteers (21.7 million) stopped volunteering. 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.
The Volunteering in America Research Highlights Issue Brief provides more information on volunteer retention as well as other findings from the Volunteering in America: 2008 State and City Trends and Rankings report.