New Research Findings
Reaching Our Goals
The Corporation is consistently releasing new research on volunteering and national service across the country. Reaching Our Goals synthesizes many of the key findings from the agency's studies so that leaders in service can quickly and easily access a wide array of research findings specifically related to each of our strategic goals. This document is regularly updated to reflect the most current data available.
Volunteering in America Data
VolunteeringinAmerica.gov is the most comprehensive look at volunteering in all 50 states and 162 cities across the country. Included in the Web site are volunteer rates, rankings, and area-specific trends as well as additional information and analysis. Some highlights from the research are as follows:
- Number of volunteers serving nationwide: 60.8 million
- National volunteer rate: 26.2%
- National total hours volunteered: 8.1 billion
- #1 region for volunteer rate: Midwest at 32.2%
- #1 state for volunteer rate: Utah at 43.9%
- #1 large city for volunteer rate: Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN at 39.3%
- #1 mid-size city for volunteer rate: Provo, UT at 63.8%
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Long-Distance Volunteering in America
In areas impacted by natural disasters, where local volunteers and nonprofit organizations are sometimes hard-hit themselves and unable to serve at full capacity, visiting volunteers are often indispensable. Since the hurricanes of 2005 devastated the Gulf area in the South, many of the over 1.1 million volunteers who have played a role in the recovery effort have been from out-of-state. In fact in 2007, about a quarter of all the volunteers serving in Mississippi were from out-of-state and traveled to serve, and the same is true for a fifth of all the volunteers serving in Louisiana.
Altogether, about six percent of all volunteers age 16 and older do at least some long-distance volunteering, serving at least 120 miles away from their home communities. These volunteers significantly bolster the capacity of communities to continue on the path to recovery and help to address many other challenges in communities nationwide.
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Time-Use Habits of Volunteers in America
Not surprisingly, volunteers and non-volunteers in general tend to spend their time in very similar ways, spending similar amounts of time in work, leisure, and other activities. However, there are some important differences, including the amount of time each of these groups spends watching television. In a typical week, volunteers spend approximately 15 hours watching television compared to 21 hours for former volunteers and 23 hours for those who have never volunteered. On average, those who have never volunteered watch 436 more hours of television than volunteers each year. Another interesting difference is that volunteers are more likely to spend their time in various activities with other people. For instance, volunteers spend about 78 percent their mealtimes, compared to about 70 percent for former volunteers and those who have never volunteered.
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Commuting time, homeownership, and other community factors influence volunteer rates.
The Corporation for National and Community Service has found that the following factors may influence the level of volunteering among metropolitan areas:
- Attachment to the community,
- Commuting times,
- Socioeconomic characteristics,
- Volunteer retention, and
- The capacity of a community's non-profit organizations
Find out More » about these factors and how they impact volunteering in metropolitan areas.
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Volunteering in America Overview
As part of its mission to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through volunteering and service, the Corporation for National and Community Service conducts research on the volunteering habits of Americans. For the previous two years the Corporation has released a report on volunteering by state, and last year for the first time the agency released a report by city.
This year state and city information are combined to create Volunteering in America: 2008 State and City Trends and Rankings, the most comprehensive collection of information on volunteering and national service in the U.S. ever assembled. For the purposes of this report, volunteers are persons age 16 and older who serve through or with an organization without pay at any point during a 12 month-period between September of one year through September of the following year. Find out more by viewing the research brief on findings from the report.