Data show U.S. volunteer rates dipping

• Date: 01 February 2017
• Published date: 01 February 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30279

FEBRUARY 2017

5

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DOI: 10.1002/nba

Volunteering

Data show U.S. volunteer rates dipping

New data from the Corporation for National and

Community Service and the National Conference

on Citizenship show that volunteer rates among

American adults continue to slide, with 2015 gures

showing a decline both in raw numbers and in the

overall percentage of the population that volunteered

with a charity during the year.

The data, laid out in “Volunteering and Civic Life

in America: 2016,” shows that 62.6 million adults

volunteered through nonprot organizations in 2015,

down slightly from 62.8 million that volunteered in

2014 and a considerable drop from the 64.5 million

reported in 2012. That represents 24.9 percent of the

overall population volunteering in 2015, compared to

25.3 percent in 2014 and 26.5 percent in 2012.

In total, Americans volunteered nearly 7.8 billion

hours in 2015, worth an estimated $184 billion, based

on the Independent Sector’s estimate of the average

value of a volunteer hour. That too is a drop from the

prior year, which logged nearly 7.96 billion hours of

volunteer service for the year, also valued at roughly

$184 billion due to a lower dollar value per hour of

service, the report said.

According to the CNCS, the research shows that

Americans’ commitment to volunteering spans across

generations. Key highlights of the report include:

• Generation X leads volunteering among genera-

tions. Americans aged 35–44 had the highest volun-

teer rate (28.9 percent), followed by baby boomers

(25.7 percent), the report said.

• One in ve millennials (21.9 percent) aged 16–32

volunteered. And young adults aged 18–24 attending

college volunteer at twice the rate (25.7 percent) of

their non-college-attending peers (13.6 percent).

• Older Americans, including baby boomers and

members of the Silent Generation, tend to volun-

teer more hours, the research shows. In 2015, the

age groups with the highest median hours among

volunteers were ages 65–74 (88 hours) and those 75

and older (100 hours).

• Working mothers continue to maintain the high-

est rate of volunteering among all populations at 36

percent, the report said. The volunteer rate of parents

with children under age 18 is higher than the national

2015 American volunteerism

by the numbers

Older adults (Silent Generation and older):

• 11 million volunteers.

• 1.9 billion hours of service.

• $45.4 billion of service contributed.

• 39 median hours.

Baby boomers:

• 19.2 million volunteers.

• 2.7 billion hours of service.

• $63.7 billion of service contributed.

• 60 median hours.

Generation X:

• 19.9 million volunteers.

• 2.3 billion hours of service.

• $53.7 billion of service contributed.

• 48 median hours.

Millennials:

• 16.9 million volunteers.

• 1.6 billion hours of service.

• $38.5 billion of service contributed.

• 35 median hours.

Source: The Corporation for National and Community

Service

average at 31.3 percent.

• More than one-third of Americans (36.3 percent)

are involved in a school, civic, recreational, religious

or other organization. The data show that Americans

most frequently volunteer with religious groups (34

percent), followed closely by education or youth ser-

vice groups, and social or community groups.

Volunteers are meeting a wide range of pressing

community needs, the report shows. For example,

millions of volunteers devoted their time to working

with youth through tutoring and teaching youth (18

percent) or mentoring youth (17.5 percent); nearly

one-quarter of volunteers helped prevent hunger

(24.2 percent) by collecting, preparing and distribut-

ing food; and one in four (24 percent) participated in

fundraising activities for charitable groups involved

(See DATA on page 8)