Decline in Charity Volunteering

In a previous Wise Giving Wednesday post, we noted that 60.7 million people volunteered between September 2020 and 2021, comprising 23.2 percent of the U.S. population. As estimated by AmeriCorps, this represents 4.1 billion hours with an economic value of $122.9 billion. This total number of volunteers, however, reflected a 7 percent drop from the previous year which had a 30% volunteer rate. COVID-19 was blamed for that decrease in participation.

This week’s Chronicle of Philanthropy features a story about the continuing declining numbers of volunteers at charities, particularly Florida, where 23% of residents donated their time in 2017 that has now dropped to 16%. This drop has also been attributed to the pandemic which was particularly hard on older Americans which made up a sizable portion of those who volunteered in that state. The one exception has been Wyoming where volunteer participation increased from 33% in 2017 to almost 40% today.

The overall drop in volunteers was anticipated by charities. In March 2020, Give.org issued a Special COVID-19 Donor Trust Report that involved a survey of charitable organizations. At that time, 49.5% of charities said they were very or somewhat concerned about losing volunteers during the pandemic. In addition to this statistic on charity opinions, a separate survey of the general public revealed a declining perceived value of volunteering. When asked to identify the top three most impactful ways to make a difference with charities, 45% of the public said, “volunteering your time,” the second most popular answer in December 2018. This percentage dropped to 38%, third place, when that Donor Trust Report survey question was revisited in December 2021.

Volunteers make up a vital part of how charities achieve greater results with a small number of paid staff. Over time, charities will seek to rebuild this essential component of their operations. One lesson learned during the pandemic is the importance of maintaining communications with previous volunteers to help prepare them to transition back to participating with the charity when times improve. As donors consider their future volunteer options, we encourage them to also verify the charity’s trustworthiness by accessing the evaluative charity reports on Give.org.

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Heart of Giving Podcast

For this week’s Heart of Giving Podcast, BBB WGA shares Part II of its interview with Kateryna Zhuk, co-founder of Charity Turner, a Ukraine charity monitoring organization. She talks about the current situation in Ukraine, what charities are doing, and how we can contribute to help the people of Ukraine.

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We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• Refugees International
• Every Child Ministries
• National Down Syndrome Society

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.