Statistics on Volunteering

If you Google it, there are 10 times the number of articles on “volunteer recruitment” than “volunteer retention.” With the number of volunteers declining nationally, understanding the dynamics and rates of volunteer retention for different groups of volunteers is crucial.

In this Research to Practice, reviewer Laurie Mook presents the findings of several studies that investigate predictors of volunteer retention, with a special focus on a recent study that explores how volunteers’ feeling of “community service self-efficacy” (CSSE) affects their continued volunteer engagement. This study—based on results of a volunteer program assessment survey of volunteers in three U.S. nonprofit organizations—was influenced by research on students in service-learning courses. In terms of practice, a volunteer’s feeling of CSSE can be assessed in the recruitment process, and increases or decreases in CSSE measured periodically. As Mook explains, this information can be useful for developing and refining volunteer management practices that contribute to volunteer retention.

Andrew G. Haldane, Chief Economist, Bank of England, recently stated that “whether seen from an economic or social perspective, volunteering is big business, with annual turnover well into three-figure billions.” And in his recent lecture to the Society of Business Economists in London, Haldane also pointed out that volunteering “is a well-hidden jewel, whose social worth is rarely the subject of a public valuation.”

In this special feature, e-Volunteerism presents an edited excerpt of Haldane’s lecture, which provides what Haldane describes as “a valuation, however imperfect” to help understand the social value of volunteering and exactly why this economist thinks it is so important. “If the value of volunteering remains largely out of sight, it is likely also to remain out of mind,” Haldane predicted. “The potential economic and societal benefits from volunteering then risk remaining un-tapped. Yet with a nudge, that volunteer army could swell further.”

Because Haldane is an internationally recognized economist, his presentation carries considerable influence and importance for the volunteer community. Haldane’s lecture includes a description of the fascinating volunteer service called Pro Bono Economics that he helped establish in the UK, which will be of great interest to all e-Volunteerism readers. 

 

In the last quarter century, nonprofits have increasingly been held accountable for the resources that have been entrusted to them. For some organizations, accountability mechanisms have been imposed left, right, and center, as funders and donors seek to monitor the use of the funds they provide. While a reasonable amount of accountability is beneficial all around, too much emphasis on this measure can be stifling and may indeed have exactly the opposite effect of what it intended to promote: efficient and effective use of resources.

While we generally can find information on the financial resources used by nonprofits, public disclosure of the amount and significance of volunteer contributions to those organizations is far less common. In this Research to Practice, Laurie Mook presents the findings of researchers in Australia who set out to determine just how organizations account for volunteer services. The study involved over 400 nonprofit organizations. The researchers systematically reviewed these organizations’ websites and annual reports for any disclosure of volunteer contributions, including their acknowledgement; how they supported mission and the wider community; human resources measures such as the number of volunteers and hours contributed; and policies guiding their involvement.

How well did the organizations do in discharging their accountability for their reliance on and use of volunteer contributions? Too much, too little or just right? As Mook reveals, the results are enlightening.

More and more, companies want to engage their communities through employee volunteering programs. For most businesses, this means calling a nonprofit and scheduling an activity. The nonprofits that can readily design and host successful employee volunteering events will find themselves critical and necessary assets in what has quickly become a key business strategy. Understanding why employee volunteering is important to companies is key to creating a good partnership. In this article, author Chris Jarvis provides some insights into what companies want from employee volunteering programs, and how nonprofits can position themselves as an indispensable corporate partner.

In 2004 and again in 2010, Along the Web explored the topic of volunteers in arts, heritage and culture.  In this issue, we revisit that sector to look at volunteers’ input that relates specifically to public library services. Whether funded by governments, philanthropists, donors or private subscription, libraries are universal and one of the most egalitarian of services in their reach and access. But surprisingly, the extent of involvement of volunteers in library services varies widely, from a great deal to very little at all. In this article, Arnie Wickens explores how trying to discover the real impact volunteers make on library services – beyond just the numbers of people involved, what they do, or the hours that they give – is almost impossible.

In a Research to Practice article in e-Volunteerism last year, Laurie Mook explored the Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work, a recent publication of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The manual was designed "to guide countries in generating systematic and comparable data on volunteer work via regular supplements to labour force or other household surveys." The European Commission and the European Volunteer Centre soon endorsed its findings.

Volunteer management representatives need to take another careful and critical look at what the ILO is really saying in the manual, which we aruge presents some faulty conclusions. Though most practitioners will not read this sort of academic tome, at least some of us must pay attention and speak out because government officials and funders will no doubt be guided by the Manual and its conclusions. In this Voices article, author Rob Jackson offers his personal opinions and encourages further exchange and perspectives from e-Volunteerism readers.

For nearly two decades,the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies research group has conducted comparative research on volunteer work and the nonprofit sector. This year, in conjunction with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers and an international Technical Experts Group, the Johns Hopkins Center has published a Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work. The Manual was developed “to help statistical agencies around the world track the amount, type and value of volunteer work in their countries” in a systematic, regular and comparative fashion.  Although national statistical agencies are its primary focus, the influential document also provides food for thought for measuring volunteer work at the organization level. This quarter’s Research to Practice presents highlights from this work.

This Research to Practice looks at a study of older volunteers and their volunteering profile. It is a study which uses panel data (that is, it tracks the same people over a period of time) between 1996 and 2004. The incorporation of panel data is quite useful, because so often research is a ‘snapshot’ at a specific time. This study tracks people between the ages of 55 to 65 in 1996, and then asks them about their volunteering practices every two years up to 2004. As you will see, the results tell us something about who volunteers, and something about why some people do not.