Volunteering Rates in the U.S. – Looks like Good News

‘Tis the season for optimism. And the report on US volunteering just out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has some good news, indeed. Measuring September to September, more Americans volunteered in 2005 than in 2004. The number of volunteers topped 65 million, up about 10% since 2002. The median time people spend volunteering is 50 hours a year, with 5.2% of the volunteers saying they spend 500 hours -- the equivalent of (WOW!) 62.5 eight-hour days -- or more a year.

No question we continue to be an involved populace, as recent outpourings of energy for disaster recovery efforts after Katrina, Rita, tsunamis and earthquakes show.

But among the wealth of factoids in the report, one stands out to me as a bit problematic:

• The percentage of Americans who volunteer has been stuck for three years at 28.8%.

That’s certainly a significant amount and sounds like great news. But wait... no increase in the percentage means -- despite additional people volunteering -- numerical growth is just keeping up with total population growth. In the business world, where return on investement drives the stock price, this is like having a company's revenue increases eaten up by rising expenses so that net income remains stagnant. And that's a recipe for investors to consider selling.

With so many needs, wouldn’t it be great if the rate were going up as well as the number?

I was also surprised at the percentage of volunteers (1.5%) who said they started volunteering because they were asked by their boss or employer. As someone who has toiled in the corporate vineyard for years, witnessing what appears to be huge growth in corporate programs, that seems very low.

Of course, it may be that most volunteers who use company time and resources to support their activities would be volunteering anyway… and self report within the very high percentage who say they either approached the organization themselves (40.3%), or were asked by someone in the organization (25.9%).

And then there is the statistics for why people who had once been a volunteer no longer do so. The biggest reason at 45.6% of respondents? You guessed it: Not enough time.

And therein lies the challenge for nonprofits and companies alike: How can we create volunteer programs that reflect the reality of life’s everyday pressures and allow even the busiest person to give a gift of their time. Finding the answer to that one is one way to get the rate of volunteering moving up as well.

To all, very happy holidays.

"Happiness" a New Measure of National Health?

A provocative article in the October 4, 2005 New York Times got my attention. It seems the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, under the guidance of its king, began in 1972 to set the nation's development policy by ensuring that "... prosperity was shared across society and that it was balanced againts preserving cultural traditions, protecting the environment and maintaining a responsive government."

The well being of the citzenry has certainly been paid lip service in political campaigns the world over, but in Bhutan, this became as important as GDP growth. Easy for a small kingdom of 2.2 million people, but not applicable to larger nations? Well, perhaps that's not true. The article reports on a recent conference attended by representatives from more than a dozen countries (including Great Britain and Canada) to consder this concept, with several of them reporting on their attempts to develop new "prosperity" measures that go beyond pure economics.

Germain to the interests of this blog, Canada's first attempt at such an index, to be released later this year, will include voluntarism as one of the measures. According to Ronald Colman, a political scientist who leads the effort, there has been a 12% drop in volunteering in the last decade. Figuring out how much that should "count" is difficult, the article points out, but Dr. Colman is quoted saying: "That's a real decline in community well-being, but that loss counts for nothing in our current measure of progress." His point... maybe it should!

Can national policy really be written based on a "happiness quotient?" Tough, but by seeking a balance in often conflicting goals, it may well be the next big thing.

Companies are from Mars; nonprofits are from Venus

With more and more companies engaging their employees in workplace volunteer programs, why do so many nonprofits have trouble making connections? Could there be a communication gap? Are companies from Mars and nonprofits from Venus?

I have asked this question at two recent workshops for nonprofit directors and managers of volunteers. It first gets a laugh... but then a nod of recognition.

The two sectors are very different in many obvious ways. But one key is they have totally different return on investment (ROI) measures for their volunteer program investment. For nonprofits, the ROI is quite simple: How well are they meeting the objectives of their stated mission. For companies, helping meet nonprofit mission objectives is certainly important, but more important is the ROI from employee morale, community reputation, recruiting and retention, team building and the like. Note that none of these measures are mission specific. There are probably dozens (hundreds?) of nonprofits in any community that a company can work with to fulfill its ROI objectives.

Building an understanding of these differences is key to forming meaningful and positive partnerships across the sectors. (Click here for more on this topic.)

Welcome to my blog!

Let's get down to it. If you have gotten here, you are either a corporate or nonprofit manager of volunteers interested in community improvement... or you dropped in by mistake. If the latter, stay around. you might get the bug.

I am passionate about helping organizations improve the way they engage volunteers. I am also opinionated. Part of the purpose of blogging on this subject, in addition to posting my articles on the Web site, is to try and make people think in new ways.

There is a tremendous amount of literature out there regarding managing volunteers. Lots of it is terrific and presented by folks with years of experience. I hope to bring some fresh views... as well as connect to tried and true practical solutions. Join me. Let me know what you think. Let's be in this together.