The Pentera Blog
Fewer Volunteers Echo Declines in Giving
A decline over the past two decades in the percentage of Americans who donate to nonprofits has been shadowed by a similar—though less dramatic—decline in volunteering.
In 2020-2021, about 23% of Americans formally volunteered to assist nonprofit organizations, according to Volunteering in America: New U.S. Census Bureau, AmeriCorps Research. That’s down from the almost 29% recorded in 2003-2005.
Over roughly the same period, the percentage of Americans who donate to charity has declined from two-thirds in 2000 to just 49.6% in 2018, according to research by Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy.
Sagging rates of volunteering matter to nonprofits because past studies have shown links between volunteering and charitable giving. What’s more, research by Russell James of Texas Tech University has found volunteers who contribute more than 100 hours annually are more likely to make charitable planned gifts.
The AmeriCorps/Census Bureau research also includes state-by-state measures of volunteering. Those results showed a decline in volunteering in most U.S. states from 2017 to 2019. Those declines tended to become more significant in 2021, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
