Volunteering in America: 2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life is the second annual study by the Corporation for National and Community Service that gives a detailed breakdown of America’s volunteering demographics, habits, and patterns by state and region. The 2007 report also provides the agency’s first-ever ranking of levels of civic engagement by state through a new Civic Life Index. This report is a valuable tool to help states and organizations increase volunteering towards the national goal of 75 million volunteers by the year 2010. In conjunction with the report, the Corporation has created “Resources for Retention,” a free online toolkit with resources and effective practices for volunteer retention that is available at http://www.nationalservice.gov/resources.

Volunteering in America:
2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life

To support their efforts and provide a valuable resource tool for states, the Corporation has produced a report on volunteering and civic life in the United States. The report presents data on volunteering in an easily accessible format that will be useful to people—whether experienced researchers, policy makers, or just concerned citizens—interested in learning more about volunteering in the states. Data in the report were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) within the U.S. Department of Labor. At the request of USA Freedom Corps and through the support of the Corporation, the BLS, through the U.S. Census Bureau, has included a “volunteering” supplement in its Current Population Survey (CPS) since 2002. The CPS is a state-based survey administered to approximately 60,000 households nationwide to gather information on employment among the nation’s civilian non-institutionalized population, age 16 or older. CPS data also include demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, marital status, and educational attainment.

• A Message from David Eisner, CEO
• Volunteering in America - Executive Summary (1.4 MB PDF)
• Volunteering in America - Full Report (11.7 MB PDF)
• Issue Brief:  Volunteering in America - An Overview of Corporation Research (532 KB PDF)
  
• Press Release: New Federal Report Shows Volunteering Strong in America, but 1 in 3 Volunteers Dropped Out in 2006 (4/16/2007)

National Profile

The national profile provides readers an opportunity to examine volunteering at the national level. In the profile of the Nation, we present a number of key findings on volunteering, including the numbers of volunteers and the volunteer rates for each of the past five years as well as historical trends. In addition, we present the hours and rates of the volunteer demographics, total volunteer hours, most common activities performed by volunteers, the types of organizations at which volunteer activities are performed, indicators of civic engagement, and a Civic Life Index score.

State Rankings of Volunteering and Civic Life

This section consists of rankings and key indicators of volunteering and civic life. The section’s maps and tables include state level volunteer rates, volunteering rate changes, volunteer retention rate, and an index of civic life that includes voting, working within the community, and civic infrastructure. Volunteering among key demographic groups, such as older adults, Baby Boomers, young adults and college students, is also ranked. The volunteer rankings are based on three years of data in order to increase the reliability of the estimates and ensure more accurate comparisons across states. For more information, please see the Technical Note.

• View the section (744 KB PDF)

State Profiles

The state profiles that follow provide readers an opportunity to examine volunteering and civic at the state level. In these profiles, we present a number of key findings on volunteering in the individual states, including the volunteering rates for each of the past 5 years and historical comparisons to 1974 and 1989. In addition, we present volunteer rates according to demographic characteristics, hours volunteered, common volunteer activities, they types of organizations where people volunteer in 1989 and today, and a Civic Life Index based on 12 measures of volunteering, neighborhood engagement, voting, and civic and nonprofit infrastructure. These data are presented through a series of graphics, a table, and bulleted highlights.

The Dollar Value of Volunteering

The nonprofit coalition Independent Sector estimates that the national average value for volunteering is equal to $18.77 4 an hour. Given this, in 2006, America’s volunteers performed the equivalent of more than $152 billion in service. This spreadsheet depicts the hours of volunteer service provided in each state and the District of Columbia, and the estimated value of those hours using Independent Sector’s estimate of the average value of a volunteer hour.

• View the spreadsheet table (23 KB PDF)

Issue Briefs

This brief provides highlights of the report’s findings including state volunteer rankings and noteworthy national and state-level facts and trends.

• View the Key Volunteer Statistics Issue Brief (71 KB PDF)

For the first time, the Volunteering in America report analyzed volunteer retention rates and found that nearly roughly one in three volunteers dropped out between 2005 and 2006. This brief analyzes the key findings of the 2007 report concerning volunteer retention.

• View the Volunteer Retention Issue Brief (847 KB PDF)

This brief describes the Corporation’s new Civic Life Index and gives highlights including the top ten and bottom five states for civic life.

• View the State Rankings in Civic Life Issue Brief (408 KB PDF)
• Data used for State Civic Life Index (28 KB PDF)

Technical Note

The technical note documents data sources, identify differences in the survey instrument from year to year, address issues of statistical reliability, and define terms used in the report.

• View the technical note (113 KB PDF)

Volunteering in America:
2002-2005 State Trends and Rankings

• 2002-2005 - Executive Summary (1.39 MB PDF)
• 2002-2005 - Full Report (3.07 MB PDF)