SEPT. 12, 2005

VOLUNTEERISM
Crises highlight need for volunteer management

Americans have earned a reputation worldwide for generosity in times of tragedy. Whether it’s the South Asian tsunami, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 or the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Americans by the thousands are quick to donate money, supplies and volunteer time.

These high-profile disasters also highlight an urgent concern of the nonprofit community: the need for improved management of volunteers. Here’s why:
• The huge rush of volunteers after a crisis often doesn’t translate into effective help. FEMA helped sponsor a 2002 study “Preventing a Disaster Within the Disaster: The Effective Use and Management of Unaffiliated Volunteers.”
• Social needs are growing in America but volunteerism is not. Studies show one reason is that people don’t feel that their time and talents are used effectively when they do volunteer.
Specialized university centers, nonprofit foundations and religious organizations have all stepped up effects to improve volunteer management in hopes of inspiring more volunteerism. Less than a third of Americans did volunteer work in the previous 12 months, according to a September 2004 report http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Youth and religious communities are receiving special attention. Studies show that people who volunteer in their youth are much more likely to volunteer as an adult and that religious people are more likely to volunteer than those with no affiliation to a religious group.

Why it matters
With local, state and federal budgets tightening on many social services, more and more organizations are looking to volunteers to help them meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of society – the young, the elderly, the poor and the sick. In times of crisis, volunteers are essential to the task of caring for victims.

Angles For Reporters
• How are secular and religious groups promoting volunteerism after Katrina? How will they try to sustain those volunteer efforts?
• Survey volunteerism in your state and community. Which groups say volunteerism is lagging, and which are attracting new volunteer energy? Who is volunteering, by age, gender, ethnicity?
• How are volunteers matched with tasks, and how are they managed and trained? Do organizations have one person in charge of managing volunteers?
• What reasons do people give for volunteering, and what are its benefits? Do they place the responsibility for being effective on themselves or on the organizations they volunteer for?

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

National sources

• Pamela J. Sybert is director of the Educational Consortium for Volunteerism at the University of North Texas in Denton. The consortium's mission is to enhance professional volunteer management and to foster more effective volunteerism through university support. Contact 940-565-4717, sybert@scs.unt.edu.
• Peter J. Frumkin is director of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. The center seeks to build a more caring society through initiatives in philanthropy and volunteerism. Contact 512-232-7062.
• Marcy Fink Campos is director of the Community Service Center at American University in Washington, D.C. The center supports student volunteerism that ranges from structured one-day projects to multiyear initiatives that lead to the development of independent nonprofit organizations. Contact 202-885-7378.
• James M. Ferris is director of the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The center provides research on philanthropy, volunteerism and the nonprofit sector. Contact 213-740-0388, jferris@usc.edu.
• Dr. Harold Koenig is a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University's Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health. He recently wrote the white paper for the Department of Health and Human Services on faith-based responses to natural disasters and terrorism, and is in the process of completing a book on the topic for Templeton Press. Contact 919-681-6633, koenig@geri.duke.edu.
• The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network mobilizes millions of volunteers to help solve social problems in thousands of communities. Contact media relations director Cindy Vizza, 202-729-3238, CVizza@PointsofLight.org.
• Peter Hocking is director of the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University in Providence, R.I. The center develops programs to strengthen leadership skills and provide direct service; connect community-based work with learning; and build partnerships with local, national and international communities. Contact 401-863-2338, Peter_Hocking@brown.edu.
• Susan Lajoie Eagan is executive director of the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The center offers a program in nonprofit management and is focused on the education of nonprofit leaders and managers. Contact 216-368-0629, susan.eagan@case.edu.
• Nancy Macduff is a volunteer trainer, manager and author who publishes the online newsletter Volunteer Today. The current edition is a special issue on Hurricane Katrina and contains articles about managing volunteers. She's based in Walla Walla, Wash. Contact 509-529-0244, mba@bmi.net.
• Steve McCurley and Susan J. Ellis are the publishing editors of E-Volunteerism, a quarterly online journal that focuses on effective volunteer management. Contact McCurley in Olympia, Wash., at steve@e-volunteerism.com. Contact Ellis in Philadelphia, Pa., at susan@e-volunteerism.com.
• Robert D. Putnam wrote the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (Simon & Schuster, 2000). The book looks at several aspects of American community life, including volunteerism. Contact 617-495-1148.

Background

GENERAL STUDIES
• See volunteer statistics by gender, race and age in a September 2004 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics study.
• Read "Giving and Volunteering in the United States 2001," a portrait of volunteering habits determined by a survey of 4,000 Americans. It was done by the Independent Sector.

STATE BY STATE
• The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement issued a report analyzing youth volunteering rates by state for 2002 and 2003.
• A 2004 study looks at volunteering rates in each state using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey raw data. The study was done by the Points of Light Foundation in partnership with Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis' Center for Urban Policy and the Environment.
• See a listing of volunteer management courses in North America, including programs in 19 states.

SEPT. 11 AND DISASTER VOLUNTEERISM
• Read "Preventing a Disaster Within the Disaster: The Effective Use and Management of Unaffiliated Volunteers" a 2002 study by the Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network. It was sponsored by FEMA, Points of Light and UPS.
• "America Gives: A Survey of Americans' Generosity After Sept. 11," a 2002 survey from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, found that of the 65.6 percent who said they gave money to help victims of the attack, the average gift was about $134 and half gave small donations of $50 or less. Also, 8.3 percent said they donated time - an average of 17 hours.

YOUTH AND TEENS
• "Attitudes, Politics and Public Service: A Survey of American College Students," published in May 2004 by the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, interviewed 800 college students about their attitudes toward public and volunteer service, politics and more. Fifty-three percent said they had volunteered in their communities, a drop from 2001, when 68 percent said they did. Volunteering in community or public service, on average, ranked at the bottom of the list of students' personal goals. Students who did volunteer said it made them feel better about themselves, enhanced their understanding of public issues and increased their tolerance or changed their views on people of different racial, ethnic or religious backgrounds.
• "OMG! How Generation Y is Redefining Faith in the iPod Era" -- a survey of almost 1,400 youth ages 18 to 25 that included Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth and a mix of races and ethnicities - explored attitudes about faith, politics and volunteer service. It found a "strong and intimate" connection between religious faith and volunteerism. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed volunteered in their community in the last year, but only 14 percent did so regularly. The 2004 survey was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
• Seventy percent of teens who volunteer began doing so before age 12, according to a 2003 poll for Youth Service America. More would volunteer if opportunities were presented to them, the survey found. See news release.
• A 2002 Kennedy School of Government survey found that the "habit" of volunteerism is often instilled in high school.

OLDER AMERICANS
• Eighty-seven percent of those 45 and older had volunteered to help their community or a person in need in the last 12 months, according to "Time and Money: An In-Depth Look at 45+ Volunteers and Donors," a 2003 study by AARP.

BUSINESS
• Read "Companies That Care," a Forbes magazine article about companies that encourage volunteerism and philanthropy among their employees.
• A 2005 Deloitte & Touche poll found that 86 percent of Americans say that volunteering in their community can help them get ahead at work. Seventy-three percent of those who serve on a nonprofit's board of directors say that work can enhance leadership skills. Read a June 1, 2005, news release.

OTHER RESOURCES
• Read key findings from the report "Volunteer Management Capacity in America's Charities and Congregations: A Briefing Report."
• The UPS Foundation offers a "best practices toolbox" with reports that outline how nonprofits have effectively recruited, trained and managed volunteers.
• The library at Regis University, a Jesuit school in Denver, has a "Special Collection on Volunteerism" that includes articles and resources on volunteer management.