The Economic Impact of Volunteers

Volunteers make an enormous impact on the health and well-being of communities. Consider all of the ways that volunteers make a difference in day-to-day life:

• Volunteers help to keep our neighborhoods, streets, parks, rivers, green spaces, and water clean and safe for everyone.
• Volunteers deliver critical services—from serving as volunteer firefighters or participating in search and rescue, to delivering meals to homebound seniors or homeless youth, to manning the phone lines at domestic violence and sexual assault centers.
• Volunteers tutor, teach, mentor, coach, and support young people with everything from reading to dealing with personal crises to football and soccer tourneys.
• Volunteers walk dogs, pet cats, clean cages, help with adoptions and feedings, and contribute veterinary expertise to organizations like animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitation centers.
• Volunteers educate the public on health and safety; doctors and nurses donate time and medical knowledge to free clinics and natural/civil disaster areas globally.
• Volunteers take tickets at performing arts events, lead tours at museums and historical societies, and ensure that arts and cultural festivals—from small-scale gatherings to massive multi-stage concerts—run smoothly.
• Volunteers build houses and schools, dig wells, and repair public services around the world.

Statistically speaking…

What if… 

Another way to measure the impact of volunteers is to take a look at statistics like hours served and the economic value of volunteer time.

The Value of Volunteer Time, which is updated annually, is made available by Independent Sector. The current Independent Sector rate is $23.56 per hour (2015). According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, about 62.8 million Americans, or 25.3 percent of the adult population, gave 7.9 billion hours of volunteer service worth $184 billion in 2014.

Volunteers are critical partners of and participants throughout the world. Whether actively giving their time through formal organizations, or taking part in what is sometimes called "informal volunteering" where citizens voluntarily participate in community activities or provide personal care for family, friends, neighbors, or even strangers as part of accepted cultural norms of giving and reciprocity.

Volunteers have 27% higher odds of finding a job after being out of work than non-volunteers, possibly due to developing new skills and expanding personal networks. Volunteers are almost twice as likely to donate to charity as non-volunteers. Nearly 80% of volunteers donated to charity, compared to 40 percent of non-volunteers. Overall, half of all Americans donated at least $25 to charity in 2014. Generation X had the highest volunteer rate of all age groups at 30%, but the Silent Generation (75 and older) had the highest median hours among volunteer at 100 while 1 in 5 Millennials volunteered in 2014. Over the past 13 years, Americans volunteered 104.9 billion hours, estimated to be worth $2.1 trillion. (CNCS)

Finally, here's a remarkable way of looking at the impact of volunteers. Consider if one day, all volunteers failed to show up? What would our cities, towns, state parks, hospitals, schools, places of worship, and libraries look like? What basic needs would go unmet? What opportunities to grow as a society would be lost? The fact is you likely cross paths with a volunteer at least once if not several times a day, no matter where you are in the world.

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley works to promote and support effective volunteerism and to serve as the resource and coordination center for volunteers and community partnerships. To secure volunteer opportunities call (319) 272-2087, email information@vccv.org or visit www.vccv.org.