Who’s volunteering in America

Two recent studies from U.C. Berkeley and from the University of Chicago reveal volunteer trends that can help you recruit new Kiwanis members.

“Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings” is the first study to give a detailed breakdown of America’s volunteering habits and patterns by state and region.

Here’s a glance:

--Nationwide, volunteerism is on the rise, as 65.4 million (or 28.8 percent) of American adults volunteered in 2005, an increase of 6 million volunteers since 2002.

--Volunteers spend a median of 50 hours a year volunteering.

--Women volunteer at significantly higher rates than males nationwide.

--Working women (36.1 percent) volunteer more than non-working women (27.2 percent).

--Women with young children volunteer at a higher rate (39.9%) than do women without young children (29%).

--61.2 million Americans volunteered in 2006 to help others by mentoring students, restoring homes after disasters, assisting children.

--The major volunteer groups in 2006 were late teens, Baby Boomers and those older than 65.

--A significant number of teens are turning into volunteers because of school-based service programs (like Key Club).

For Kiwanis clubs, this means pay more attention to your teen members (Key Club, etc.), grow your teens into Kiwanians, and look to working women (and more so, working moms), Baby Boomers and retirees as your target groups for new membership.

The full survey, including profiles of volunteering in each region and state, is available at http://www.nationalservice.org/