Almost 29 Percent of Americans Volunteered in 2005, Government Survey Finds

The typical American volunteer is a white woman who donates her time to a religious organization as a

tutor or other position helping children, says a new government study.

The wide-ranging report, which examines national volunteering trends and breaks them down by gender, race, and location, was conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency in Washington that oversees AmeriCorps and other service programs.

A total of 65.4 million adult Americans — almost 29 percent of the population — volunteered to help charitable causes last year, according to a report on the study, which was based on annual surveys of 60,000 households.

The number of volunteers in 2005 is an increase of six million people from three years ago, when the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking such data.

The data show that since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks there has been a “slow, but steady, rising tide in civic engagement,” said David Eisner, chief executive of the agency that conducted the study. Mr. Eisner said that the number of volunteers responding to Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts is an additional sign of a growing charitable spirit.

The study found that a greater percentage of women donate their time than men, and that minorities routinely volunteer less than whites. The largest percentage of Americans — almost 35 percent — volunteer at churches, mosques, or other religious groups. Tutoring children, as well as being a mentor or overseeing youth sports, were the most common volunteer activities.

Utah Tops List

The report also found that residents of Utah were more likely to contribute time to nonprofit groups than people who live in other states or the District of Columbia. Nearly 50 percent of people in Utah volunteered at some point from 2003 to 2005. Utah volunteers also spent the largest amount of time a year — 96 hours — on average volunteering. Nationwide, the median amount of time for volunteering was 50 hours.

The state with the lowest percentage of volunteers was Nevada, with about 19 percent of its population giving time to charitable efforts.

The study’s findings will help the Corporation for National and Community Service as it seeks to increase the number of Americans who volunteer by 10 million people by 2010, said Mr. Eisner. The so-called 10-by-10 effort was announced last week at a Seattle conference on volunteerism, and will require charities to reach out to groups of people who historically do not volunteer, he said. “There are many states where it would be helpful to reach out to Latinos and African-American populations,” he said.

He also suggested that nonprofit groups take notice of what the report says about the popularity of charitable activities. For example, he said most Mississippi volunteers prefer to collect or distribute food, while in Nebraska, providing transportation to the needy was one of the highest-rated volunteer activities.

The report’s other findings include:

• The Midwest last year was the region with the largest percentage of volunteers, 33.3 percent. The western United States had 29.2 percent; the South, 27.4 percent; and the Northeast, 25.8 percent.

• Aside from Utah, the states with the largest percentage of volunteers were Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and Alaska.

• The states with the highest number of volunteer hours per year on average, after Utah, were Idaho, Arizona, Maryland, and Montana.

Mr. Eisner said the finding that most surprised him was that women who work or have children younger than 18 are more likely to volunteer than females without jobs or kids. The report “proves the truism that if you want something done, ask someone who is already busy,” he said.

The 146-page report, “Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings,” is available free from the corporation’s Web site (http://nationalservice.gov/about/volunteering/index.asp).