Volunteers are the true foundation of many great causes. For a long time, managing a volunteer program meant focusing entirely on scheduling shifts, coordinating logistics, and tracking general attendance. However, recent volunteer statistics have demonstrated a compelling opportunity that most organizations are still overlooking: corporate volunteerism.
To help teams navigate these up-and-coming service trends, ԹϺ surveyed more than 3,000 nonprofit professionals across a wide range of organizations. The comprehensive study that resulted, a , reveals a powerful shift in modern volunteerism.
Unfortunately, thousands of nonprofits and schools still face a major communication gap. They rarely mention workplace volunteer incentives during service events or in post-shift communications, leaving useful benefits like paid volunteer time off and time-matching incentives on the table. Let’s take a closer look!
That’s around 25% of the adult population. Looking at the wider world, that number rises to over 1 billion people volunteering worldwide.
Meanwhile, just 18% of volunteers are involved with two, and only 10% volunteer with three or more charitable organizations.
Fortunately, many organizations are turning to corporate volunteer programs to !
Only 15.9% of Floridians volunteer today, down from 22.8% in 2017. In contrast, Utah has the highest percentage of its population volunteering at 51%.
This figure represents a 175% increase in engagement since 2019!
Subsequently, the average rate of corporate volunteer participation rose by more than 30%, growing from 10.4% to 13.6% over the past six years.
In other words, companies tend to see an estimated 1 in 3 employees getting involved. However, companies with fewer than 10,000 employees reported a higher-than-average participation rate of 39%, while companies with more than 50,000 employees had a decreased participation rate of 24%.
That’s more than 350 participating employers from the Fortune 500 list alone!
Comparatively, a standard (non-skills-based) volunteer hour is currently valued at an estimated $36.14.
Specifically, social volunteers give their time more frequently than others and tend to volunteer with more than one organization. For these supporters, the community your nonprofit builds is what matters the most.
82% of hiring managers say they’re more likely to choose a candidate with volunteer experience, and 85% are willing to overlook other CV flaws when it includes volunteerism.
Volunteerism represents a fantastic chance for corporate staff to engage with one another outside of a typical office setting, paving the way for improved colleague relationships.
These dedicated helpers provide immediate operational relief, enabling limited staff to handle heavy daily workflows and logistics without requiring additional organizational overhead.
Access to no-cost professional services through skills-based volunteer activities, such as marketing, IT, legal, and more, can go a long way toward elevating an organization’s operations.
The result? Volunteers are 4 times more likely to donate in a given year than non-volunteers, and they tend to give 2.4 times as much money, on average.
That means less time and resources devoted to hiring and onboarding new team members .
In other words, companies should be implementing workplace volunteer programs and marketing those initiatives to consumers. It’s a great way for a business to enhance its reputation while committing to social good!
“With more than 80% of volunteers giving back to their organization, I thought, well, that is the easiest math I’ve ever done. The more volunteers I have, the more people give back to my organization.”
Jill Anderson Consulting
Yet among businesses awarded the Civic 50 designation, 88% have established dollars-for-doers programs, and an average of 12% of employees at these companies directed volunteer grant funding annually.
Philanthropic-minded employers (such as those with leading matching gift programs) generally offer multiple opportunities for staff to make a positive social impact. If you know a company matches monetary donations, chances are good that it also matches volunteer time!
The Civic 50 companies provided, on average, $417,959 in volunteer grants, representing an estimated 3% of their total annual giving.
“A lot of our volunteers also donate. But they also often work for companies that have programs where the companies match, whether that’s through volunteer hours or corporate donations. It’s a great way for us to generate revenue without putting a whole lot of work on our staff.”
Amy Palmer, Soldiers’ Angels
This perk is growing in popularity, and an additional 21% of companies have ambitions to implement a VTO policy as early as later this year. Meanwhile, indicated that more than 74% of Civic 50 companies have a formal VTO policy, with 68% covering part-time employees.
49% of individuals state work commitments are their biggest obstacle to volunteering. Conversely, reports also show that 30% of volunteers claim one of their reasons for volunteering is that they had the time to do so.
That equates to about 2.5 full days each year! However, only an estimated 24% of employees at companies with VTO programs actually use volunteer time off in accordance with their company’s policy
When a group of nonprofit supporters was asked what would create an optimal volunteer experience, more than 2 in 3 responded with a desire for paid time off work. Meanwhile, 62% of respondents indicated that the ability to volunteer during business hours is the top factor for a positive experience.
“I’ve noticed a shift in corporate giving from financially centered conversations to volunteer engagement. People want to put aside their titles and engage with teammates as human beings.”
Courtney Otto, Women’s and Children Alliance
Because nonprofit staff cannot manually research thousands of corporate policies, the burden of identifying opportunities is often placed on the volunteer. And that leads to significant funding (that’s already set aside for these programs) going unclaimed.
Corporate volunteer grant programs are on the rise. However, nonprofits are consistently failing to capture this funding. The bottleneck? A massive gap in awareness and education.
In fact, 23.2% of nonprofits believe they aren’t maximizing revenue because their supporters aren’t aware of corporate volunteer grants.
Many nonprofits report using events and gatherings to retain volunteers during seasons with fewer volunteer opportunities!
“One thing we’ve learned: when companies pair employee volunteer efforts with corporate gifts, engagement grows dramatically. Employees feel supported, leadership reinforces the commitment, and the impact for communities grows.”
Beth Amodio, One Warm Coat
Statistics don’t always tell the whole story, but they can provide insights that inform the scenarios you see play out at your nonprofit. Use these volunteer statistics as a general guide for assessing your volunteer program rather than hard and fast rules about how you should engage, recruit, and manage the specific individuals involved with your nonprofit.
To learn more about volunteering and trends in the nonprofit space, check out these resources:
Supporters are unlikely to know about volunteer grants unless your nonprofit promotes them.
Download our free eBook to learn how your team can effectively leverage corporate volunteer incentive programs.
Many companies offer a matching gift program (65% of Fortune 500 companies do!), but some outshine the rest.
ԹϺ has compiled a list of the top 20 companies with standout matching gift programs in the United States.
Matching gift programs are just one of the many types of corporate philanthropy initiatives that companies have.
If you’re interested in learning about the importance of corporate philanthropy, read the following article!
[1] ԹϺ’s Workplace Giving Research
[2] Nonprofit’s Source’s
[3] Philanthropy Roundtable’s
[4] National Council of Nonprofits’
[5] Sterling Volunteers’
[6] Rosterfy’s
[7] TeamStage’s
[8] AmeriCorps’
[9] Candid’s
[10] Goodera’s
[11] Galaxy Digital’s
[12] Gov.UK’s
[13] America’s Charities’
[14] Benevity’s
[15] ԹϺ’s Volunteerism Trends
[16] ԹϺ’s
[17] Funraise’s
[18] Benevity’s
[19] ԹϺ’s
[20] Independent Sector’s
