Leisure Time in Our Community - Where Is Our Time Spent?

In 1998, 55.5% of the population volunteered (109.4 million people), putting in a total of 15.8 billion hours of volunteer time, an increase of 15.2 million people and 600 million hours over 1991. Where did we do it? The graphic shows the percentage of volunteers who participated in various charitable activities in selected years between 1991 and 1998.

Over this period of time, most volunteer organizations had an overall increase in the percentage of volunteers. Three exceptions to this were religious, health, and political organizations. All organizations except educational charities experienced a decline in the percentage of volunteers from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1995, all charities saw an increase in volunteerism. Most charities had another increase in volunteerism from 1995 to 1998, except for educational, health, and religious organizations.

The year 1998 saw the highest participation rate in the last 17 years. The following table shows the percentage change in volunteerism from 1991 to 1998. The table also shows the percentage change from 1995 to 1998, a period of dramatic shifts.

Percentage Change in Volunteerism, 1991-1998 and 1995-1998

	% change
	1991-1998	1995-1998
Total	4.4	6.7
Human services	3.8	3.2
Work-related organizations	3.2	2.4
Youth development	2.9	2.2
Arts, culture, humanities	2.4	2.4
Recreation - adults	1.9	1.3
Education	1.9	-0.2
Public, societal benefit	1.5	1.2
Private, community foundations	1.1	0.7
Informal	1.0	4.1
Environment	0.6	2.1
International	0.2	0.9
Political organizations	-0.1	0.8
Health	-1.5	-1.8
Religion	-4.0	-3.0

Although no data are available to explain the pattern of volunteerism over the years, some of the increased popularity of this activity, from 1995 to 1998, may be traced to the Internet and what has come to be called "virtual volunteering"⁸. Ten percent of those with Internet access used the Internet to research volunteer opportunities and organizations. According to VolunteerMatch⁹ 2001 Annual Report, 600,000 volunteer referrals were made through their website, resulting in 78% volunteering at least once. In the United States, 3% of those with Internet access performed some virtual volunteering such as mentoring, tutoring, or website development in 2000.

Volunteerism declined from 1998 to 2000, but in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, millions of people volunteered their time to help the victims of the attacks and the victims of the war in Afghanistan. Building on this spirit of volunteerism, in the State of the Union Address of January 29, 2002, President George W. Bush proposed that every American volunteer at least 4,000 hours over the rest of his or her lifetime. Will America answer this call?

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2001. Giving and Volunteering in the United States, 2001: Key Findings, Washington D.C.: INDEPENDENT SECTOR, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2002 from http://www.independentsector.org/PDFs/GV01keyfind.pdf. VolunteerMatch 2001 Annual Report. Retrieved February 14, 2002 from http://www.impactonline.org/about/VM2001AR.pdf. Points of Light Foundation."President Bush's State of the Union Address - Excerpts." Retrieved February 14, 2002 from http://www.pointsoflight.org/pressroom/StateofUnion.htm.