Volunteerism Holds Steady in America, Study Finds
Posted on August 10, 2011
In an article written by Lisa Chiu on volunteerism in America, she reports that in 2009, 63.4 million adults volunteered which is nearly 27% of the U.S. population. That number is nearly 63 million Americans which is 26.3% of the U.S. population. The website has a map which when scrolled over gives you the state-by-state breakdown of the volunteer rate. NJ’s volunteer rate in 2010 was 21.9% and NY’s was 21.4%. Areyvut is glad to be a part of that 21.9% and aims to help all the teenagers we can to become philanthropic individuals who give back to their communities instilling them with a love for chesed, tzedakah, and tikkun olam. The following is from the article and are bullet-points of the findings from a federal report that was released today.
Among the key findings:
- Thirty-five percent of volunteers gave time to religious groups from 2008 to 2010. Nearly 27 percent gave time to educational organizations, while 14 percent worked at social-service groups.
- Volunteers said they spent most of their time on fund raising, collecting and distributing food, tutoring or teaching, and a range of other jobs they described as general labor.
- Utah had the highest share of residents who volunteer, at 45 percent of adults, followed by Iowa (37.9 percent), Minnesota (37.5), Nebraska (37.4), and South Dakota (37.2).
- People in their 30s and early to mid-40s, often called Generation X, had the highest volunteer rate at 29 percent. Just under 29 percent of baby boomers, people in their late 40s and older, volunteered in 2010, while 21 percent of people in their 20s volunteered.
