The Pentera Blog
Volunteering Led by Working Mothers and the Elderly
Volunteering, which is a key predictor of making a planned gift, remained strong in 2015—with working mothers and the elderly leading the way. That’s according to the annual study Volunteering and Civic Life in America just released by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
An impressive 36 percent of working mothers find time to volunteer—the highest rate of any demographic group, according to the study. Elderly Americans who volunteer donate the most hours: The median for those 75 and older was 100 volunteer hours per year, while the median for those aged 65 to 74 was next highest at 88 volunteer hours.
The study also found that those who volunteer are twice as likely to donate to charity, with nearly 80 percent of volunteers doing so. Other research by Russell James of Texas Tech University has found that those who volunteer and give to charity and those who volunteer 100 hours or more a year are significantly more likely to make planned gifts through their estate plans.
Overall, 25 percent of Americans volunteered through an organization in 2015—donating nearly 7.8 billion hours that were worth an estimated $184 billion—while almost two-thirds of Americans helped their neighbors with informal volunteer tasks, according to Volunteering and Civic Life in America.
“Volunteers are more likely than non-volunteers to attend community meetings, participate in civic organizations, do favors for neighbors, and fix things in the neighborhood,” the study said. “A growing body of research indicates that communities with higher levels of civic engagement have been linked to lower crime rates, improved health outcomes for aging adults, lower rates of mental illness, improved academic outcomes for children, improved employment outcomes for job seekers, and greater community resilience following a disaster.”
More information on the study is available here.
