Giving Compass' Take:

• A survey of more than 7,000 volunteers revealed various reasons for why they spend their time serving others. 

• How can this information help companies that plan to start CSR initiatives? How can nonprofit organizations use the survey responses to gain volunteers? 

• Here are six ways to find high-quality volunteers.

More than 77 million American adults volunteered with an organization last year. That’s a record — and it’s also about 30% of all people over the age of 18 in the entire country. Combined, they volunteered for almost 7 billion hours, or about 800,000 years*.

In a partnership with VolunteerMatch, the web’s largest volunteer engagement network, we asked more than 7,000 volunteers one of the big questions in the volunteering industry: “Why do you volunteer?”

66% of respondents volunteer to improve their community, and 83% do so to contribute to a cause they care about.

People have many other reasons for volunteering beyond simply “giving back,” and it’s important to understand every volunteer’s perspective. Here are some of the motivations for volunteering.

  • “I Volunteer To Socialize” More than 35% of respondents said one of the reasons they volunteer is to socialize. We also discovered that just because a volunteer enjoys the social aspects of volunteering, doesn’t mean they’re not committed to the cause.
  • “I Volunteer To Build My Skills” There aren’t many volunteers who choose to volunteer daily, but, surprisingly, 200 of our respondents reported that they do.

Read the full article about why volunteers give their time by Elysia Gabe at Verified Volunteers.