Two anchors of American civic life have remained remarkably constant over the last 30 years, although volunteering has been a brighter spot than charitable giving.


CHARITABLE GIVING AND VOLUNTEERING HAVE BEEN STEADY
Volunteering and giving are indicators of our larger sense of “we”: a belief that our lives are strengthened by helping those less fortunate, by building up community assets or preserving community public goods. Our second President John Adams said that, “our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.” Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress, believed that, “Service is the rent you pay for room on this Earth.”

Service to communities has always been a hallmark of the American Experiment. Accordingly, levels of giving and volunteering are an important proxy of our community’s, and nation’s, civic health.

While most indicators of our civic health show decline, charitable giving has remained steady over the last 30 years. Americans give roughly two percent of their after-tax revenue to philanthropy. Of all charitable giving in 2006, 56% went to the Salvation Army and United Way; 43% went to religious organizations; and as would be expected after national tragedies, 34% went to natural disaster relief.21 We note that significant donations to each of these categories are likely to have included contributions for natural disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

As noted earlier, youth volunteering is a bright spot. This trend has many good implications. By volunteering, young people learn skills, gain confidence, learn about public problems and how they can solve them, and make connections to non-profit and religious organizations. Youth involved in volunteer service also are more successful in school and less likely to abuse drugs.22

Over the past decade, young people (ages 18 to 24) have narrowed the gap with adults in volunteering. Levels of volunteering have been so high for youth (compared to their Baby Boomer Generation parents) that some social scientists are starting to talk about the possibility of a “9/11 Generation.” Although we cannot explain why this has happened, we note the growing efforts at all levels to encourage young people to serve through community service in our schools, the growth of national and international service opportunities, service learning (that combines classroom learning and community service) and calls to service from Presidents.

We also note the significant rise in volunteer service through formal organizations (such as a school, house of worship or non-profit) among adults post-9/11, from 59 million Americans (27.4% of the population) during the period September 2001-September 2002, to 63 million Americans (28.8% of the population) during the period September 2002-September 2003. Volunteering among adults has remained steady in the past two years at 28.8% of the population. We suspect that the year following September 2001 created a very high baseline for volunteering and that 59 million figure reflects an increasing number of Americans who volunteered in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. So the further increases in the number of volunteers are especially encouraging.