Pennsylvanians 16 and older volunteer at only a slightly higher rate than the national average with 27.6% reporting volunteering at least once in the past 12 months resulting in a rank of 30th in the nation. Nationally, 26.8% of Americans report volunteering at least once in the last year. According to www.volunteeringinamerica.gov, an average of 2.8 million residents per year volunteered in Pennsylvania between 2007 and 2009. The state's volunteering rate has remained relatively stable since 2008.

Opportunities for Growth
1. Closing the generational gap
• In 2009, those born between 1965 and 1980 volunteered the most of any other age group with 34.2% reporting that they gave their time to an organization at least once in the last 12 months.
• Pennsylvania's senior citizens are volunteering the least with 19.6% of those born before 1930 reporting volunteering.
• Those born in 1981 or later come in close to last place with only 24.1% reporting that they volunteered within the last year.

The data indicates that we need Pennsylvania's youngest and oldest to feel invested in their communities by volunteering. This can be done by making both demographics feel valuable and important to the political process through outreach specically targeted to each group.

2. Encouraging participation among all demographics
• Hispanics living in Pennsylvania volunteer the least of all subgroups—a number that corresponds with their low voting numbers—suggesting, perhaps, if Hispanics go to the polls more, they will feel inspired to volunteer more as well.
• African Americans, despite their higher voter fulllment rate, do not volunteer at a rate nearly as high, with only 16.1% reporting volunteering in the last 12 months. The challenge with this demographic is to then translate the initiative they show during election season into giving back to the community through volunteerism.

3. Closing the gap between Pennsylvanians marital/ family status
• The data shows that 35.6% of married Pennsylvanians volunteer—almost twice the number of single people who volunteer (19.5%).
• The data also shows that Pennsylvanians who have their own children under the age of 18 are almost twice as likely to volunteer (42.1%) as compared to those without younger children (23.0%).

This disparity suggests Pennsylvanians who feel directly responsible for another person—a spouse or a child—feel a greater responsibility for the community. The key here is to motivate single Pennsylvanians without families of their own to realize they can be directly responsible for many people through volunteering.

4. Encouraging those who are unemployed or not in the labor force to volunteer
• The data shows that only 20.2% of unemployed Pennsylvanians and 22.2% of Pennsylvanians not in the labor force volunteered in the last twelve months—compared with 31.8% of people with jobs who volunteered last year.

During the dramatic economic downturn of recent years, more Pennsylvanians are unemployed than ever. By encouraging jobless Pennsylvanians to volunteer in their local communities, it is possible to turn this unfortunate set of circumstances into something positive for the state.

5. Increasing the education level of Pennsylvanians
• As with voting, college graduates volunteer the most at a rate of 46.7%, starkly contrasting to the 9.9% of Pennsylvanians without a high school diploma who report volunteering once in the last year.
• As education increases so does volunteerism—high school graduates at 19.4% and those with some college at 29.7%.