Volunteering

Best Intentions

The good news? Nearly two in three American adults performed some type of volunteer service in 2006. The bad news? Many more wanted to volunteer but didn’t.

A survey of 1,000 American adults by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans revealed 64 percent of American adults said they had performed some type of volunteer activity in 2006, but 86 percent said they would be willing to volunteer – a gap of 22 percent. The survey found even larger gaps between volunteer intent and action among common volunteer activities:

• Sixty-five percent of American adults said they would be willing to serve meals to homeless people, but just 12 percent had done so during the past 12 months.
• Fifty-one percent of adults said they would be willing to tutor or mentor at-risk kids, but just 15 percent had done so.
• Forty-eight percent of adults said they would be willing to build affordable, decent housing for those in need, but just 5 percent had done so.

“Americans genuinely want to help others but often have trouble fulfilling their volunteer intentions,” said Brad Hewitt, senior vice president for Thrivent Financial who oversees the organization’s volunteer programs. “Short-term volunteer opportunities that address real needs but are easy to access can help people move from good intent to action.”

Despite volunteerism’s nearly universal appeal, the Thrivent Financial survey revealed that most Americans find it easier to give money to support a charitable cause than to give their time. Fifty-three percent of respondents said money was easier to give, 30 percent said time was easier to give and 14 percent said both were equally easy to give.

Telephone interviews were conducted for Thrivent Financial by Synovate TeleNation Research, Chicago, Illinois, between Dec. 8-10, 2006, among a nationwide sample of 1,000 U.S. adults age 18 and older. The margin of error for questions posed to all 1,000 respondents is +/- 3 percent.