communication department

Volume XX Number 2

Report Shows Increase in Number of American Volunteers

The information in this article comes from a Washington Post article written by Amy Joyce, titled “It’s All in a Day’s Volunteer Effort: Firms Promote Service with Paid Time, Ideas” and dated November 19, 2006. The article can be read at the Washington Post Web site.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service’s “Volunteering in America” report, 65.4 million Americans (28.8 percent) volunteered in 2005. This is an increase from 2002 of almost six million volunteers.

The report states that individuals between the ages of 35 and 44 are most likely to volunteer. According to Amy Joyce’s recent Washington Post article, many businesses are creating volunteer programs, in part to recruit the best employees to their organizations. Companies such as Forrester Research, Inc., and PricewaterhouseCoopers give a day off to employees so that they can volunteer. IBM has created a Web site that showcases new opportunities and allows staff members to keep track of their volunteer hours.

“I think employees are looking for organizations that reflect their values,” Tim Riley, Forrester chief people officer, states in the article. “This is one way we can at least signal to prospective employees the culture here.”