July 20, 2007 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Philadelphia
Nonprofit organizations have a great opportunity to persuade more Americans to volunteer in the coming years, but must work hard to seize it, said speakers at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, held here this week.
“It’s a remarkably important moment in service in this country,” said Stephen Goldsmith, chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency in Washington that oversees AmeriCorps and other service programs.
Young people are volunteering at higher rates and with baby boomers set to retire, a large generation of older Americans are interested in giving their time to charitable causes, he told the 3,000 volunteerism experts gathered here. Therefore, charities and the government are in a good position to reach the corporation’s goal of increasing the number of volunteers by 10 million to about 75 million by 2010, he said.
But despite the opportunity, many challenges remain.
The number of Americans who donated their time to charity fell last year, the first time that figure has declined in four years. And studies show that one out of every three people who volunteer during a given year do not return the following year, a sign that nonprofit groups are successful at attracting people, but not at keeping them, Mr. Goldsmith said.
“It’s not enough just to recruit volunteers,” he said.
***
During the conference, several nonprofit leaders and volunteers suggested ways to counter the problem of volunteer dropouts.
Wendy Spencer, chief executive of Volunteer Florida, in Tallahassee, encouraged charities to call people if they don’t show up again after volunteering once. “Calling up the quitters is something we need to do more of,” she said.
She said the charities should ask how the dropouts how they could improve the volunteer experience and not to make the former volunteers guilty. “Don’t call them on the carpet on this,” she said. Stephanie Oliver, a Temple University student and frequent volunteer, said people will continue to volunteer if they have a meaningful experience working at a charity, instead of filing papers or taking out the trash.
“When people feel like they are needed, they don’t want to leave,” she said.
Ms. Oliver also suggested that groups find out what college students are studying to incorporate their interests into their work. For example, Ms. Oliver works at an investment-management company and has volunteered to teach poor people about finances.
Aaron Hurst, president of the Taproot Foundation, a San Francisco organization that helps connect corporate professionals with charities, cautioned that it will be expensive for charities to make sure every volunteer is satisfied, in part because it will require well-trained managers.
But he agreed that nonprofit groups need to do a better job at matching volunteers with tasks that use their skills. “Don’t waste people’s time,” he implored.
*** A subject of disagreement among speakers at the conference was whether technology would open new pathways to engage young people in charitable causes.
Stephan Post, professor of bioethics and medicine at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, said that as young people use MySpace, Facebook, and other social-networking sites on the Internet, they are less likely to volunteer.
“People are getting isolated behind technology,” said Mr. Post, who is also author of “Why Good Things Happen to Good People,” a book that examines how assisting others promotes better personal physical and mental health.
Kathy Cloninger, chief executive of the Girl Scouts of the USA, in New York, agreed that “too many kids are isolated by the little computer box,” but she said that technology also presents an opportunity to charities. “I have this ying and yang about technology,” she said, adding that what she wants is not “high-tech” volunteer efforts, but “high-touch” ones.
For example, her group is using the Internet to connect American girl scouts with girls in 139 other countries and is advertising on MySpace to recruit new scouts.
*** During the three-day event, two national charities that coordinate volunteer efforts announced they would merge.
The Points of Light Foundation, in Washington, and the Hands On Network, in Atlanta, will become one organization as of July 30. The new group will be led by Michelle Nunn, chief executive officer of Hands On, and will oversee 370 volunteer centers nationwide.
It has yet to be decided where the new organization will be based or what its name will be.
Leaders of the two charities said they sought the merger as way to expand their efforts. Officials with Points of Light added that foundations and other donors had pushed for it because the groups have such similar missions.
