Can I Help You?
Whether it’s bringing dinner to hospital staff, delivering bags of food to seniors, or sewing masks, it seems that loads of folks are spending time volunteering right now.
As David Levinson of Big Sunday says, “Absolutely everybody has some way that they can help somebody else.”
I agree. So imagine my surprise when I read in this week’s Chronicle of Philanthropy (paywall — sorry) that, per Greg Baldwin of Volunteer Match, “For many organizations, virtual volunteering is a completely new concept”. Really? I thought that phone trees were about as “old-school” as you could get. If “virtual volunteering” means using a computer, that shouldn’t be anything new, either.
In the same article, I also noted that volunteerism has been declining over the last decade-plus (25% of Americans volunteered in 2015, compared with 29% in 2005). Additionally, it showed that people over 75 provide double the volunteer hours of people who are younger.
So now, in pandemic-land, we have lots of people, of varying age groups, stepping up to help. It seems logical that substantially more people are volunteering, or looking to volunteer, now than in non-pandemic times (especially since so many of us are quarantined at home and are out of work or have scaled-back hours.)
Yes, much of that help is “virtual”, but much of it is also driving around and delivering stuff to needy people who can’t get out (two of my adult kids are doing that right now.)
Is it possible that the stats are changing, and that they’ll stay “changed” after life gets back to “normal”? Virtual volunteering should be, and should have been, part of mainstream volunteering for nonprofits for decades now. Is it possible that volunteerism has been declining because “virtual” volunteer opportunities weren’t welcome at many nonprofits? Is it possible that volunteering has been thought of as a less worthy pursuit than other things?
Some interesting stats from this report show that “volunteers have a 27% higher likelihood of finding a job after being out of work than non-volunteers”, and overall, “volunteering is associated with an increased likelihood” of getting hired regardless of age or market conditions. Volunteers also donate twice the amount to charities as those who don’t volunteer.
It looks to me like volunteers might be one of the “secret weapons” that nonprofits need now. If you aren’t in the habit of engaging them, or if you think that they’re less worthy of time than, say, big donors, maybe it’s time to think again.
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- Lisa