From foster grandparents who volunteer at an early child care center to citizen scientists who collect water quality data in remote locations, nonprofit volunteers have come back after the pandemic.
A new survey released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps shows 28.3 or 75.8 million people in the U.S. volunteered with a nonprofit between Sept. 2022 and Sept. 2023. That is a rebound since COVID-19 public health shutdowns tanked participation by almost 7 percentage points to 23.2 in 2021, the last time the survey was conducted. It is not a full return to pre-pandemic rates of volunteerism.
The drop in volunteer participation was a wake up call for nonprofits, said AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, and a real test of whether volunteers, whose habits and routines were disrupted, would return.
"The fact that we went from a point in this country where we were telling people, 'Don't come, our doors are closed,' - The fact that that did not lead to a flatline or lead to a gradual increase, but to see more than 5 jump is pretty impressive," said Smith.
The survey on volunteering and civic life , conducted by the U.S. Census every two years, asks respondents if they volunteered at a nonprofit. It also asks if they informally helped friends, family or neighbors or gave to charity.
