Connecting and Giving: A Report on How Mid-life and Older Americans Spend Their Time, Make Connections and Build Communities
By: Alicia Williams, John Fries, Jean Koppen and Robert Prisuta; AARP Knowledge Management
January 2010
prnewswire report here
Americans 45+ adding informal service to their work with established organizations; African Americans extremely active and engaged in communities and volunteering
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Though volunteering through organizations has remained stable in the last several years, a new report from AARP finds that informal service work among baby boomers and others 45+ is on the rise.
According to the report, the number of boomers and older Americans engaged in self-directed volunteering—volunteering on their own, outside of a formal organization—increased from 34 percent in 2003 to 57 percent in 2009. Additionally, seven in 10 boomers reported they are engaged in volunteering either on their own or through an organization, which is a 20 percent increase over the number of people who say they volunteer through an organization alone.
“We have long known that baby boomers stand ready to serve, but this data gives us new information about how they are serving,” said Thomas C. Nelson, AARP Chief Operating Officer. “As AARP works to activate Boomers and older Americans, we continue to track these trends so that collectively, the service community can better meet the needs of everyone interested in giving back.” . . .
. . . Additional study highlights include:
- The frequency of charitable giving among 45+ adults has increased over last year from 55 percent in 2008 to 72 percent in 2009. Volunteers were more likely than non-volunteers to donate to charitable or religious organizations. Among those with higher incomes, donating was a fairly common practice—reported by more than 8 in 10 survey respondents.
- The nature of civic engagement is changing, becoming more personal and more secular. Boomers and older Americans are less likely to join organizations. Although membership in religious organizations remains a relatively popular activity, involvement in these organizations has declined.
- Volunteers have many motivations for giving their time in service, but their chief motivation is feeling a personal responsibility to help others when they need it. This reason was reported by 68 percent of volunteers overall; and rated as very important by half of all volunteers. Other top motivations cited included giving back to others, making their own lives more satisfying, and helping their own neighborhood or community.
- While the rate of traditional volunteering has held steady, the amount of time volunteers spend in service has declined as volunteering becomes more episodic. In 2003 and 2009, 51 percent of survey respondents reported volunteering in the prior year. While volunteers in the 2003 study reported spending an average of 15 hours a month in volunteer service, in 2009, volunteers report spending an average of six to 10 hours per month in service—a decline of five to nine hours per month over the six-year time period.
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