Volunteering In America

I came across Volunteering in America, a search engine/database on everything service related, thanks to an article posted on my LinkedIn account.  We all know how much I LOVE DATA (for once I am not being sarcastic)!  I will thank the countless years of doing research/playing with numbers as well as the new technologies that allow me to compare data side by side with just a few simple clicks of the mouse.

This website should be included in every Human Service major's/non-profit worker/public health advocate's tool box!!

Under the age break down, most of you reading this blog will fall into the Millennial Generation category or "Individuals born in 1982 and after who are at least 16 years old. The Current Population Survey (CPS) also collects labor force and volunteering data for 15-year-old respondents. As in most other publications that use data from the CPS, 15-year-old respondents are excluded from the volunteer statistics published here."

According to the research collected over the past three years, the average national volunteer rate for our generation was 21.4% per year, with states ranging 12.9% to 39.9%.  DC came in 11th with 27.5%, PA in 22nd with 23.1% and NY 50th with 14.6% (pull it together NY, honestly).

The great thing is that you can play around with age, race, gender, etc. and even compare cities.  This is AMAZING for organizations that are trying to rev up their volunteer base.  For the first time they can see who their most loyal clientele are and also get ideas of populations they should begin to tap for resources; there is even a section on volunteer retention rates.  

I know you all work at desk jobs and fiddle with your Google reader and Facebook, so why not spend 10 minutes playing with some data.  DO IT!!