Oh Where, Oh Where Have The Volunteers Gone?

A new study, "Volunteering in the United States, 2007" published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that volunteering is declining. According to this study, "In the year ending September 2007, both the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate declined from the previous year."

I am sure this is not a surprise to J. Erik Potter. I learned about him through my participation in the Non-Profit Blog Exchange Virtual Event. I recently read a blog post Erik wrote on this topic at his blog called a blog on giving. His post, Struggling to Find Volunteers, highlights the problem communities are having in recruiting volunteer firefighters.

It is now even more important to find ways to ensure your current volunteers know that they are appreciated. It also might be a good time to evaluate your current volunteer recruitment methods and consider getting more creative.

Go to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.nr0.htm to read about the results of the Bureau of Labor Statistics volunteering study.

Comments

[J. Erik Potter]

Thanks for continuing the conversation, Roger.

Keep up the great work!

[Scott Couchenour]

Roger,

I've found a good site regarding volunteers. It's www.agileministry.com. There is a lot of good information such as volunteer recruiting, training, scheduling, management, and more.

[Roger Carr]

Scott,
I actually visit the site from time to time. I learned about it from your blog several months ago. Thank you for sharing great resources.