To explore volunteer behavior in the United States, the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund fielded a telephone survey of 15 minutes in length conducted by Harris Interactive of Princeton, N.J. from October 21 – 25, 2009. A total of 1,005 respondents were polled with an essentially equal proportion of men and women.
Some of the highlights of the survey results include:

• On average, those who have volunteered in the last 12 months donate ten times more money to charities than non-volunteers ($2,593/yr vs. $230)

• Motivation to NOT volunteer are interesting:
1. No time (46%)
2. Pressure to give more time than desired (32%)
3. Not interested (32%)
4. Can’t find the right nonprofit that match interests (30%)
5. Prefer just giving money away than volunteering (19%)
6. Bad experience volunteering in the past (15)

• Almost half (44%) stated that if an organization cannot take advantage of specific skills, they will volunteer elsewhere rather than do menial work.

For the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Volunteerism and Charitable Giving in 2009 Executive Summary, click here.

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