Organizations and volunteers, 2004

December 22, 2004

Most volunteers were involved with one (69.6 percent) or two (19.2 percent) organizations in 2004. About one in ten volunteered with three or more organizations.

[Chart data—TXT]

The main organization—the organization for which the volunteer worked the most hours during the year—was most frequently either religious (34.4 percent of all volunteers) or educational/youth service related (27.0 percent). Another 12.4 percent of volunteers performed activities mainly for social or community service organizations, and 7.5 percent volunteered most of their hours for hospitals or other health organizations.

Older volunteers were more likely to work mainly for religious organizations than were their younger counterparts. For example, 45.2 percent of volunteers age 65 and over performed volunteer activities mainly through or for a religious organization, compared with 28.5 percent of volunteers age 16 to 24 years. Younger individuals were more likely to volunteer through or for educational or youth service organizations.

These data are from a supplement to the September 2004 Current Population Survey. Data in this article refer to the period from September 2003 to September 2004. Find out more in "Volunteering in the United States, 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-2503.