Volunteers are the backbone of your nonprofit—they’re critical to your success in fundraising and service delivery. Throughout their time supporting your organization, volunteers will learn a lot about your mission and inner workings, which will likely lead to them forming their own opinions about your image in the community.

Guest Contributor: Indiana Lee

According to Double the Donation's volunteer statistics report, more than 60 million people volunteer annually in the US alone. Why? For some, it’s the chance to forge meaningful connections, and for others, it’s the feeling of giving back to a community or cause that they hold dear. Some people even start volunteering because of their employer’s corporate social responsibility initiatives, such as volunteer time off or volunteer grants.

Over the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of talking to leaders of volunteers about their commitments to equity and access in volunteerism. This has been part of the Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion (ADEVI) project. ADEVI is a multi-faceted investigation of the diversity of volunteer administrators and the equity journey of organizations they work in. The project's guiding principle is that organizations that are attuned to inclusiveness will be able to engage a more diverse cross-section of their communities. The project is a partnership between Arizona State University (ASU) and the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA), funded by AmeriCorps, a federal agency in the United States.

Guest Contributor: Indiana Lee

The success of many nonprofits hinges on the time and dedication of its volunteers. Their skills, particularly, are directly connected to how effectively your projects and day-to-day operations run.

Capital campaigns are huge endeavors, and to succeed, you need all hands on deck. This call for assistance extends beyond your paid staff members to your volunteers. 

Your nonprofit has ambitious goals, but you don’t have to pursue them all on your own. The volunteers in your community have a lot to offer, and chances are they’re more than happy to commit their time, skills, and energy to push your mission forward.

More than 28,000 people volunteer every year with AARP Foundation to support communities across the country. AARP Foundation recently asked 1,300+ individuals who volunteer in their national reading tutoring program, AARP Foundation Experience Corps, about their reasons and motivations for doing so. They found that older adults serving as Experience Corps tutors see their efforts as a journey of fulfillment, promise, and passion.

Volunteers push your nonprofit’s mission forward, and they might even support one of your most impactful ongoing activities—grant writing.

Guest Contributor: Indiana Lee

When striving to enact positive change, it’s crucial to have as many people on board as possible. Gen Z has been instrumental in shaping societal change. As of 2024, they are between 12 and 27 years old, offering a wide range of young perspectives. However, Gen Z is one of the groups with the fewest volunteers among the 11 million people who volunteer on an average day. Of those who volunteered in 2022, only about 5% were from Gen Z. Their fresh perspectives and passion for impact are mismatched with these numbers.