National Association of Counties * Washington, DC / Vol. 30, No. 8 * April 27, 1998

---

Survey Finds Local Volunteerism and Civic Involvement Still Strong

As the nation celebrated National Volunteer Week, April 19-25, it is important to note that a recent survey indicates Americans are still very committed to working together to solve local problems.

The survey found that although Americans have less faith in government on the whole, the level of government they trust the most "to do what is right" is local government. And, those people who have the most faith in local government are the people who have the highest levels of social involvement.

The recently released Survey of Civic Involvement was conducted by the Center for Survey Research at the University of Virginia and the American Association of Retired Persons. It was based on a telephone survey of 1,500 adults undertaken in 1996.

Forty-four percent of Americans surveyed reported that they spent some time in the past 12 months volunteering for a charitable, civic or helping organization. Of those respondents, about 40 percent reported that they volunteer an average of more than 10 hours a month.

Although religious organizations draw the most volunteers (33.4 percent), schools and educational organizations draw a close second (31.6 percent). Youth, community action and health-related organizations also involved significant numbers of volunteers (16.9, 15.5 and 13.8 percent respectively) as did organizations serving the homeless (8.9 percent) and older persons (8.3 percent).

Not unsurprisingly, most (87 percent) of people who volunteered reported they were motivated by the desire to help others. The second most favored reason was to make their community a better place to live (70 percent). Other reasons for volunteering that were reported included: wanting to be with people they enjoy and who share their ideals and wanting to learn about a particular issue or problem.

More than 86 percent of respondents report having spent at least some time during the past year helping a neighbor, friend or disabled family member. However, only about 45 percent of these respondents reported engaging in any form of formal volunteering, suggesting that there is a large pool of people who are willing to give their time and could be recruited to become involved in more structured volunteer activities.

The survey also notes that more Americans may be interested in volunteering in their community. In fact, while 56 percent of the people polled said that they had not formally volunteered in the past 12 months, six out of 10 reported that they were interested in volunteering.

The AARP survey has some interesting ramifications for county governments interested in developing or expanding volunteer initiatives.

According to Dawn Matheny, the president of NACo's newest affiliate, the National Association of Local Government Volunteer Coordinators, "This survey clearly shows that citizens are willing and ready to volunteer in their community."

Research conducted by NACo as part of a W.K. Kellogg grant on county volunteer programming found that counties that involved volunteers in county services reported a higher degree of citizen knowledge and satisfaction with county government as a whole.

"Involvement in county volunteer programs tends to turn citizens who were either apathetic or adversarial towards government into advocates," notes Matheny. "The key to civic involvement is getting people to take part in their government and in their community through their involvement the social fabric - the community tapestry -becomes richer and stronger."

To find out more about the AARP survey, contact the Research Group, AARP, Civic Involvement Project, 601 E Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20049; phone: 202/434-6320; e-mail:civic@aarp.org.

To find out more about county government volunteer initiatives and the National Association of Local Government Volunteer Coordinators, contact Sandy Markwood at NACo, 440 First St., N.W., Washington, DC 20001; phone: 202/942-4235.

(County Services News was written by Sandy Markwood, director of program development.)