How volunteers get their start
January 11, 2007
About 43 percent of volunteers became involved with their main organization—the organization for which the volunteer worked the most hours during the year—after being asked to volunteer.
Most often they were asked by someone in the organization; about 27 percent of volunteers became involved this way. About 14 percent of volunteers started after being asked by a relative, friend, or co-worker. The person doing the asking was a boss or employer in about 1 percent of all cases; in another 1 percent of cases, the person was someone else other than those already mentioned.
About 41 percent of volunteers became involved on their own initiative; that is, they approached the organization.
These data are from a supplement to the September 2006 Current Population Survey. Find out more in "Volunteering in the United States, 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0019. Data are based on the period from September 2005 to September 2006.
SUGGESTED CITATION
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Editor's Desk, How volunteers get their start on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2007/jan/wk2/art04.htm (visited May 21, 2013).
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