Americans are generous with their time and money. Volunteering is at the heart of philanthropy in the United States. ⁴ As this survey suggests, more people are engaged in volunteering today than three years ago. Americans are not alone in volunteering. Around the world, one person in four donates time to nonprofit organizations. If the findings from various international studies are correct, the recent increase in volunteer activity across Europe can be explained, at least in part, by a growing public dissatisfaction with, and lack of trust in, government and other established democratic channels.

Despite the healthy state of volunteering in the United States other concerns remain. Organizations need to continue to encourage the young, the retired, the unemployed and those from minority backgrounds to volunteer. Additionally, some traditional charitable organizations have experienced a decline in their number of volunteers. These organizations need to be more in tune with the attitudes and values of people today to attract the volunteers they need.

Nonprofit organizations must assess some of the basic assumptions about what re t i rement will mean in the next century. People are drawn into volunteering at different stages in life as a result of connections made through family and work. Furthermore, they may give up their involvement due to changes in personal circumstances moving, unemployment or retiring, yet many times no one asks them to resume their voluntary activities. Over the next few decades, nonprofit organizations could see an increase in the number of older people who want to volunteer. Nonprofits should find new ways to recruit volunteers who are nearing retirement in the 55-64 age group. Nonprofits interested in recruiting volunteers would be wise to emphasize the personal benefits of volunteering, in addition to helping people in need. This survey illustrates that a volunteer’s personal interest in the activity, the beneficiary, and feeling needed were important reasons to volunteer.

The great economic growth of the past five to ten years has helped many, but not all. The wealthiest 1% of Americans now hold more wealth than the bottom 92% combined. The Baby Boom generation is predicted to inherit $10 trillion in the next thirty years - the largest transfer of wealth ever. Some of this wealth will go to charitable organizations, but a greater number of people need to be encouraged to consider using the bequest as a method to ensure that their money goes to the causes they support.

Currently, there are thousands of people in their forties who have creatively made a substantial amount of money and now have turned their skills to become a new breed of social entre p reneurs. Many of these individuals have no track record of giving and volunteering of any kind. These people are too young to retire in the traditional sense and are starting their own nonprofit organizations. Merely giving money for these individuals is too passive an undertaking, instead they want to be more involved by applying their business expertise to do something for the general good. Will social entre p reneurship be the new norm in giving and volunteering?

Few nonprofits are maximizing the possibilities of the Internet to stimulate giving and volunteering. Few respondents in this survey thought that reading stories or being solicited for a donation over the Internet was an important reason for contributing to charity. Currently there may be a low awareness of the possibilities that currently exist via the Internet. However, personal motivations to give and volunteer are complex and diverse, therefore people may be concerned about their privacy when sharing personal or financial information online. The Internet is an important medium to educate the public about the work of nonprofits, and how to give and volunteer. The Internet gives instant information on nonprofit organizations’ financial activities; thus, forcing nonprofits to be more accountable.

Funding from households is unevenly distributed among charitable organizations and has always fluctuated, even when disposable income is rising and the economy growing. From a charitable organization’s point of view it can be unreliable and expensive to raise money from the general public. Increasing competition for funds raises strategic issues about competing or cooperating with other organizations, emphasizing uniqueness, or collaborating to secure more income for common causes.

What is known about public attitudes to charitable giving suggests that a majority of the public believes that charities are honest and ethical in their use of funds; nonprofits play an important advocacy role in speaking up on important issues; and nonprofits play a major role in making communities better places to live.

Charitable organizations and religious congregations depend on their reputations, which allow them to operate with the confidence of their supporters, funders and volunteers and the trust of the people they serve. If the American public is to maintain high levels of confidence in nonprofit organizations, these organizations need to operate with high degrees of transparency and accountability, and the highest standards of stewardship.