As a part of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV), INDEPENDENT SECTOR (IS) has worked in partnership with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and representatives from ten other countries to develop Measuring Volunteering: A Practical Toolkit, a resource designed to assist countries in conducting surveys assessing their national, regional, and local volunteer levels.

Download the complete toolkit for free (PDF--370KB)
     (Don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader? Download it free.)

Translations of Measuring Volunteering (PDF):
     French  |  Spanish  |  Korean (appendix only)

Measuring Volunteering: A Practical Toolkit is a practical handbook on the study of volunteer behavior, full of useful background and knowledge that will empower practitioners, particularly in developing countries, to produce their own empirical data to underpin policy measures related to volunteering.

This collaborative effort draws on research and practical experience that has been developed over the last 20 years from studies of volunteer activity in countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, and Europe, as well as in the Far East and in developing countries.

Independent Sector has also translated its Giving and Volunteering survey into the following languages as a guide for researchers and practitioners looking to develop their own surveys. (The attached files are in PDF format.)

• English [whole survey]

• Estonian [whole survey]

• Finnish [whole survey]

• Hindi [general] [giving] [volunteering]

• Spanish [general] [giving] [volunteering]

• Swedish [whole survey]

Statement by INDEPENDENT SECTOR President & CEO Sara E. Meléndez on International Year of Volunteers Launch

Press release on the launch of Measuring Volunteering: A Practical Toolkit 

United Nations has proclaimed 2001 the International Year of Volunteers. For more information, visit:
www.iyv2001.org www.iyv2001us.org