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The Corporation's commitment to supporting the American culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility includes measuring the success and impact of our efforts. Performance reviews, research, and policy analysis help develop and cultivate knowledge that will enhance the overall effectiveness of the Corporation and of national and community service programs.
The Corporation conducts and supports high quality, rigorous social science evaluation research designed to:
- Measure the impact of Corporation’s programs and shape policy decisions;
- Encourage a culture of performance and accountability in national and community service programs;
- Provide information on volunteering, civic engagement, and volunteer management in nonprofit organizations; and,
- Assist in the development and assessment of new initiatives and innovative demonstration projects designed to shape future community service policy decisions.
Recent Research Reports and Analysis
Volunteering in America:
2007 City Trends and Rankings
 Communities with high levels of citizen engagement will come closer to solving some of the key challenges facing our society today. Volunteers who serve as tutors and mentors can help increase test scores and graduation rates among youth from disadvantaged circumstances; children whose parents are incarcerated can be less likely to go to prison themselves if they meet with a mentor once a week; and volunteers who serve populations re-entering society after incarceration can help ease the transition to society. Across the spectrum, mobilizing people to serve others is key to promoting more effective communities.
Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings supports our efforts to increase volunteering in communities by providing a first-time analysis of volunteer trends among major metropolitan (metro) areas. This report ranks and presents detailed profiles of volunteering for 50 of the largest metro areas in the United States. The information on volunteering at the local level can help local governments, community leaders, service organizations, and volunteers nationwide develop a volunteer growth strategy, set goals to increase the level of individual engagement in volunteer activities, and build the infrastructure of nonprofits and communities to support more volunteer opportunities.
AmeriCorps: Changing Lives, Changing America
A Report on AmeriCorps’ Impact on Members and Nonprofit Organizations
 AmeriCorps is designed to help strengthen and rebuild communities affected by poverty, impacted by disasters, and marked by crime. From the initial members who served during the “Summer of Safety” in 1994 to the soon-to-be 500,000th member in 2007, AmeriCorps members have been on the front lines of service every day, recruiting and managing volunteers of all ages and backgrounds—1.4 million in 2006 alone. Together, AmeriCorps members and the volunteers they mobilize tackle some of our nation’s toughest problems: crime, illiteracy, homelessness, gang violence, and drug abuse. They teach and tutor to help students improve academically, mentor children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, run after-school programs, reconnect prisoners with mainstream society, care for seniors, and protect the environment.
This report examines the results from a longitudinal study of AmeriCorps members and surveys of members, alumni, and the organizations where members served to examine the impacts of national service on members’ civic engagement, education, employment, and life skills. Findings reveal that AmeriCorps alumni are more connected to their communities, continue to participate in community activities, and choose public service careers after their service with AmeriCorps.
The Health Benefits of Volunteering:
A Review of Recent Research
 Over the past two decades we have seen a growing body of research that indicates volunteering provides individual health benefits in addition to social benefits. This research has established a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer. Comparisons of the health benefits of volunteering for different age groups have also shown that older volunteers are the most likely to receive greater benefits from volunteering, whether because they are more likely to face higher incidence of illness or because volunteering provides them with physical and social activity and a sense of purpose at a time when their social roles are changing. Some of these findings also indicate that volunteers who devote a “considerable” amount of time to volunteer activities (about 100 hours per year) are most likely to exhibit positive health outcomes.
Volunteering in America:
2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life
 To support their efforts and provide a valuable resource tool for states, the Corporation has produced a report on volunteering and civic life in the United States. The report presents data on volunteering in an easily accessible format that will be useful to people—whether experienced researchers, policy makers, or just concerned citizens—interested in learning more about volunteering in the states. Data in the report were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) within the U.S. Department of Labor. At the request of USA Freedom Corps and through the support of the Corporation, the BLS, through the U.S. Census Bureau, has included a “volunteering” supplement in its Current Population Survey (CPS) since 2002. The CPS is a state-based survey administered to approximately 60,000 households nationwide to gather information on employment among the nation’s civilian non-institutionalized population, age 16 or older. CPS data also include demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, marital status, and educational attainment.
Volunteering in America: 2007 State Trends and Rankings in Civic Life is the second annual study by the Corporation for National and Community Service that gives a detailed breakdown of America’s volunteering demographics, habits, and patterns by state and region. The 2007 report also provides the agency’s first-ever ranking of levels of civic engagement by state through a new Civic Life Index. This report is a valuable tool to help states and organizations increase volunteering towards the national goal of 75 million volunteers by the year 2010.
Leveling the Path to Participation: Volunteering and Civic Engagement Among Youth From Disadvantaged Circumstances
 This report is the third in the Youth Helping America Series, a series of reports based on data from the 2005 Youth Volunteering and Civic Engagement Survey, a national survey of 3,178 American youth between the ages of 12 and 18. The survey was conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and the nonprofit coalition Independent Sector. The survey collected information on teen volunteering habits, experiences with school-based service-learning, and other forms of civic engagement. This report explores the attitudes and behaviors of youth from disadvantaged circumstances toward volunteering and other forms of civic engagement.
Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering:
A Research Brief on Volunteer Retention and Turnover
 Baby Boomers today have the highest volunteer rate of any age group. They also, as this report notes, volunteer at higher rates than past generations did when they were the same age. While much attention has focused on how to recruit Baby Boomers into the ranks of volunteers, relatively little attention has been paid to ensuring that those who choose to volunteer one year continue to do so the next. Because three out of every ten Boomer volunteers choose not to volunteer in the following year, a key aspect of keeping Boomer volunteer rates high is to learn how to retain existing Boomer volunteers.
To better understand this dynamic, the Corporation for National and Community Service looked at data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2002-2006. The data trace the volunteer habits of the same sample of Baby Boomers over two consecutive years, as well as a similar sample of pre-Boomers. This is the first time that these data sets have been analyzed. Though much work remains to be done, the hope is that the findings contained herein will help nonprofits and others gain greater insight into the volunteer preferences of Baby Boomers so that turnover can be kept to a minimum and the greatest number of Boomers will remain engaged in their communities in their later years.
Volunteer Growth in America:
A Review of Trends Since 1974
 The Corporation has produced a national report that for the first time tracks volunteering over a 30-year period. “Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974” illustrates how volunteering has rebounded to a 30-year high today – rising by more than 32 percent over the past 16 years – after declining between 1974 and 1989. The report found that older teenagers (ages 16-19) have more than doubled their time spent volunteering since 1989; that far from being a “Me Generation,” that Baby Boomers are volunteering at sharply higher rates than did the previous generation at mid-life; and that the volunteer rate for Americans ages 65 years and over has increased 64 percent since 1974; and the proportion of Americans volunteering with an educational or youth service organization has seen a 63 percent increase just since just 1989.
“Volunteer Growth in America” is based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The findings are encouraging while demonstrating that more engagement is needed to achieve a national goal of raising the number of volunteers from 65 million in 2005 to 75 million by 2010.
College Students Helping America
 The Corporation has produced the most comprehensive national report ever conducted on college student volunteering in the United States. “College Students Helping America” concludes that college student volunteering increased by approximately 20 percent between 2002 and 2005, as students have become involved in helping their communities. The report presents data on student volunteering and volunteers in an easily accessible format that will be useful to people—whether experienced researchers, policy makers, or just concerned citizens—interested in learning more about volunteering in the states.
“College Students Helping America” is based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report includes a state-by-state ranking of college student volunteering.
Volunteers Mentoring Youth: Implications for Closing the Mentoring Gap
 To develop a greater understanding of the characteristics and traits that distinguish individuals whose volunteering includes mentoring youth from volunteers who do not mentor, the Corporation for National and Community Service conducted a close analysis of the 2005 Volunteer Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). Corporation researchers examined whether demographic, socioeconomic, or other observable factors could be used to distinguish between volunteers who mentor and the general population of volunteers who do not mentor, as well as to determine which of the above factors are most influential in predicting who is most likely to be engaged in mentoring activities. The expectation is that the information gleaned will help mentoring programs better identify and recruit the types of individuals who are most likely to be favorably disposed toward mentoring, and thereby help to reduce the “mentoring gap.”
Youth Helping America Series
In collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and the nonprofit coalition Independent Sector, the Corporation for National and Community Service in early 2005 conducted the Youth Volunteering and Civic Engagement Survey, the first major national study of volunteering by teenagers in more than a decade. The first brief based on the survey’s data explores the state of youth volunteering and the connections between youth volunteering and the primary social institutions to which teenagers are exposed – family, schools, and religious congregation. Among other findings, the analysis shows that the state of youth volunteering is robust – with 55% of youth participating in volunteer activities each year – and that the level of their volunteer commitment is directly related to the nature of the social institutions with which they interact. The second brief takes a closer look at the 38 percent of students nationwide – some 10.6 million students in total -- who ever participated in school-based service as part of school activity or requirement, and it constructs a Service Quality Index that rates school-based service based on the level of high-quality service-learning elements that are incorporated into it.
Brief 2:
Educating for Active Citizenship: Service-Learning, School-Based Service, and Civic Engagement
Brief 1:
Building Active Citizens: The Role of Social Institutions in Teen Volunteering
Serving Country and Community: A Longitudinal Study of Service in AmeriCorps
Updated April 2007
Results from a longitudinal study of AmeriCorps members demonstrate the early impacts of national service on members’ civic engagement, education, employment, and life skills. Findings reveal that AmeriCorps alumni are more connected to their communities, more knowledgeable about problems facing their communities, and more likely to participate in community activities. They also are more likely to choose public service careers.
We are pleased to announce the first public release of longitudinal data from the report entitled Serving Country and Community: A Longitudinal Study of Service in AmeriCorps. The datasets are being made available to researchers and practitioners who are interested in studying the effects of participating in AmeriCorps and of volunteering and service.
- To obtain the data files, please contact us via email at rpd@cns.gov.
Volunteer Management Capacity Study, 2003
To gain an understanding of the current state of volunteer management in charities and congregations with social service outreach activities, the Corporation, the UPS Foundation, and the USA Freedom Corps embarked on the first national study of volunteer management capacity. The study, conducted in the fall of 2003 by the Urban Institute, was designed to assess the capacity of the nonprofit sector to engage volunteers in a way that provides the greatest possible impact and to provide meaningful volunteer opportunities. The study resulted in a series of briefs that explore various issues around volunteer management and recruitment that can be accessed through the links below. In addition, the study led to the creation of the Volunteer Input website to promote dialogue around ways to improve volunteer management capacity. Data from the study is also available for download.
Offer your comments and commit to helping implement strategies to strengthen volunteer management capacity.
Data Sets: Volunteer Management Capacity in America’s Charities and Congregations, 2003
Data from the 2003 Volunteer Management Capacity Study contain information for each variable in the dataset, including variable and values labels and formats. The sets are available for public use in Microsoft Excel format.
The following data dictionaries are supplemental to the data sets and provide all of the label information and values for each variable
Survey of Volunteering in the United States
The Volunteering in the United States survey has collected annual, national-level data on the prevalence of volunteering and the characteristics of volunteers since 2002. At the request of the Corporation, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have administered the survey as a supplement of the Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households that gathers information on employment and unemployment among the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population, age 16 and over. The Corporation plans to continue to fund the survey annually in order to gather important information on volunteering trends in the United States.
Data from the 2002 Volunteering in the United States report was updated to incorporate the Census 2000 based population controls subsequent to the release of the 2002 Volunteering in the United States report. The accompanying revised release tables for 2002 contain the re-weighted figures.
Additional Research and Analysis
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