Points of Light, the nonprofit founded by Former President George H.W. Bush, will lead an effort to double the number of people who volunteer with U.S. charitable organizations from 75 million annually to 150 million in 10 years.
The ambitious goal, announced in New Orleans at the foundation’s annual conference, which concluded Friday, would represent a major change in the way Americans spend their time and interact with nonprofits.
It aspires to mobilize people to volunteer with nonprofits in the U.S. at a scale that only federal programs like AmeriCorps have in the past.
It also coincides with deep federal funding cuts that threaten the financial stability of many nonprofits and with an effort to gut AmeriCorps programs, which sent 200,000 volunteers all over the country. A judge on Wednesday paused those cuts in some states, which had sued the Trump administration.
Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of Points of Light, said that while the campaign has been in development well before the federal cuts, the nonprofit’s board members recently met and decided to move forward.
“What our board said was, ‘We have to do it now. We have to put the stake in the ground now. It’s more important than it was before the disruption of AmeriCorps,’” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. She said the nonprofit aims to raise and spend $100 million over the next three years to support the goal.
Points of Light, which is based in Atlanta, was founded by President George H.W. Bush to champion his vision of volunteerism. It has carried on his tradition of giving out a daily award to a volunteer around the country, built a global network of volunteer organizations and cultivated corporate volunteer programs.
Speaking Wednesday in New Orleans, Points of Light’s board chair Neil Bush told the organization’s annual conference that the capacity volunteers add to nonprofits will have a huge impact on communities.
“Our mission is to make volunteering and service easier, more impactful, more sustained,” Bush said. “Because, let’s be honest, the problems in our communities aren’t going to fix themselves.”
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, the rate of participation has plateaued since 2002, with a noticeable dip during the pandemic.
Susan M. Chambré, professor emerita at Baruch College who studied volunteering for decades, said Points of Light’s goal of doubling the number of volunteers was admirable but unrealistic, given that volunteer rates have not varied significantly over time.
But she said more research is needed into what motivates volunteers, which would give insight into how to recruit people. She also said volunteering has become more transactional over time, directed by staff as opposed to organized by volunteers themselves.
In making its case for increasing volunteer participation in a recent report, Points of Light drew on research from nonprofits like Independent Sector, the National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement and the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland.
Sirangelo said they want to better measure the impact volunteers make, not just the hours they put in, for example. They also see a major role for technology to better connect potential volunteers to opportunities, though they acknowledge that many have tried to do that through apps and online platforms.
Reaching young people will also be a major part of accomplishing this increase in volunteer participation. Sirangelo said she’s observed that many young people who do want to participate are founding their own nonprofits rather than joining an existing one.
“We’re not welcoming them to our institutions, so they have to go found something,” she said. “That dynamic has to change.”
As the board was considering this new goal, they reached out for advice to Alex Edgar, who is now the youth engagement manager at Made By Us. They ultimately invited him to join the board as a full voting member and agreed to bring on a second young person as well.
“I think for volunteering and the incredible work that Points of Light is leading to really have a deeper connection with my generation, it needs to be done in a way that isn’t just talking to or at young people, but really co-created across generations,” said Edgar, who is 21.
Karmit Bulman, who has researched and supported volunteer engagement for many years, said she was very pleased to see Points of Light make this commitment.
“They are probably the most well known volunteerism organization in the country and I really appreciate their leadership,” said Bulman, who is currently the executive director of East Side Learning Center, a nonprofit in St. Paul.
Bulman said there are many people willing to help out in their communities but who are not willing to jump through hoops to volunteer with a nonprofit.
“We also need to recognize that it’s a pretty darn stressful time in people’s lives right now,” she said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty personally and professionally and financially for a lot of people. So we need to be really, really flexible in how we engage volunteers.”
