As the echoes of the September 11 attacks were ringing in our ears, President Bush issued his call to service in early 2002. Between then and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina four years later, Americans increased their volunteer activities in their communities significantly, from 59.8 million Americans volunteering in 2002 to 65.4 million in 2005.

This upward trend in volunteering represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tap into Americans’ ingenuity, civic mindedness and generosity to build powerful new solutions to old problems in our communities. America needs more mentors saving our children and our country from generations of hopelessness, poverty and prison. We need more people caring for frail elderly, keeping them independent, healthy and out of institutions and despair. We need more college students reaching back into their communities to help other high school students succeed and follow them into college. In short, American communities need more volunteers – and we need them doing meaningful work that solves significant challenges.

Although the Corporation is a Federal agency, we long ago realized that the most important work toward building momentum around service actually happens at the state and local levels. That is why we have a strong network of field offices supporting every state, and led by State Office Directors. That is why we fund a State Service Commission in every state and require its members to be appointed by that state’s Governor. And, that is why we place such a high priority on supporting volunteer centers and other volunteer infrastructure and networks serving cities and states.

This report, Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings, represents an important milestone in building service and volunteering momentum at the state level. Using first-time-available data funded by the Corporation and collected by the Census Bureau, the report presents an overview of volunteering at the national, regional, and state level – and includes state rankings on important indicators such as volunteering rate and intensity, young adult and college student volunteering rates, and volunteering among seniors. For each state and the District of Columbia, the report contains a two-page state profile displaying information on the number of people volunteering, the volunteering rate, the number of hours volunteered, the primary organizations at which volunteers perform work, and the types of activities volunteers perform in each state. This is the first time that this level of detailed information on volunteering has been published for each state.

Together with our partners, including volunteer and service-driven organizations across the country, we are committed to working toward a national goal of expanding the number of Americans who volunteer from 65.4 million to 75 million Americans by 2010. We hope this report will be a powerful tool to assist states and communities develop a strategy to increase the level of individual engagement in volunteer activities and build the infrastructure of nonprofits and communities to support more volunteer opportunities.

Sincerely,

David Eisner

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