January 05, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Activities of volunteers

The activities of volunteers in the United States varied in 2003.

[Chart data—TXT]

Among the more commonly reported activities (volunteers could report more than one activity) were fundraising or selling items to raise money (28.8 percent); coaching, refereeing, tutoring, or teaching (28.6 percent); collecting, preparing, distributing, or serving food (24.9 percent); providing information, which would include being an usher, greeter, or minister (22.0 percent); and engaging in general labor (21.8 percent).

Some demographic groups were more likely to engage in certain activities than were others. For example, parents of children under 18 were much more likely to coach, referee, tutor, or teach than were persons with no children of that age. College graduates were more than four times as likely as those with less than a high school diploma to provide professional or management assistance.

These data are from a supplement to the September 2003 Current Population Survey. Data in this article refer to the period from September 2002 to September 2003. The volunteer activities reported above are for the main organization of the volunteer, which is the organization for which the volunteer worked the most hours during the year. Find out more in "Volunteering in the United States, 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 03-888.  

 

Related TED articles: 

• Increase in volunteering
• Older volunteers put in most hours