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:

1. Measure the impact of Corporation’s programs and shape policy decisions;
2. Encourage a culture of performance and accountability in national and community service programs;
3. Provide information on volunteering, civic engagement, and volunteer management in nonprofit organizations; and,
4. 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 of specific interest to institutions of higher education include:

• Volunteer Growth in America (2006) 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.
      
• College Students Helping America (2006) identifies key trends in college student volunteering based on BLS data.
      
• The Youth Helping America Series (2006) is an ongoing research project consisting of two briefs.  The first brief 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.  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.
      
• Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings (2005) provides data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on trends about volunteering and volunteers.
      
• Additional research reports and analysis