As demand for nonprofit services has increased, the number of Americans who volunteer has continued to decline, leaving many nonprofits across the country straining to provide services, the Washington Post reports.

While the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated shortages, volunteering has actually been on the decline for the past 13 years. According to a January report released by the Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, the number of volunteers in America dropped about 7 percent between September 2020 and 2021, and in that same year, a little more than 23 percent of Americans formally volunteered with an organization, the lowest percentage of volunteering since tracking began in the early 2000s. The largest decline is mostly concentrated in suburban and rural areas, where volunteering rates had been the highest.

Last month, the Do Good Institute in the University of Maryland School of Public Policy released a study, Understanding Generosity: A Look at What Influences Volunteering and Giving in the United States (54 pages, PDF), which found that numerous factors are fueling a decline in the number of volunteers. For example, older volunteers who were more vulnerable to COVID-19 decided it was too risky to continue volunteering, and company policies allowing employees to work from home meant fewer people went into cities where much of the need still exists. Moreover, the study found that people with higher levels of education are more likely to volunteer, as are married couples and parents who have children living with them, so potential factors for volunteer shortages include people waiting longer to marry and have children, as well as the student loan burden that many college graduates carry.

“There have always been organizations that have struggled to find volunteers, but now it’s a huge problem,” said Do Good Institute research director Nathan Dietz, who co-wrote the report.

The dearth of volunteers is not only impacting nonprofits’ ability to provide services, the Post reports, but also affects connections made with those being served. Volunteers “help our clients feel human,” said Donna-Marie Thompson, associate director of volunteer and in-kind donations at N Street Village. “When you volunteer here, you can see the difference that you’re making in someone’s life. Yes, we’re serving a meal, but even the ‘good afternoon’ or the ‘good morning’ that goes along with it, you can see the change in someone’s face and how you’re helping to brighten their day just by being in that space... Just identifying them as a human being in that moment can do so much more than you can dream of.”

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