United Way of Greater Chattanooga: Chattanooga Volunteerism Facts from United Way Volunteer Center for National Volunteer Week

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United Way Volunteer Center
Fact Sheet on Volunteerism in Chattanooga

During 2008, United Way’s Volunteer Center had more than 1,440 volunteers who donated 43,570 hours at a value of $20.25 per hour. That's a contribution of a little more than $882,292.50 through just United Way’s Volunteer Center alone. Chattanooga as a whole had a huge number of volunteers and volunteer hours when all the 2008 volunteer numbers from its nonprofit organizations, civic programs and religious organizations were added together. Recent research from the Corporation for National and Community Service uncovered these local trends and numbers for the greater Chattanooga area:

Chattanooga Volunteering Trends:

Chattanooga has an average annual volunteer rate of 29.6%, with 125,000 volunteers serving 19.1 million hours per year.
By donating time to serve, Chattanooga's volunteers make an estimated annual economic contribution of $373 million (doesn’t calculate for 2008 increase to $20.25 per hour).
Volunteer Rate Ranking: 38th of the 75 mid-size cities surveyed
Average Volunteer Rate: 29.6%
Volunteer Hours Ranking: 17th of the 75 mid-size cities surveyed
Average Volunteer Hours per Resident: 45.2 hours (9 hours above national average)

Top 3 Places for Chattanooga Area Volunteers to Serve

Religious Organizations: 42.8% (3% above national average; 3% below state average)
Educational or Youth Service Organizations: 30.8% (4% above national average; 10% above state average)
Social Service Organizations: 12.7% (1% below state & national average)

Top 4 Volunteer Activities in Chattanooga

Tutor or teach: 28.3% (8% above national average; 4% above state average)
Fundraise or sell items to save money: 28.1% (1% above national average; 8% above state average)
Collect, prepare, distribute, or serve food: 19.2% (5% below national & state average)
Mentor Youth: 18.4% (1% above national average; doesn’t rank in Tennessee)

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, there are Six (6) Factors that Influence Volunteer Rates in Chattanooga Area:

Attachment to the Community Encourages Volunteering: Indicators, such as homeownership, the number of multiunit dwellings, and population density help determine whether residents have a long-term commitment and attachment to their communities.

There is a strong positive relationship between homeownership rates and metropolitan volunteer rates, indicating that where homeownership rates are high, volunteering is also high. In 2006, the national homeownership rate was 66.2%. At that same time, Chattanooga had 64.7% of residents who lived in owner-occupied households.

On the other hand, communities with a large percentage of multiunit housing, such as apartment buildings, are likely to attract a more transient population and likely have lower volunteer rates. At a national level, 34.2% of individuals live in multi-unit housing structures. In Chattanooga, 29% of residents live in multi-unit housing structures.

High population density can also reduce attachment to the community by increasing the level of anonymity among residents and making community bonding more difficult. This too can have a negative impact on volunteer rates. The average population density for the nation is 83.8 people per square mile. In Chattanooga the population density is 235.6 people per square mile.

Shorter Commutes Leave Time for Service: Metropolitan areas with shorter commutes to work also tend to have higher volunteer rates. Nationally, the average time spent commuting to work is 25.1 minutes. In Chattanooga, the average commuting time is 23.2 minutes.
Volunteering Rises with Education: Education is one of the most important influences for a community's volunteering rate. Research has shown that as education levels increase, the likelihood of volunteering also rises. Across the country, 80.4% of residents have a high school diploma and 24.4% have a college degree. In Chattanooga, 76.7% of residents have a high school diploma and 19.4% have a college degree.
Correlation found between Poverty and Volunteering Rates: Poverty is another socioeconomic characteristic that tends to be strongly associated with lower volunteering. However, it is difficult to determine whether high poverty rates reduce volunteer rates or whether high volunteering in a community leads to a reduction in poverty, or if both effects occur. In 2006, the national poverty rate was 12.4%. At that same point Chattanooga, had a poverty rate of 11.7%.
Volunteer Retention: The ability of communities to keep volunteers engaged year after year (volunteer retention) is strongly related to the volunteer rate. The right types of volunteer opportunities and management of volunteers can encourage an individual to continue volunteering. On the other hand, as with paid employment, a poor fit between a volunteer and a nonprofit increases the probability that a volunteer will not be retained. For nonprofits that depend on volunteers, turnover results in the need to incur substantial additional costs associated with recruiting, orienting, and managing new volunteers. On average nationally, one out of three volunteers (64.3%) dropped out of volunteering after one year of service. Chattanooga has a volunteer retention rate of 82.2% - 18% higher than the national average.
The Capacity of a Community's Associations and Organizations Expands or Limits Volunteering Opportunities: In order to volunteer successfully there must be an infrastructure that can recruit, place, and manage prospective volunteers. Communities with fewer nonprofits per capita are likely to have lower volunteer rates. The Corporation measured the affect of small and large nonprofit organizations in relationship to the volunteer rate. Large nonprofits are organizations with annual revenues equal to or above $25,000. In contrast, small nonprofits were defined as nonprofit organizations with annual revenues below $25,000. Examples of small nonprofits would be neighborhood civic associations or local community sports clubs. While communities with more nonprofit organizations per capita tend to have higher volunteer rates, our research suggests that having more small nonprofit organizations in the community may have a greater impact on volunteering. In 2006, there was a national average of 1.96 large and 2.32 small nonprofit organizations per 1,000 residents. In Chattanooga, there were 1.76 large and 1.94 small nonprofit organizations per 1,000 residents

Tennessee Volunteering Trends

Tennessee may no longer earn the moniker “ Volunteer State” – its volunteer rate & hours ranking puts it 39th of the 50 states and Washington D.C.
Average Volunteer Rate: 25.5%
Volunteer Hours Ranking: 36th within the 50 states and Washington D.C.
Average Volunteer Hours per Resident: 33.4 hours
On average, Tennessee's 1.2 million volunteers dedicated 156.9 million hours of service per year (between 2005 and 2007). The estimated economic contribution of the volunteer hours served is $3.1 billion annually.
In Tennessee, more than 17,000 people participate in national service each year through 100 projects and programs.
This year, the Corporation will commit more than $13.2 million to support Tennessee's national service initiatives.

Top 3 Places for Tennesseans to Serve

Religious Organizations: 45.1% (about 6% above national average)
Educational or Youth Service Organizations: 20.3% (about 6% below national average)
Social Service Organizations: 13.7%

Top 4 Tennessee Volunteer Activities

Collect, prepare, distribute, or serve food: 24%
Tutor or teach: 24% (4% above national average)
Engage in general labor: 21%
Fundraise or sell items to save money: 20.5% (7% below national average)

Regional Volunteering Trends

In 1974 the Midwest had a slightly larger number of volunteers than the South (10.58 million versus 10.51 million).
Since 1974 the number of volunteers in the South has almost doubled, growing to 20.83 million, giving the South the largest number of volunteers of all the regions in 1989 and every year since 2002.
The South had the highest number of volunteers for 2007, with 20.8 million people who participated in service. Between 2006 and 2007 the South Region actually experienced an increase of about 450,000 volunteers.

National Volunteering Trends

Number of Volunteers: 60.8 millionVolunteer
National Volunteer Rate (2007): 26.2% of population
Total Hours Volunteered 8.1 billion
As the economy slows and nonprofit organizations struggle to provide services on smaller budgets, volunteers become even more vital to the health of our nation’s communities.
In addition to the 60.8 million volunteers serving in organizations nationwide, about 5.2 million people also volunteer informally to help their communities.
Volunteer intensity is increasing. Today, over a third of volunteers (34%) serve intensively, volunteering 100 or more hours in a year. The number of volunteers donating more than 100 hours annually increased last year although the overall volunteering rate and number of volunteers did not. In fact, the number of “intensive volunteers” increased by over 373,000 — the first increase in this statistic since 2004. In 2007, the proportion of volunteers giving 100+ hours reached its highest level since 2002 when 35 percent of all volunteers gave 100+ hours. Furthermore, the number of total volunteer hours contributed by adults in 2007 was roughly the same as that in 2006.