Volunteer Influences From CNN

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | July 9th, 2007 | Trackback

Volunteering seems to “happen” more often in some places than others. From a foreign traveler’s perspective, it can be a lot easier to find your own volunteer opportunity in places where volunteer “infrastructure” is already established. I think of, for example, Dharamsala, India, and perhaps some other places in Asia and Latin America which see a fair number of foreign travelers wishing to volunteer more or less independently.

What makes these places fruitful for volunteer opportunities? My impression is that it is more an organizational factor – combined with a history of short term volunteers – than a reflection of local “need” (which cannot always be addressed by foreign volunteers of course).

What about at home - do some people volunteer more (at home) than others? Why?

One study which looked at different regions of the US did find differences in how much people volunteered. The study reported that “several demographic and social factors appear to contribute to higher volunteer rates:

Short commutes to work, which provide more time to volunteer.
Home ownership, which promotes attachment to the community.
High education levels, which increase civic involvement.
High concentrations of nonprofit organizations providing opportunities to volunteer.”

Any ideas which region it was?

In fact it was the Midwest, more specifically Minneapolis St.-Paul, Minnesota, with the highest rates of volunteering. I think the demographic factors they mention are interesting, and make sense to some extent, though they may vary by country. I might group the first three together as somewhat related and give the fourth a bit more weight.

What do you think?

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