In the U.S., adult volunteering represents an enormous donation of resources. The major national survey of volunteering, currently rethinking its own estimates because they seem low in comparison with results from regional studies, pegs the number of hours volunteered in 1999 at almost 20 billion. That's the equivalent of about 10 million full-time workers. Roughly one quarter of that time goes to the sorts of faith-based organizations targeted by George W. Bush's fledgling administration to shoulder a bigger share of the country's social service provision. Half of that time goes directly to organizations involved in youth development, education, health or human services.
Younger volunteers produce less but learn important lessons.
The habit of volunteering seems to stick. One of the strongest predictors of adult volunteering is whether that person volunteered as a youth. Scholars are quick to acknowledge that this link may not be causal. For example, it may be that certain people, those who want to help others and feel empowered to do so, are likely to volunteer at all ages. But even among adults with such predisposing attitudes and enough income to have choices about giving away time, I find that having volunteered as a youth raises the likelihood of volunteering in any given year from 60 to 78 percent.