Volunteer Management in America's Religious Organizations

Volunteer Management
in America’s Religious
Organizations
Kimberly A. Spring
Robert T. Grimm, Jr.
June 2004

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Volunteer Management Capacity Study Series
1 Volunteer Management Capacity in America’s Charities and Congregations
The Urban Institute
February 2004
2 Volunteer Management Practices and Retention of Volunteers
The Urban Institute
June 2004
3 Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations
Corporation for National and Community Service
June 2004
Background
To better understand the issues confronting our charities and congregational social service programs
in managing volunteers, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the UPS Foundation,
and the USA Freedom Corps organized the first national study of volunteer management capacity.
The data, collected by the Urban Institute in fall 2003, is based on a representative sample of 1,753
charities, drawn from the more than 200,000 charities that filed Form 990 with the IRS in 2000. It
also includes information from 541 congregations, representing the 380,000 congregations (of all
faiths) identified by American Church Lists. Representative samples of charities and congregations
were drawn based on the characteristics of the national populations so that the results can be used
to describe current overall conditions in these organizations.
In February 2004, this effort produced a briefing report titled Volunteer Management Capacity
in America’s Charities and Congregations. The research sponsors subsequently created a website
at www.volunteerinput.org to share the key findings and gather input on the study and its
implications for volunteer management. The sponsors are particularly interested in recommenda-
tions concerning what resources are needed and what steps should be taken by the nonprofit
sector, funders, policymakers and others to strengthen volunteer management capacity in America.
Together with other important stakeholders, the Corporation, USA Freedom Corps, and the UPS
Foundation wish to develop a national response to improving volunteer management.
To build upon and better inform that effort, project partners are also supporting further analysis
of the volunteer management study data and periodic releases of additional research briefs. This
research publication, Volunteer Management Capacity in America’s Religious Organizations,
represents the third brief in that series.
Copyright © 2004. Corporation for National and Community Service. All rights reserved.
Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations 1

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Executive Summary
Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organiza-
129,000 Congregations Manage Volunteers in Social
tions focuses on volunteer usage and management in two
Service Programs. The vast majority of congregations
types of religious organizations:
with social service activities (91 percent) report that their
members serve as volunteers in the activities, and 48
• Congregations with social service programs
percent of congregations with seasonal service activities
(an estimated 129,000 organizations) have responsibility
• Charities with a religious mission
for managing volunteers in those activities.
According to the 2003 Volunteer Supplement to the
Most Congregations Partner or Collaborate When
Current Population Survey (conducted by the Bureau
They Run Social Service Programs. Seventy-nine
of Labor Statistics), 35 percent of Americans devote
percent of congregations indicated that they participate
the greatest amount of their volunteer time to religious
or collaborate with other organizations in sponsoring
organizations and 41 percent volunteer at a religious
their activities, while only 5 percent said that they had
organization to at least some extent, making religious
primary responsibility for managing these activities and
organizations the most popular site for volunteering.
did not collaborate with other organizations. The remain-
Based on data from the volunteer management survey,
ing 16 percent had informal activities that included col-
we now know that 83 percent of congregations partici-
laboration but not the same formal partnerships found in
pate in or support social service, community develop-
the majority of congregational social service activities.
ment, or neighborhood organizing projects and 21
percent of America’s charities include religious practices
Most Charities With a Religious Mission Work in
and faith as a core part of their mission. Since religious
Human Services. Out of the four major subsectors for
organizations play a key role in producing Americans’
charities (human services; education; health; and arts,
volunteer experiences, this brief explores the volunteer
culture and humanities), 63 percent of charities with
management capacity of congregations and charities with
a religious mission fall within the human services
a religious mission.
subsector, compared to 44 percent of charities with
a secular mission.
MAJOR FINDINGS
Charities With a Religious Mission Utilize A High
Most Congregations With Social Service Programs
Level of Volunteers. Charities with a religious mission
Focus on Emergency Services. Based on their main
are more likely to have a large scope of volunteer use
social service activities, congregational social service
(more than 50 volunteers a year serving more than a
programs can be grouped into three major categories:
total of 50 hours in week). While only a quarter of
emergency services, community development, and
charities with a secular mission have a large scope of
ministry and counseling. Most congregations with
volunteer use, 38 percent of charities with a religious
social service activities (50 percent) provide emergency
mission use volunteers to this large degree.
services.
2 Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations

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Paid Volunteer Coordinators Are More Common in
Charities With a Secular Mission Are Missing the
Charities With a Religious Mission. Charities with a
Opportunity to Partner With Religious Organiza-
religious mission are more likely to have a paid volunteer
tions. Charities that partner with religious organizations
coordinator than charities with a secular mission, and
report greater benefits and a greater scope of volunteer
this coordinator typically devotes more time to volunteer
use. Yet, while 73 percent of charities with a religious
management and is slightly more likely to have at least
mission report that they partner with a religious
some formal training than a coordinator for a charity
organization, only 15 percent of charities with a secular
with a secular mission, perhaps highlighting the higher
mission report such a partnership, highlighting the lack
reliance on volunteers for charities with a religious
of interaction between religious and secular organizations
mission.
in social service activities.
Relying on a Volunteer to Coordinate Other
Despite Their High Volunteer Use, Congregations
Volunteers Results in a Poor Volunteer Management
and Charities With a Religious Mission Experience
Infrastructure. While congregational social service
a Number of Volunteer Recruitment and Manage-
programs and charities with a religious mission utilize
ment Challenges. Even though charities with a religious
many volunteers, and there is a tendency to use them as
mission and congregations tend to partner with other
volunteer coordinators, the presence of a paid volunteer
religious organizations and potentially have ready
coordinator positively impacts the extent to which either
access to a pool of volunteers, they still report similar
group adopts volunteer management practices.
challenges in recruiting and managing volunteers as
charities with secular missions, a possible result of the
tendency for charities with a religious mission to utilize
a large scope of volunteers.
Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations 3

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Congregations with Social Service Outreach Activities
Key Finding: Most Congregations that Participate in Social Service
Outreach Activities Operate Emergency Services and Rely on
Collaborations with Other Organizations
The Majority of Congregations Participate in Social
services allow for a less formalized infrastructure and
Service Outreach Programs. We found that 83 percent
more episodic activities, these activities are more readily
of congregations participate in or support social service,
adaptable by congregations and may account for their
community development, or neighborhood organizing
prevalence in congregational social service programs.
projects. Congregations that have social service activities
commonly engage in such projects as soup kitchens,
homeless shelters, meal delivery for the elderly, GED
Figure 1. Types of social service activities among
preparation and job training, family counseling, and
congregations
rehabilitation services.
Other 1%
While Congregational Members Frequently
Serve as Volunteers in the Social Service Activities,
Slightly Less Than Half of These Congregations
Ministry &
are Responsible for Managing These Volunteers.
Counseling
24%
Ninety-one percent of congregations with social service
outreach activities report that their members serve as
Emergency
Service
volunteers in the activities, while 48 percent of congrega-
50%
tions have responsibility for managing volunteers in
Community
those activities.
Development
25%
Half of Congregations With Social Service Outreach
Activities Provide Emergency Services. Based on the
social service activities that congregations reported,
we constructed three categories: emergency services,
Activities among Congregations by Three Main Categories:
community development activities, and ministry and
• Emergency Services: food and clothing banks, transient
counseling (Figure 1). Of those congregations with social
assistance, and homeless and women’s shelters
service activities, most (50 percent) primarily provide
• Community Development Activities: educational classes,
emergency services, 25 percent engage predominantly in
home ownership assistance, and building restoration
community development projects, and 24 percent provide
• Ministry & Counseling: religious ministry, family counseling,
services in ministry and counseling.1 Because emergency
prisoner reentry assistance, and drug rehabilitation counseling
4 Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations

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Congregations Are Not Likely to Run Social Service
activities have primary responsibility, compared to 32
Outreach Activities on Their Own. We asked congre-
percent of those that provide emergency services and
gations if they have primary responsibility for activities
30 percent of those that provide ministry and counseling
and if they collaborate with others in these services.
services.
Seventy-nine percent of congregations indicated that
1
they participate or collaborate with other organizations
A small number of congregations, less than 1 percent, did not fit into
these three categories; they were categorized as ‘Other’ and, given the
in sponsoring their activities, while 28 percent of these
small sample size, were not included in this analysis of congregations.
congregations also reported that they had primary
2Congregational size is based on the number of people that regularly
responsibility for running the activities. Only 5 percent
participate in the religious life of the congregation, including both adults
of congregations with social service outreach activities
and children and people who are not formal members of the congregation.
reported that they had primary responsibility for manag-
ing these activities and did not collaborate with other
organizations. The remaining 16 percent had informal
Figure 2. Congregations and how they run their social
activities that included collaboration but not the same
service activities
formal partnerships found in the majority of congrega-
tional social service activities. (Figure 2)
Have
informal
Larger Congregations Are More Likely to Have
activities
Have primary
Primary Responsibility for Social Service Outreach
with loose
responsibility
partnerships
and do not
Activities. While 54 percent of large congregations
Collaborate and 16%
collaborate
(more than 500 active participants) report primary
have primary
5%
responsibility
responsibility for activities, only 21 percent of small
28%
congregations (100 or fewer active participants) report
having this responsibility.2 The type of social service
activity does not appear to impact whether a congrega-
Collaborate but do
tion has primary responsibility for the activities: 39
not have primary
percent of congregations with community development
responsibility
51%
Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations 5

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Charities with a Religious Mission
Key Finding: When Religious Practices and Faith Are a Core Part of
a Charity’s Mission, It Is More Likely to Be Located in Human Services
and Use Volunteers in Direct Service
Figure 3. Service subsectors among charities with
a religious mission
The volunteer management capacity survey
asked charities if “religious practices and
Arts, Culture,
faith are a core part of [their] organization’s
and Humanities
4%
mission.” Of the 1,753 charities surveyed, 21
percent responded that religious practices
and faith are a core part of their organiza-
tion’s mission. We designated these charities
Health
as ‘charities with a religious mission,’ while
18%
we qualified those who responded ‘no’ as
‘charities with a secular mission.’
Education
15%
Human Services
Charities With a Religious Mission Are More Likely
63%
to Utilize Volunteers to Provide Direct Services Than
Charities With a Secular Mission: We asked charities
what tasks most of their volunteers performed and then
coded the tasks into four categories: direct services,
such as mentoring and tutoring; external administrative
activities, such as fundraising; internal administrative
Service subsectors among charities with a secular mission
activities, such as filing and copying; and indirect
services, such as planting tress. The majority of charities
with a religious mission (70 percent) report that they
primarily utilize volunteers to provide direct services,
Arts,
Culture, and
compared to 52 percent of charities with a secular
Health
Humanities
19%
mission.
15%
Charities With a Religious Mission Are Also More
Likely to Be in Human Services. Analysis was done
of the charities surveyed that belong in one of four
Education
22%
major subsectors: human services; education; health;
Human Services
and arts, culture and humanities.3 While only 44 percent
44%
of charities with a secular mission are in the human
services subsector, the large majority of charities with
a religious mission (63 percent) fall within the same
subsector. (Figure 3)
6 Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations

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There Are No Significant Differences in Organiza-
Charities With Religious Missions Are More Likely
tional Size Between Charities With Religious and
to Have a Large Number of Volunteers Serving a
Secular Missions. While there is a tendency to
Large Number of Hours. Despite their relative similar-
characterize religiously-based charities primarily as
ity in size, charities with a religious mission are more
small, community-based organizations, the findings
likely to have a large scope of volunteer use (more than
indicate that charities with a religious mission do not
50 volunteers in a year combining to serve more than
differ from those with a secular mission in terms of the
50 hours a week). While just 25 percent of charities with
size of their operating budget or the size of their staff.
a secular mission have a large scope of volunteer use,
Like charities with a secular mission, charities with a
38 percent of charities with a religious mission use
religious mission most commonly have ten or fewer paid
volunteers to this large degree. (Figure 4)
staff members. However, only 8 percent have no paid
staff and 25 percent have more than 30 paid staff
3Three-fourths of the charities surveyed belong to one of these four
subsectors. The remaining one-fourth of charities fall within an Other
(compared to 16 percent and 24 percent for charities
category, which includes charities that support the work of other charities
with a secular mission).
or charities that operate in a smaller subsector, such as environmental or
animal services.
Figure 4. Scope of volunteer use among charities*
Low volunteers,
low hours
Low volunteers,
high hours
High volunteers,
low hours
High volunteers,
high hours
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
■ Charities with a secular mission ■ Charities with a religious mission
*‘Low volunteers’ indicates 50 or fewer volunteers in a year, and ‘high volunteers’ indicates more than 50 volunteers in a year. ‘Low hours’
indicates 50 or fewer total hours in a week, and ‘high hours’ indicates more than 50 hours in a week.
Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations 7

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The Benefits and Challenges of Volunteer
Recruitment and Management
Key Finding: Charities That Collaborate or Partner With Religious
Organizations Report Greater Benefits from Volunteers; However,
Charities With a Secular Mission Rarely Develop Such Partnerships
The Vast Majority of Charities That Partner With
Figure 5. Charities with a secular mission that partner
Religious Organizations Also Have a Religious
with religious organizations
Mission. According to the study data, 27 percent of all
charities partner with religious organizations. While
73 percent of charities with a religious mission report
that they partner with a religious organization, only 15
percent of charities with a secular mission report such
Yes
15%
a partnership, highlighting the lack of interaction
between religious and secular organizations in social
service activities. (Figure 5)
Charities With a Religious Mission Are Notably
More Likely to Report That Volunteers Increase
No
the Quality of Services and Provide Cost-Savings
85%
to Their Organization. Survey respondents indicated
whether volunteers benefited their organization to a great
extent, some extent, or not at all in six different areas.
Figure 6 shows the percentage of charities that say that
volunteers benefit their organization to a great extent in
each of the areas. With the exception of access to volun-
teers with specialized skills, charities with a religious
Charities with a religious mission that partner with other
mission are more likely to report a greater degree of ben-
religious organizations
efits from volunteers than charities with a secular mis-
sion, particularly with respect to quality of service and
cost-savings.
Congregations and Charities With Religious
Missions Face Volunteer Management Challenges
No
27%
Similar to Charities With Secular Missions. Even
though charities with religious missions and congrega-
tions tend to partner with other religious organizations
Yes
and potentially have a ready access to a pool of volun-
73%
teers, they still report similar challenges in recruiting and
managing volunteers as charities with secular missions,
such as recruiting a sufficient number of volunteers and
volunteers available to work during the day. These
8 Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations

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recruitment challenges may be due to the tendency for
report that they can take on 20 additional volunteers at
charities with a religious mission to utilize a large scope
current capacity. Neither the type of activities the congre-
of volunteers. However, further attention should be given
gation engages in, nor the religiousness of a charity’s
to the particular nature of volunteer challenges for reli-
mission, impacts the median number of additional
gious organizations when working to build the volunteer
volunteers. This ready capacity, combined with the 2002
management capacity of charitable organizations.
CPS estimate that 6.3 million non-volunteering Ameri-
cans would volunteer if they had more information about
Both Congregations and Charities With a Religious
volunteer opportunities, highlights the potential opportu-
Mission Are Ready to Take on Additional Volunteers.
nities that increased partnerships between religious and
The median congregation that manages volunteers in
secular organizations could bring to increasing the
social service outreach activities and median charity
capacity of volunteer organizations.
Figure 6. Volunteer benefits reported by charities to a great extent
Increased quality
of service
Cost-savings
Increased public
support
Detailed attention
Increased capability
to provide services
Access to
specialized skills
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
■ Charities with a secular mission ■ Charities with a religious mission
Volunteer Management in America’s Religious Organizations 9

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