Turnover Rate High Among Baby-Boomer Volunteers, Report Finds

By Suzanne Perry

Baby boomers are volunteering at higher rates than previous generations, but 31 percent of those who volunteer one year fail to return the following year, according to a study released today by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Nonprofit groups and others who use volunteers must find a way to bring that attrition rate down, says a report on the study that was presented here to a joint conference of the Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging.

"Volunteer turnover should be seen as just as undesirable as turnover among paid employees," it says. "For most businesses and nonprofits, a 30 percent employee turnover rate would be an indication of a workplace problem."

The corporation, a federal agency that operates several volunteer programs, analyzed data from a regular survey on volunteer activity conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the years 1974, 1989, and 2002 through 2006. It found that an estimated 30.9 percent of baby boomers — those born between 1946 to 1964 — volunteered when they were between the ages of 46 to 57. That compares with an estimated 23.2 percent of the "silent generation" (born between 1931 and 1945) and 25.3 percent of the "greatest generation" (born between 1910 and 1930) at the same ages.

The report notes that baby boomers are more highly educated than previous generations and, because they married later, more likely to have school-aged children at home — two factors that increase volunteerism.

The study also tracked baby-boomer volunteers over two-year periods between 2002 and 2006. It found that on average 31 percent did not continue volunteering the second year — and that the replacement rate, or the percentage of baby boomers who began volunteering that year, was only 27.2 percent.

Volunteers were most likely to return if they had made a greater commitment to an organization in terms of hours or weeks of service; their volunteer activities were professional and managerial as opposed to general labor; and they were asked by the organization, rather than by their employer, to volunteer. Baby boomers who volunteered for multiple groups were also more likely to keep volunteering the second year.

"This suggests a real opportunity to increase volunteering among baby boomers by asking people who are already engaged to do more," the report says.

The federal agency suggests that nonprofit groups consider two approaches for retaining volunteers. One is the "donor model," whereby they treat volunteers the way they do donors, cultivating them and making them feel connected to the organization and its mission. The other is the "employment model," which treats volunteers as valuable resources who are costly to replace.

"The human resources field has developed a host of insights and tools for reducing employee turnover," the report says. "Many of those tools (such as offering training and professional development opportunities) would be helpful in reducing turnover among volunteers."

The full report, "Keeping Baby Boomers Volunteering," is available on the Corporation for National and Community Service Web site.