Posted on January 24, 2008

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Interest in Giving, Volunteering Increases in Marin County, Study Finds

Residents in California's Marin County are very interested in supporting local nonprofits and the county has seen an across-the-board surge in volunteering, a new study from the Marin Community Foundation finds.

A follow-up to a 2000 study, the report, Solid Growth, Untapped Potential (28 pages, PDF), finds that 92 percent of Marin residents made a contribution to or volunteered for a charitable organization in 2007 — up from 87 percent in 2000. Significant increases in volunteering were seen among all age groups and among both new and long-term residents. Overall, 65 percent of adults volunteered in 2007 — up from 52 percent in 2000. The largest increase was among those who had lived in the county for less than five years. In 2007, 60 percent of this group volunteered, compared to 43 percent of residents who were the newest residents in 2000.

The study found that the longer people live in Marin County, the more involved they become in its nonprofits, both as volunteers and as financial supporters. While Marin's youngest, newest adult residents are giving at somewhat lower levels than their counterparts did seven years ago, they are already volunteering at a high rate — and readily agree that volunteering means they are more likely to support the organization financially. They also have a strong desire to know more about local nonprofits, meet with nonprofit leaders, make greater use of the Internet to learn about and support local organizations, and connect with others who want to make a difference.

One of the major findings from the 2000 survey indicated that while overall levels of giving were high, younger, newer residents were not as engaged in the community as older, longer-term residents. "These are very positive and frankly somewhat unexpected, results," said MCF president Thomas Peters. "Since the county had already benefited enormously from the involvement of those long-term residents, there was a question about who would continue the strong tradition of community involvement in Marin. The current trends are cause for great optimism."

“Survey on Giving and Volunteering in Marin Shows Both Strong Overall Growth and Great Potential Among Newer, Younger Residents.” Marin Community Foundation Press Release 1/22/08.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Location(s): California, Marin County

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