Americans’ Engagement With Organizations Wanes, Report Says

by Megan O’Neil, Chronicle of Philantrophy

A new federal report shows declines in 16 of 20 indicators of civic health, including falling rates of volunteerism and engagement with community organizations and flagging trust in public institutions. In 2013, slightly more than 36 percent of American adults were involved in school, civic, recreational, religious, or other type of organizations, a nearly 3-percent drop compared with 2011, according to the “Volunteering and Civic Life in America” report.

Americans; confidence in the media dropped 7 points, to 55 percent, in the same two-year span, while confidence in public schools dropped 3.5 points, to 84.5 percent. The report, released this week by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship, provides an in-depth look at volunteerism and civic engagement in the United States. In 2013, there were one- or two-year declines in 16 of 20 civic-health indicators.

“The picture it paints is civic engagement is facing some headwind,” said Ilir Zherka, executive director of the National Conference on Citizenship. Among the most notable change was a decline in overall volunteerism, a trend also indicated in statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this year. According to that source, the volunteerism rate fell to 25.4 percent in 2013, the lowest level since the data collection began in 2002. Last year, 62.6 million Americans volunteered, 2 million fewer than in 2012.