Civic powerhouses: How organizations drive volunteering

Civic powerhouses: How organizations drive volunteering Rebecca Nesbit and Laurie E. Paarlberg, focus on civic powerhouses, explaining how organizations, such as faith congregations, drive volunteering. Volunteering is a cornerstone of civic life, yet rates of secular volunteerism vary dramatically across U.S. counties. While most studies of volunteering focus on individual traits and motivations that support volunteerism, we focus on how community context influences volunteering. Our research develops a detailed typology of a community’s “organizational infrastructure” – the mix of nonprofits, businesses, congregations, schools, and government agencies in a place – and tests how each dimension relates to individuals’ likelihood of volunteering. Below, we highlight five high-level results from our work.