What can the average American accomplish in the span of two years? He or she could obtain an associates' degree, learn sign language, achieve basic fluency in a foreign language -- or, as President Bush outlined in his Jan. 29 State of the Union address, serve to improve homeland security in U.S. communities through the new USA Freedom Corps.
Gallup's instant-reaction poll* following the State of the Union address showed that 80% of Americans who watched the speech reported being both willing and able to heed the call.
According to a White House news release and press conference details on this initiative, USA Freedom Corps will provide the public with ways to volunteer their time to specific homeland security efforts and initiatives through a new Citizen Corps. The Citizen Corps is being led by the USA Freedom Corps' new Executive Director, John Bridgeland, and coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The initiative will also encourage more Americans to volunteer for the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps.
Gallup asked Americans a little over a month prior to this poll if they had volunteered their time to a charitable cause within the past 12 months*. Forty-one percent (41%) said they had donated time to a religious group, and 44% reported having donated time to "any other charitable cause." Combining results from the two questions, 60% of Americans say they have volunteered for one of those types of organizations or both over the past 12 months. By comparison, in response to an extensive survey on volunteerism conducted May-June 2001 by Independent Sector, a DC-based coalition of philanthropies, 44% of U.S. adults reported being "annual formal volunteers," while 69% said they "volunteer on a regular basis."
When asked if they had donated money in the last year, 86% said they gave money to either a religious organization or any other charitable cause. This finding implies that Americans have an easier time finding money than finding time to give to charity. The high number of Americans who have donated money to charity in the past year has undoubtedly been influenced by Americans' response to post-Sept. 11 fund drives from the American Red Cross and other relief organizations.
The president's most recent plea to Americans is for their time, not their money. His request for funds is aimed at Congress -- in fiscal year 2003, he is asking for more than $560 million to fund this new initiative.
Prior Gallup research on volunteerism and philanthropy implies that the president has hit on an effective strategy in simply asking people to volunteer. In a survey of adults and youth, conducted by Gallup on behalf of the national volunteer organization America's Promise between October 2000 and January 2001,** respondents reported that one of the strongest drivers of volunteer participation is simply being asked to volunteer. The survey showed that 72% of those who were asked by someone in their community to volunteer time to help young people did so in the past year, compared to 26% of those who were not asked outright.
If Americans truly respond to the president's call for service with the same vigor as evidenced in their immediate reaction to Gallup pollsters after his speech, Congress and volunteer organizations across America's non-profit sector will be challenged with finding the resources to train and develop a rapidly growing volunteer workforce. That could be a tall order because, according to Independent Sector, the percentage of Americans who actually do volunteer hasn't changed much since the 1980s.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with 381 speech watchers, aged 18+, conducted Jan. 29, 2002. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points. The sample consists of 50% of respondents who identify themselves as Republicans, 25% who identify themselves as Democrats, and 25% who identify themselves as Independents. Polls conducted entirely in one day, such as this one, are subject to additional error or bias not found in polls conducted over several days.
**Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,002 national adults, aged 18+, conducted Dec. 6-9, 2001. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.
***The Gallup survey conducted on behalf of America's Promise was conducted among adults and children from October 2000 to January 2001. The adult survey was conducted by telephone among 2,824 respondents, with sampling error at the 95% level of confidence of ±2 percentage points. A total of 1,019 adults were parents of children under the age of 18, the remaining 1,805 did not have minor children. The youth survey, also conducted by telephone, was based on a national sample of 501 young persons 12 to 17 years of age, with sampling error at the 95% level of confidence of ±5 percentage points.
