Volunteerism greatly benefits our community, but it also benefits the person volunteering! You’d be surprised at all the benefits – just check out this list below:
Benefits to the Community
- improved quality of life measures
- support for our local nonprofits, including 25% of which have absolutely no paid staff
- increased service capacity (i.e. more meals served, more litter picked up, more books read to youth, etc.)
- the average value of one hour of volunteer time in Oregon is $17.33
Benefits to the Volunteer
- Learn or develop new skills
- Develop and interact with a new social network - both personal and professional
- Improve your health – people who volunteer on a regular basis are proven to less likely suffer from heart disease, less likely suffer from depression, visit the doctor/hospital less often, and live over a year longer than non-volunteers
- Be a part of your community and making it a better place
- Students who volunteer receive higher grades and are less likely to drop out or get in trouble than students who don’t volunteer
- Explore new interests and hobbies
- Generate a sense of achievement
- Build your resume and boost career options
- 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without
- 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted
- Setting a good example for your children – kids with parents that volunteer are 80-90% more likely to volunteer as adults than children without volunteering parents.
- But mostly…..IT FEELS GOOD!