What is the approximate number of hours you have volunteered in the last one (1) year?
(n=226)

There was a wide variety of responses to this question.  Most responses gravitated toward the two poles, with only 19% of responses falling within the middle third of answer choices (i.e., 51-100 hours).  32% of respondents volunteered less than 50 hours and 59% volunteered more than 100 hours. 

A look at the sample's subgroups reveals indications of why these polarities exist.

By Retirement Status
By Age
By Sex
By Children Living at Home

Retirement Status

Retired respondents were far more likely than non-retirees to serve more than 100 hours a year.  In our survey, 73% of retired volunteers contributed more than 100 hours of service in the previous year, while only 30% of non-retired volunteers made the same claim.  Remarkably, 42% of retired volunteers volunteered more than 200 hours a year, compared to 14% of non-retired volunteers. 

Age

Younger volunteers in our sample were more likely to serve a smaller number of hours per year than their older counterparts.  For example, only 15% of respondents ages 35-44 volunteered more than 200 hours last year, compared to 44% of respondents ages 75-84.  Inversely, 29% of 35-44 year olds served fewer than 26 hours, compared to 7% of respondents ages 75-84.  

Sex

Female respondents to our survey were more likely to have served fewer volunteer hours in the last year than were male respondents.  65% of men served 100 or more hours compared to 41% of females.  Conversely, 41% of women served 50 or fewer hours, compared to 16% of men.   

Children Living at Home

Respondents without children living in their homes were far more likely to volunteer more than 100 hours in the last year than those without children living at home.  Only 28% of respondents with children at home volunteered more than 100 hours, compared to 54% of those without children at home.