Many Affluent Americans Volunteer

By Staff Writer

January 26, 2005 at 07:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, Jan. 26, 2005, 5:48 p.m. EST

U.S. residents who earn more than $75,000 per year are more likely than other U.S. residents to say they volunteer.[@@]

Researchers at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Minneapolis, have included figures supporting that conclusion in a report on a survey of 1,002 U.S. adults conducted in late 2004.

Researchers found that 62% of participants with annual incomes over $75,000 said they had done some kind of volunteer work in 2004 and that 57% of all participants reported doing some kind of volunteer work in 2004.

Although 80% of the participants who attend religious services weekly said acting on their moral values was an important reason to volunteer, 66% of the participants who never attend religious services said they volunteer to act on their moral values.

About 50% of the participants said giving time to a charitable cause is more important than giving money, and about 20% said giving money is more important.

Volunteers reported devoting an average of about 198 hours to volunteer work in the past year.

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