Millions of Americans say they want to volunteer, and countless nonprofits are desperately searching for help. The challenge, according to the nonprofit organization Points of Light, is getting those two groups together effectively.
Points of Light — the organization established by former President George H.W. Bush to promote community service — is preparing to announce a sweeping new plan at its annual conference in Washington on June 22.
Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of Points of Light, told The Associated Press that the group’s National Volunteer Strategy initiative marks the first phase of a $100 million effort to double the total number of volunteers in the United States to 150 million people by the year 2035.
“We believe that volunteering changes everything,” Sirangelo said. “It changes the people who serve. It uplifts the community. And we know that collectively it can change our society.”
She described the National Volunteer Strategy as Points of Light’s way of “building bridges, deepening empathy, and putting us on a path for having a more civil society where we can get along in a pluralistic environment.”
The rollout comes at a challenging moment for the volunteer sector. President Donald Trump’s administration eliminated much of AmeriCorps, the federal agency dedicated to national service and volunteerism, in 2025, wiping out thousands of jobs and forcing nonprofits to scramble for replacement workers and funding.
Those federal cuts compounded a drop in volunteerism that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many charities short-staffed even as demand for their services grew. While volunteers started returning in 2023 — the most recent year with available U.S. Census Bureau data — the 28% of the population that gave their time is still below pre-pandemic levels.
Sirangelo said the ongoing recovery in volunteerism signals that now is the right moment to launch a bold new initiative. “So many people in the industry have applauded the effort and said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this for years,’” she said. “There has been enthusiastic engagement.”
Cathy Scott, vice president for social impact at The UPS Foundation, expressed enthusiasm for the initiative, pointing to her own organization’s track record. In 2011, The UPS Foundation set a goal for company employees to collectively volunteer 30 million hours by 2030 — a target they hit in April, a full four years early.
Through its partnership with Points of Light, UPS was able to measure how volunteering boosted employee retention and workplace pride. “We know that volunteerism increases well-being,” Scott said. “And we know that doing good is good for business.”
Scott added that volunteering is proving to be a powerful antidote to isolation among workers. “We’re finding that (volunteerism) is bringing employees out of loneliness,” she said. “It’s creating additional professional networks. It is increasing skill development and talent development. It’s giving them a purpose… And people want to be part of a purpose and also find their own purpose.”
Points of Light developed its National Volunteer Strategy after a year-long listening process that included two national surveys, 23 roundtables with leaders from corporate, cultural, faith, and government sectors, and guidance from a 40-member advisory council.
What emerged from that process, Sirangelo said, was a clear picture: interest in volunteering is strong, but the infrastructure connecting willing volunteers to the organizations that need them is weak. To address that gap, Points of Light plans to invest in the millions of volunteer managers working at nonprofits across the country.
“We will invest in them and their continued growth with tools and resources that help them be effective at building those transformative volunteer experiences,” she said, noting that these managers are critical to addressing needs in areas like hunger relief, youth development, and environmental work.
Part of the strategy also involves establishing a shared set of expectations — a kind of common framework — so that both volunteers and nonprofits have a clearer understanding of what they can expect from one another.
Sirangelo was careful to note that the National Volunteer Strategy is a starting point, not an endpoint. One area still under development is how to better reach and engage Gen Z and younger generations, who have not embraced traditional volunteering at the same rates as older generations.
Alex Edgar, youth engagement manager at the history education nonprofit Made by Us and a member of the Points of Light board of directors, said young people often don’t receive credit for the volunteer work they do. Edgar, 22, is also co-founder of Youth250 at Made By Us, an initiative connecting young Americans to the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary.
“There is a hunger for (nonprofits) to have more youth-focused things, but oftentimes these local volunteer action centers don’t have the staff or resources or best practices honestly to do that well,” Edgar said. “There is interest, there is energy around bringing young people in, in part, because people see how disconnected they are, how much they distrust our institutions.”
Edgar said he hopes Points of Light can help build a framework that shows young people the career opportunities available in the nonprofit world. “It is going to be incredibly beneficial for young people who are interested in service, but may not really see much of an ecosystem out there right now, especially given the changes in funding,” he said.
While experts acknowledge that economic and cultural hurdles still stand in the way of greater youth participation, Edgar remains optimistic. “For so many young people, we’re not 100% there yet in terms of showing them, ‘This is for you. This is something that we can do with you,’” he said. “But we have to start somewhere.”
