Why volunteering is worth it

Summary

Today, Explained: Why Volunteering Is Worth It – Episode Summary

Released on November 27, 2024 by Vox's Today, Explained, hosted by Noel King and Sean Rameswaram.

---

Introduction: Rachel Cohen's Initial Skepticism

The episode opens with Noel King introducing Rachel Cohen, a seasoned Vox reporter who previously viewed volunteering as an ineffective endeavor.

• Rachel Cohen [00:06]: “I've started to see volunteering as kind of pointless. It wasn't gonna make a big difference on the things I cared about. It wasn't gonna move the needle. So I just stopped doing it.”

Rachel's perspective shifted dramatically, prompting her to re-engage with volunteering and influencing her personal and professional life.

---

The Decline of Volunteering Among Millennials and Gen Z

Noel King delves into the broader societal trends affecting volunteering, highlighting a significant decline among younger generations.

• Rachel Cohen [04:44]: "Volunteering is complicated to study, but we know it's been falling off even with the rise of all these virtual opportunities that really exploded in the pandemic."

Statistics underscore this trend:

• AmeriCorps Data: Only 20% of Gen Z volunteered compared to nearly 30% of Gen X.

This decline is explored through the lens of systemic changes and shifting attitudes toward individual versus collective action.

---

The Generosity Commission: Understanding Declines in Giving and Volunteering

Rachel discusses insights from the Generosity Commission, established by the Giving Institute in 2021 to investigate the drop in charitable activities.

• Jane Wales [05:57]: "We're depending on each other to be involved."

The commission's research points to factors such as increasing social isolation, declining church attendance, and eroding trust in institutions as root causes of reduced volunteering and giving.

---

Rachel Cohen's Journey Back to Volunteering

Faced with feelings of isolation and a desire for meaningful connection, Rachel decided to rekindle her volunteer activities.

• Rachel Cohen [08:35]: "I need to make some kind of change."

She overcame initial challenges in finding suitable volunteer opportunities by joining We Are Family, a D.C.-based nonprofit delivering groceries to low-income seniors.

• Rachel Cohen [09:55]: "It's nice to see people come and show care."

This experience not only reconnected her with her community but also inspired further philanthropic actions, such as donating blood and joining a nonprofit board.

---

The Positive Ripple Effects of Volunteering: Insights from Robert D. Putnam

Renowned Harvard professor Robert D. Putnam, author of "Bowling Alone," shares his expertise on the societal importance of volunteering and social capital.

• Robert D. Putnam [15:12]: "If you're volunteering to help somebody else, you're probably getting more benefits out of it than they do."

Putnam emphasizes that volunteering enhances personal well-being and strengthens community bonds, contributing to a healthier democracy. He elaborates on the concept of social capital and its decline over the past few decades, linking it to increased political polarization and social isolation.

• Robert D. Putnam [16:16]: "Volunteering is good for you and it's good for those around you."

He further illustrates how individual actions, like volunteering, have broader impacts on community cohesion and societal functioning.

---

Volunteering as Mutual Benefit: Personal and Societal Gains

Rachel reflects on Putnam's insights, acknowledging that her volunteer work not only benefits others but also enriches her own life.

• Rachel Cohen [11:05]: "I feel better prioritizing these things and actually making time for them."

Putnam reinforces this by highlighting the health benefits of social connections.

• Robert D. Putnam [23:43]: "Joining a club... there are huge personal benefits from connecting with other people... you'll add years to your life expectancy."

He compares the benefits of social connections to significant health factors like smoking cessation, underscoring their critical role in personal longevity and societal health.

---

Conclusion: Volunteering as a Pillar of Democracy and Personal Well-being

The episode wraps up by reinforcing the dual benefits of volunteering: enhancing individual happiness and fostering a robust, connected society.

• Robert D. Putnam [23:48]: "You're going to live longer. And also you're going to save American society."

Rachel's personal transformation exemplifies the broader narrative that volunteering is not only a means of contributing to societal good but also a pathway to personal fulfillment and improved well-being.

---

Key Takeaways

• Volunteering Decline: Younger generations are volunteering less, influenced by systemic skepticism and social isolation.
• Generosity Commission Findings: Declines in volunteering and giving are linked to broader societal issues like isolation and distrust in institutions.
• Personal Impact: Re-engaging in volunteering can significantly enhance personal well-being and foster meaningful community connections.
• Societal Benefits: Volunteering strengthens social capital, which is essential for a healthy democracy and cohesive society.
• Expert Insights: Robert D. Putnam highlights the critical role of social connections in personal health and societal stability.

---

Notable Quotes

• Rachel Cohen [00:06]: “Volunteering as kind of pointless… So I just stopped doing it.”
• Jane Wales [06:07]: "Most of my life I've been either running a nonprofit, serving in government, or volunteering myself."
• Robert D. Putnam [15:44]: “Volunteering is good for you and it's good for those around you.”
• Rachel Cohen [11:05]: “I feel better prioritizing these things and actually making time for them.”
• Robert D. Putnam [23:43]: "Joining a club... you'll add years to your life expectancy."

---

Final Thoughts

"Why Volunteering Is Worth It" serves as a compelling exploration of the personal and communal benefits of volunteering. Through Rachel Cohen's journey and expert insights from Robert D. Putnam, the episode underscores the critical role that volunteering plays in enhancing individual lives and sustaining the social fabric essential for a thriving democracy.

---

This summary was crafted based on the transcript provided and aims to encapsulate the essence of the "Why Volunteering Is Worth It" episode of Today, Explained.

Transcript

[Noel King]

Rachel Cohen had decided that volunteering her time wasn't really worth her time.

[Rachel Cohen]

I'm 32 years old, and I'd say really since I was in late high school, junior, senior year, I started to see volunteering as kind of pointless. It wasn't gonna make a big difference on the things I cared about. It wasn't gonna move the needle. So I just stopped doing it.

[Noel King]

But then she changed her mind, and then that changed.

[Rachel Cohen]

Hi, it's Rachel with We are family. I have groceries and produce ahead on.

[Noel King]

Today Explained you will need something good in 2025. And we have an idea for.

[Ashley C. Ford]

I'm Ashley C. Ford, and I host into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice produced with Vox Creative. For the past few years, I've seen a lot of hand wringing about Governor Ron DeSantis agenda to end what he calls woke indoctrination. But we wanted to know, what does that mean? And how does this agenda actually affect the people living and working there, especially those who have benefited from the divers equity and inclusion programs that DeSantis policies would uproot. Check out the latest miniseries on into the Mix of Ben and Jerry's podcast. Subscribe now.

[Noel King]

I'm Noel King with vox's Rachel Cohen. Rachel covers some of the most fraught topics in America. Abortion, childcare, housing. Then earlier this year, she wrote a more personal essay that got a very big response. It was about how she changed her mind about volunteering. Rachel had grown to think it was kind of a useless thing to do. And then she came around in a big way.

[Rachel Cohen]

Well, when I was growing up, I did volunteer. You know, I have these clear memories of bagging food at food pantries, of cleaning up parks. I actually asked my mom about this recently. Okay, mom, fact check me. What do you remember of me volunteering growing up? Well, Rach, I don't remember your volunteering to do too much around the house, but outside the house, you did a lot.

[Jane Wales]

You tutored, you visited seniors in assisted living facilities.

[Rachel Cohen]

You did park cleanup.

[Noel King]

Okay, sort of a savage burn by your mother, but you were like a little volunteer.

[Rachel Cohen]

Yeah, and then I went to College in 2010, and that was this time when all these critiques of individual action were just becoming really prominent both on campus and in society. It was the era of Occupy Wall Street.

[Noel King]

All day hall week. Occupy Wall Street.

[Rachel Cohen]

Systemic change, Bernie Sanders.

[Robert D. Putnam]

We're gonna create an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%.

[Rachel Cohen]

And I was reading writers like Naomi Klein who were saying that climate change Just wasn't going to get solved by whether you were cycled enough. And I really believed it.

[Noel King]

You can't do anything as an individual. And in fact, that very idea that we as atomized individuals, even groups of atomized individuals, could play a significant part in stabilizing the planet's climate system is objectively nuts.

[Rachel Cohen]

And it wasn't just that I felt doing the little stuff wasn't going to be helpful, but it was that actually it might be harmful. And that donating to charity or volunteering your time with these smaller things, changing your diet or, you know, focusing on your shopping bag material like that was a real distraction from the important work that we needed to be doing to upend the system and change things. And I think we saw also after 2020 there was this really big, you know, national focus on systemic change and structural problems. And all of this I think really compounded to having people just become more skeptical, cynical, doubtful about the value of volunteering.

[Noel King]

Was it just you that stopped volunteering when you were hearing those messages?

[Rachel Cohen]

No. And I mean, if you think about who really resonated with the Bernie Sanders campaign and a lot of these ideas and climate activism, it was young people, it was my generation. And it's continued to follow with Gen Z. Volunteering is complicated to study, but we know it's been falling off even with the rise of all these virtual opportunities that really exploded in the pandemic. You know, just as one stat, just 20% of Gen Z volunteered per AmeriCorps data, compared to almost 30% of Gen X. And there's actually this newish group called the Generosity Commission that formed a few years ago.

[Noel King]

The Giving Institute launched the generosity Commission in 2021 to understand what generosity looks like today and how to respond to declines in giving to and volunteering with nonprofits.

[Rachel Cohen]

Jane Wales, the Vice President of Philanthropy and society of the Aspen Institute, she served as the co chair of this commission.

[Jane Wales]

Most of my life I've been either running a nonprofit, serving in government, or volunteering myself.

[Rachel Cohen]

She's in her 70s, she's had a long career, very polished and accomplished woman, lives in San Francisco, has a little yappy dog.

[Jane Wales]

There goes the dog again.

[Rachel Cohen]

She spent many years working primarily with rich people, trying to get them to give more money. And she says that rich people today are not really the real problem.

[Jane Wales]

I think that the moment of sudden concern was when we learned that year over year, with a few exceptions, there's more money given in our society but by fewer givers. And year over year, with rare exception, more Volunteer hours have been donated by fewer volunteers.

[Noel King]

Okay, so rich people are not the problem. I never said they were. You never said they were. What is the problem? What does Jane say?

[Rachel Cohen]

Well, Jane's group, with this generosity commission, they told me that their research suggests that the decline in volunteering and, you know, charitable giving, that it's all downstream of other themes that we have sort of heard about. You know, rising social isolation, church attendance is down, less trusted institutions. We're all bowling alone.

[Jane Wales]

One of the things that's worried us is we conducted focus groups with everyday givers, everyday volunteers, and several of them said, look, the problems are too large for me to make a difference, or I'm not Bill Gates. I can't possibly make a difference. It's important to feel you can make a difference in a democracy so that you do play your role of civic engagement. We're depending on each other to be involved.

[Noel King]

All right, so Jane is speaking directly to someone like you, someone who said it isn't worth it. What made you change your mind?

[Rachel Cohen]

Well, I got that reader question about a year ago, and it made me think, you know, am I making the world a better place by not doing this stuff? Am I happier by not doing this stuff? You know, I'm busy, but I'm not that busy. I always find time for fitness classes and traveling and seeing my friends and popular TV shows. I just hadn't been carving out much time for, or any time for serving others. It's, you know, it's this strange feeling to feel busy. We're always running around with errands and juggling work and social gatherings, but at the same time, kind of disconnected from our local community. And. Yeah, so I started thinking about this loneliness recession we're always talking about. The U.S. surgeon General today declared a.

[Noel King]

New public health epidemic in America.

[Rachel Cohen]

Loneliness. I work from home most of the time, and I know, you know, federal data shows Americans spend more time alone at home than they did 20 years ago. So all of this just led me to do some hard thinking about my life and my own schedule. And I was like, I need to make some kind of change.

[Noel King]

Okay, so what'd you do?

[Rachel Cohen]

Well, I didn't really know what to do, but I was like, I'm gonna start with a New Year's resolution. So at the start of 2024, I just set a New Year's resolution to volunteer.

[Noel King]

And how did that go?

[Rachel Cohen]

Well, it was also a little harder. Thank you. I'm not really religious. I didn't have a faith institution to plug easily into vox doesn't facilitate this sort of thing. We don't have corporate volunteering events on the weekend to go to. I sent out some emails of inquiry on sites like volunteermatch.org but I didn't hear anything back. So I was kind of at a loss for a while. And eventually I stumbled on a couple of groups, including one called we are family in D.C. it's this nonprofit that's been around for 20 years. They deliver groceries once a month to low income seniors. Hi, Mr. Diaz.

[Robert D. Putnam]

Hey, how are you?

[Noel King]

How are you?

[Rachel Cohen]

I've been out with them a few times now. The people are really sweet. Have your produce.

[Noel King]

Thank you.

[Jane Wales]

Yeah.

[Rachel Cohen]

How are you doing?

[Noel King]

I'm fine. How are you? Good, I hope. Well, that's next month. What I was going to say. I hope you have a good holiday.

[Rachel Cohen]

Oh, you too.

[Noel King]

I'm anticipating myself.

[Rachel Cohen]

Oh, that's great. Yeah, you too. I'll see you next month.

[Robert D. Putnam]

You as well.

[Noel King]

I like that, Rachel. I like that a lot.

[Rachel Cohen]

Me too. It's. It was really nice. He's really nice. And they all are just. I mean, not everyone wants to talk, you know, for a while, but many of them do. And many of them seem, you know, it's nice to see people come and show care. Yeah, that's kind of the idea behind it.

[Robert D. Putnam]

Yeah.

[Noel King]

Tell me about this group.

[Rachel Cohen]

The group was co founded by this guy, Mark Anderson. He directs it now, but he originally started out as a volunteer.

[Jane Wales]

Everybody, unless it says produce only, which means they just get produce. Everybody gets a plastic bag of nonperishables.

[Rachel Cohen]

I asked Mark after the last time I went what he's learned about recruiting and retaining volunteers since. For so many other groups, it seems like it's gotten harder than it used to be. But we, our family has kind of been able to buck the trend and they really do seem to continue to be able to engage loyal volunteers.

[Jane Wales]

Essentially, if volunteers have a meaningful experience and for us, we would ideally prefer that it would be a transformative experience that they, at the end of it, they look at the world in a different way and they feel part of it in a different way, then they tend to come back.

[Rachel Cohen]

And I mean, the experience has been meaningful to me and I've been coming back. It definitely caught some sort of charitable bug through this. I have donated blood three times this year after having never donated before. And I recently accepted an invitation to join a local nonprofit board, which I'm really excited about as kind of a new way to get involved. So, yeah, it's been a really positive shift and I Just, I feel better prioritizing these things and actually making time for them.

[Noel King]

You know, I'm very happy for you. It sounds like you changed your own life for the better. I want to ask you about something that you said earlier, which was when you were in college, you got the sense that volunteering really didn't mean anything. In a larger sense, is volunteering just a form of you taking care of yourself, or do you feel like the volunteering you're doing actually does have a larger purpose?

[Rachel Cohen]

I think one of the ways that I've come to think about this question is I just don't think we're actually better off when people withhold their time and their generosity. It's not an either or. It's definitely not about giving up political work or collective change. But I think for me, I think I was wrong. I think we've been wrong in concluding that those smaller acts of service were really the stealthy impediments to the broader world we want to build. And I think actually they go together. And demonizing individual action as inconsequential or harmful was a mistake. These things do matter. I'm not solving our blood shortage, but it means someone who needs it can get help that week. Overall, I think it helps to not look at volunteering as something where you need to find that absolutely perfect activity that fulfills all your virtuous desires and perfectly utilizes all your skills. And maybe you won't even really like the first thing you do, but maybe through that you discover something else that you really do find meaningful. And I mean, contrary to what Mark Anders said earlier about how it has to be transformative, I think there's value in just doing something in that, you know, broad world of service, care and volunteering. And yeah, I think that's absolutely worth your time.

[Noel King]

Rachel Cohen, thanks so much for volunteering to take the time for us today.

[Rachel Cohen]

Thank you so much.

[Ashley C. Ford]

Hey there. I'm Ashley C. Ford and I host into the Mix a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice produced with Vox Creative. I don't know about you, but I've seen a lot of headlines about how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to end what he calls woke indoctrination. Like in 2021, when Florida passed the so called Stop Woke act that would limit how schools and businesses could talk about race and sexual identity. But we wanted to ask, how does it affect the actual people and business owners in Florida? To find out, I talked to a man named Antonio McBroom. Antonio is a black business owner who says he found purpose in uplifting marginalized people. He even started his own company with a mission to help people like him navigate bias in the workplace.

[Robert D. Putnam]

If we literally cannot address the real challenges of our marketplace, the real challenges historically that have led to this, if we can't be intentional and talk about that in the workplace, it's a threat to our democracy.

[Ashley C. Ford]

Hear the story of how he and other business owners put the Stop Woke act in legal limbo. Subscribe to into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast. This is Dave, Today Explained.

[Noel King]

This is dead. We're listening to Today Explained.

[Robert D. Putnam]

I'm Robert D. Putnam, but nobody calls me Robert. Nobody who knows me calls me Robert. They call me Bob, and I am a retired professor at Harvard University and I write books.

[Noel King]

25 years ago, Bob wrote a book called Bowling Alone. It was grounded in data, and it offered a simple premise. Once upon a time, Americans joined bowling leagues. Now they're going bowling by themselves. He extended the metaphor, positing that our declining social connections were leading to a decline in our democratic society. Lonely Americans, he wrote, are not great for America. The book was a strike. It's still influential today. Bob Putnam is nothing if not game. And so we asked him to read Rachel's essay and to give us his thoughts.

[Robert D. Putnam]

I rejoice in millennials volunteering, one on one, for many reasons. It's good for the people they're helping, but it's also good for them. There's a lot of evidence that if you're volunteering to help somebody else, you're probably getting more benefits out of it than they do because there are all sorts of, I mean, even physiological changes. But certainly people, after you volunteered, you're happier than if you hadn't volunteered. And probably also the person you're helping is better off.

[Noel King]

Rachel essentially is writing, and you've just said the same thing. Volunteering is good for the person who is doing the volunteering. Right?

[Robert D. Putnam]

Correct.

[Noel King]

Is that the reason to volunteer?

[Robert D. Putnam]

It's one reason to volunteer. You don't have to choose between the reasons. It's good for you and it's good for those around you. In writing the book Bowling Alone, I talked about a lot of the consequences of our connections with other people, both our actual in person connections and our connections through, you know, political organizations or whatever. And that is a community in which people are more connected with one another. The whole community functions better, not just the two people involved in a given exchange. But let me give an example from education. If I, as a parent, get involved in my child's school, I join the PTA or I volunteer in the classroom or whatever that turns out to be good for my child. But the astonishing thing is my getting involved has even more effect on the success and the happiness and so on of other kids in the school, even the kids I don't actually see. That's this external effect, if I can put it that way. And in some sense, that's the big picture of Bowling Alone. And it's why I don't want to claim that I'm a prophet, but in the book Bowling Alone, which was written almost 30 years ago, 25 to 30 years ago, I talked about the decline in these connections, decline in what I called social capital. And I said, gosh, if this continues, it's going to be bad for American democracy. You know, we're going to have more polarized politics and so on. That was 30 years ago. And the reason that there's now a little bit of a new wave of interest in my work is that I turned out to be right. I mean, even more right than I thought. And if you've not noticed, American politics is in a pickle right now. And then the fundamental reason for that is because for the last 30 or 40 years, we as a country have become less and less connected with one another. In my jargon, less and less social capital. Does that make sense?

[Noel King]

It does make sense. Does the data bear it out because it feels like we're more isolated now? It definitely does. And it felt that way when you wrote Bowling Alone 25 years ago. Is it true?

[Robert D. Putnam]

Yes. Once upon a time, there was a debate, you know, probably now, 25 years ago, there was a thought that maybe, well, we don't actually have to be in somebody's presence. We could, you know, see them on zoom or, you know, that social media would be just as good as actual social connections. For quite a while, the evidence has been that Facebook is not as good as bowling leagues. That is, you don't get the same benefit from connecting with people via social media as you do from actually connecting with them face to face. That's what the evidence has shown. I can tell you when public opinion on that changed. And it was just about November 25th of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and everybody in America realized that hugging grandma was not the same thing as actually seeing. Seeing grandma over zoom. And it isn't.

[Noel King]

Okay? So at the moment, we're at a low point for social connection. What brought us here?

[Robert D. Putnam]

In the beginning of the 20th century, around about 1900, America was very polarized politically. Our politics were tribal, we were very unequal. It was economically big gap between the rich who are living on the Upper east side of New York and the huddled masses, poor immigrants on the Lower east side of Manhattan, Big gaps between rich and poor. We were very socially disconnected. And actually also, although I don't want to focus on this too much, it's a true fact, we were culturally very, very much self centered. We were a kind of an I society rather than a we society. We didn't think of ourselves as having a lot in common. And then beginning about 1910, none of these things are super exact. But about 1910, all of those things began to change and they moved in a different, better direction for a half century and more so from roughly 1910 to roughly 1965 or 1970, every year we became less polarized politically, less socially isolated, less unequal or more equal and more of a sense of a we society. So we went from being an I Society around 1900 to being a WE Society around, roughly speaking, 1965. And the movements of the 1960s which you referred to, but no doubt you don't remember. I do remember that period that was the culmination of a half century long increase in political participation, increase in connecting with other people, increase in cooperation across party lines, increase in equality. And then, and I have to say this, this is just about the time when I personally began to vote. So you may think I personally brought these problems on America in the middle 60s. All those lines turned. And for the next half century, up to now, every year we got more socially isolated, more politically disconnected, more unequal. We lost it all.

[Noel King]

At some point in her life, Rachel stopped volunteering. Many people have done the same. I am one of those people, incidentally. But when she started volunteering again, she found that it really helped her. If the idea is we do have to get people back to volunteering for the sake of society, yes. Could it work to sell joining clubs, volunteering in person, engagement, as this will make you feel good, I promise. And the side effect is that it's good for society, it's good for democracy. But if you're going to do it, do it for yourself, think of it as a kind of self care.

[Robert D. Putnam]

The danger to your life expectancy from social isolation is as big a risk factor for premature death as smoking. Now, you probably don't smoke, but if you did smoke and you had a choice, should I cut smoking or should I join a club? By all means, join the club. There are huge personal benefits from connecting with other people, including joining. So the reason that you or Rachel or anybody else, the most important reason actually that you should connect with other people, you will add years to your life expectancy.

[Noel King]

You're going to live longer. And also you're going to save American society.

[Robert D. Putnam]

By the way, you're also going to save American democracy. That's right.

[Noel King]

Robert Putnam. You won't find him bowling alone. Myles Bryan knew that you needed something good in 2025. He produced today's show, Matthew Collette edited, Laura Bullard, Fact Checked, and Patrick Boyd engineered. The rest of our team includes Avishai Artsy, Halima Shah, Peter Balan, Rosen, Hadi Moagdi, Victoria Chamberlain, Andrea Christian's daughter, and Rob Byers. Aminah El Saadi is a supervising editor. Miranda Kennedy is our executive producer and we use music by Master Cylinder Are you thankful for Sean Rama's firm this holiday season? I sure am. Why don't you drop him a five star review on Apple and tell him I sent you? We'll be off tomorrow, so you have plenty of time. Today Explained is distributed by WNYC and the show is a part of vox. You can support our journalism by joining our membership program. Go to vox.commembers to sign up. Our archives, like Our Hearts are free and open to the public, as it should be. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I'm Noel King for Today Explained.

[Ashley C. Ford]

I'm Ashley C. Ford and I host into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice produced with Vox Creative. When I first heard about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis passing something called the Stop Woke Act, I was curious what that would actually look like beyond just political rhetoric. In many reports, this new law would limit how people could talk about race and sexual identity at work and in school, which could basically uproot diversity, equity and inclusion programs. So I wanted to talk to someone caught in the middle of all this, like Antonio McBroom, a black business owner who sued the state of Florida because, as he sees it, the Stop Woke act hurts businesses like his that want to intentionally uplift marginalized people in the workplace. Check out into the Mix, Aben and Jerry's podcast, new episodes out now.