During my adult life I’ve lived in all four regions of the United States. Each of them has its distinct positive aspects (along with a few not-so-positive ones).
Of course, these differences are part of what makes living in America so interesting.
One regional difference I’ve noticed is a greater predilection for volunteerism among people who live in the Midwest and Western regions.
That anecdotal observation on my part has now been confirmed by the results of a consumer survey conducted in late 2012 by New York-based Scarborough Research.
In broad terms, Scarborough found that approximately 27% of American adults reported having participated in some form of volunteer activities over the previous year.
That percentage breaks down further by demographic age clusters as follows:
- All Adults: ~27% have volunteered during the past year
- Baby Boomers (age 45-64): ~34%
- Gen Xers (age 30-44): ~27%
- Millennials (age 18-29): ~20%
- Silent Generation (age 65+): ~18%
Looking more closely at the 27% of respondents who volunteers, the Scarborough research revealed that, while volunteerism is found throughout the United States, certain urban markets have a distinctly larger proportion of their population so involved.
And when you look at the list – and Scarborough studied more than 85 local markets – you’re hard-pressed to find any of them located east of the Mississippi River. Instead, the list is completely skewed towards the Midwest and West:
- Salt Lake City, UT: ~42% of adults have volunteered during the past 12 months
- Des Moines, IA: ~34%
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN: ~34%
- Portland, OR: ~34%
- Grand Rapids, MI: ~33%
- San Francisco, CA: ~33%
- Seattle, WA: ~33%
- Green Bay, WI: ~32%
Which urban markets are at the bottom of Scarborough’s list? All of them are located in coastal states:
- Ft. Myers, FL: ~22% of adults have volunteered
- Las Vegas, NV: ~22%
- New Orleans, LA: ~22%
- Bakersfield, CA: ~21%
- El Paso, TX: ~21%
- Harlington, TX: ~20%
- Miami, FL: ~20%
- Providence, RI: ~20%
Scarborough also found that those who volunteer their time tend to be more generous with their financial support:
- They are ~84% more likely to have contributed to an arts or cultural organization within the past year
- … ~61% more likely to contribute to an environmental organization
- … ~60% more likely to financially support a social care, welfare or political organization
- … ~57% more likely to have contributed to a religious organization
More details on the Scarborough Research findings, including stats for more than 85 local markets, can be found here.
Nones Notes 
Nice stats, but what to do with them?
The non-profit business, after all, is a business. That’s the longest word in it. And without it being a business you would not have a Scarborough study and you wouldn’t call it a market.
When you look at all this from the ‘other side’ you might determine that the best thing that can happen for the non-profit business is as many problems as possible. An odd thing about that, though, is that poverty and drugs, earthquakes and detrimental circumstances of any type represent a special type of market, because the people or animals or landscapes or neighborhoods afflicted by them are not the ones to make the ‘purchasing decisions’.
The not-for-profit corporations sell their promises to grant-givers, such as governmental agencies and corporate donors. These are the true target audience.
The poor and otherwise down-and-out people, places and things have little or nothing to say.
It’s a little like the so-called “free market economy” … which is none of what it says it is.