New Federal Report Ranks IC #2 and CR #15 for Volunteering

Greatest Spike in Volunteers Nationally Since 2003

The number of residents volunteering in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Technology Corridor helped place Iowa City and Cedar Rapids among the nation’s top fifteen mid-sized cities, according to a report by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The Corporation’s annual Volunteering in America report ranked Iowa City second among mid-sized cities with 50.0% of residents volunteering.  Cedar Rapids was fifteenth on the mid-sized cities list, logging 34.8% of residents volunteering.  Combined, the communities contributed more than $302 million of service.

According to the report, volunteering rises in communities with high education levels, low commute times and an engaged non-profit community.  Joe Raso, President of the Iowa City Area Development (ICAD) Group, notes many of those factors are key to economic development as well.

“For example, look at commuting time.  When companies consider locating in the Corridor, a low commute time is a benefit for both the company and their employees,” said Raso.  “Less time in the car means higher reliability and availability of workforce as well as more time for family and volunteering.”

Among 75 mid-sized cities, Provo, Utah, led the nation for the third year in a row with a 63.6 percent volunteer rate, followed by Iowa City (50.0%), Ogden, UT (47.7%), Fort Collins, CO (40.7%) and Madison, WI (40.0%).

Iowa ranked in the top six in volunteer rates among young adults (5), college students (2) and millennials (6).  “We continue to hear from interns and college students that opportunities to get involved and make a difference in the community are things they look for when considering job offers,” said Mark Seckman, president of Priority One.  “Our region’s high volunteer rate shows that we have what the Next-Gen workforce is looking for.” 

Nationally, 63.4 million Americans volunteered through a formal organization last year, giving more than 8.1 billion hours of volunteer service worth an estimated $169 billion.  For the fifth year in a row, Utah was the top volunteer state with a volunteer rate of 44.2%, followed by Iowa (37.8%), Minnesota (37.5%), Nebraska (37.4%), and Alaska (37.3%). Iowa climbed from the 5th ranked state last year to the 2nd this year.