Contents
- Volunteer retention statistics: observed year-over-year nonprofit retention benchmarks
- Volunteer retention statistics: likelihood of staying by volunteer age, frequency, and health
- Volunteer retention statistics: how support, satisfaction, and volunteer experience relate to staying
- Volunteer retention statistics: reasons volunteers consider leaving
- Volunteer retention statistics: nonprofit organizations’ volunteer recruitment and retention challenges
- Volunteer retention statistics: management practices and volunteer engagement capacity
- Sources
Volunteer retention statistics: observed year-over-year nonprofit retention benchmarks
Volunteer retention can describe more than one measure. In the Do Good Institute’s 2023 report, the retention rate is defined as the percentage of volunteers from a previous year who volunteered in a given year. This is an observed return between cohorts, as reported by nonprofit CEOs; it differs from an individual volunteer’s stated likelihood of quitting. The report gives median rates of 60% for volunteers retained from 2019 into 2020 and 70% from 2020 into 2021. It also cites a historical median of 80% in 2003. These are figures for the periods named, not present-day estimates. Source: The State of Volunteer Engagement, p. 19
The medians compress a spread of organizational reports. For the 2019 cohort, respondents placed the share retained in 2020 across five bands. For the early-2021 cohort, the report gives the first three bands for retention through mid-2022 in the checked observations below. Each figure is the percentage of nonprofit respondents reporting that band for their own volunteer cohort, not the proportion of all volunteers represented by the band. Source: The State of Volunteer Engagement, Figure 13, p. 19
| Share of prior cohort retained | 2019 volunteers retained in 2020 | Early-2021 volunteers retained by mid-2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 0–20% | 16.5% | 13.3% |
| 21–40% | 14.6% | 8.1% |
| 41–60% | 19.2% | 18.3% |
| 61–80% | 24.6% | — |
| 81–100% | 25% | — |
The early-2021 distribution entries shown here are not a complete series in the checked observations, so the table does not imply values for its unlisted bands. These cohort distributions and the reported medians answer related but distinct questions: the bands show how nonprofit respondents described retention at their organizations, while the median summarizes the reported rate across organizations. Differences in cohort and observation period also matter when interpreting the figures. Source: The State of Volunteer Engagement, Figure 13, p. 19
Volunteer retention statistics: likelihood of staying by volunteer age, frequency, and health
A 2025 SCVO Workforce Survey asked volunteers how likely they were to quit their main current volunteering role in the next year or two. Among 441 volunteer respondents, 27% said “Highly unlikely” and 28% “Quite unlikely.” Another 14% chose the neutral response, printed in the report as “Neither unlikely not likely”; 18% were “Quite likely” and 8% “Highly likely.” A further 6% selected “Don’t know.” These categories capture stated intentions over a defined future window, rather than actual departures or cohort retention. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, Figure 24, p. 33
The checked figures do not provide age or volunteering-frequency breakdowns. They do include comparisons by long-term health condition (LTHC). Among respondents without an LTHC, 58% selected “Unlikely” to quitting and 25% selected “Likely.” Among respondents with an LTHC, 48% selected “Unlikely” and 28% “Likely.” The report’s labels are retained here: these are response shares within the health subgroups, not observed retention rates. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, p. 36
| SCVO volunteer subgroup | “Unlikely” to quit | “Likely” to quit |
|---|---|---|
| Without a long-term health condition | 58% | 25% |
| With a long-term health condition | 48% | 28% |
The subgroup comparison is descriptive. It reports how people answered about their current role over the next year or two, and does not establish why responses differ or predict what any individual will do. Health status is one of the available cuts; age and frequency are named in the requested topic but have no checked observations here. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, p. 36
Volunteer retention statistics: how support, satisfaction, and volunteer experience relate to staying
In the same SCVO survey, intention to leave varied across answers to whether volunteers felt supported. Among those agreeing that they felt supported, 62% said they were unlikely to leave and 20% said they were likely to leave. Among those neutral about feeling supported, 42% said they were unlikely to leave. Among those disagreeing that they felt supported, 27% said they were unlikely to leave and 54% said they were likely to leave. The outcome is still stated intention for the next year or two, and the figures describe associations in survey responses; they do not show that support alone caused an intention or departure. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, pp. 36–37, section 6.7 and Figure 29
The report also presents support responses alongside health status. Among volunteers without a long-term health condition who agreed they felt supported, 67% were “Highly / quite unlikely” to leave. Among volunteers with a long-term health condition who disagreed they felt supported, 58% were “Highly / quite likely” to leave. Figure 32 shows n=457 for the figure. These are specific combinations of subgroup and support response, rather than overall percentages for everyone with or without a health condition. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, Figure 32, p. 39
A further comparison concerns ethnicity among respondents who disagreed that they felt supported. In Figure 31, 62% of the White Ethnicity subgroup were “Highly / quite likely” to leave; the corresponding figure for the “Other ethnic group” was 67%. Figure 31 shows n=457. The reported categories and subgroup labels are reproduced as given, and the numbers should be read as survey response comparisons, not as evidence that ethnicity or support independently determines volunteer retention. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, Figure 31, p. 38
Volunteer retention statistics: reasons volunteers consider leaving
Among SCVO respondents considering quitting their volunteer role, the most frequently listed reason in the checked figures was feeling they had “done their bit,” reported by 44%. Changing personal circumstances followed at 40%, and wanting more time for other interests at 33%. The question concerns reasons among people already considering quitting, not all volunteers. The listed reasons can overlap; the percentages should not be treated as mutually exclusive parts of a whole. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, section 6.8, p. 39
Other reasons in the same section were stress (25%), “Other” (22%), feeling unable to make the difference wanted (19%), and lack of appreciation (18%). Dissatisfaction with management was cited by 14%, financial pressures related to cost of living by 13%, and health issues by 10%. The reported base for people considering quitting is n=114 in the checked figure description. These are respondents’ stated reasons and do not establish the relative contribution of each factor to an eventual departure. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, section 6.8, p. 39
The range of answers spans personal timing and circumstances, the perceived value of the contribution, and experiences within the organization. That makes the list useful as a description of what respondents considering leaving reported. It is not a ranked causal model: percentages are not estimates of how many departures any single organizational change would prevent. The survey’s reason results should also remain separate from the broader intention-to-quit distribution, which includes respondents who were not considering leaving. Source: Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey, sections 6.7–6.8, pp. 36, 39
Volunteer retention statistics: nonprofit organizations’ volunteer recruitment and retention challenges
An Ontario Nonprofit Network member survey asked whether organizations had volunteer recruitment or retention challenges between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024. In the 2024 survey, 46% answered “Yes,” 47% “No,” and 7% “Not sure.” The report describes a convenience sample of 1,001 organizations surveyed June 12–July 17, 2024. These responses summarize participating Ontario nonprofits’ reports about the specified 12-month period; they are not a population-wide estimate for every nonprofit. Source: Ontario Nonprofit Network Member Survey 2024: Topline Report, Q36, p. 36
Among the 448 organizations reporting recruitment or retention challenges, 75% cited difficulty recruiting new volunteers. Other frequently reported factors were a lack of people responsible for volunteer recruitment (51%), volunteers retiring (48%), difficulty attracting youth volunteers (43%), and difficulty convincing previous volunteers to return (39%). The base is organizations that reported challenges, not all survey respondents. Source: Ontario Nonprofit Network Member Survey 2024: Topline Report, Q37, p. 36
| Reported challenge among Ontario nonprofits with challenges | Share of that group |
|---|---|
| Difficulty recruiting new volunteers | 75% |
| Lack of people responsible for volunteer recruitment | 51% |
| Volunteers retiring | 48% |
| Difficulty attracting youth volunteers | 43% |
| Difficulty convincing previous volunteers to return | 39% |
| Burden of police record checks for volunteering | 18% |
| Volunteers concerned about health and safety | 13% |
The final two factors in the table were cited by 18% and 13%, respectively, of Ontario respondents reporting challenges. Taken together, the answers show that the survey question covered both recruitment and retention, while the listed factors include finding new volunteers, bringing prior volunteers back, staffing responsibility, and other practical concerns. They remain reports of challenges, not measured volunteer exit rates. Source: Ontario Nonprofit Network Member Survey 2024: Topline Report, Q37, p. 36
Volunteer retention statistics: management practices and volunteer engagement capacity
The Do Good Institute’s 2022 study reported that 63% of nonprofits involving volunteers had a paid staff member, or volunteer engagement professional (VEP), who managed volunteers. The report also says the median VEP spent between 40% and 50% of their time on volunteer engagement in 2022. These figures describe reported management capacity: having a staff member responsible for volunteer engagement and the share of that person’s time devoted to it. They do not directly measure retention outcomes. Source: The State of Volunteer Engagement, p. 4
Nonprofit CEOs in the 2022 survey also identified recruitment and availability as major problems. Some 46.8% said recruiting sufficient volunteers was a big problem for their organization. A further 38.4% said it was a big problem to find volunteers available during the traditional workday, and 35.4% said finding volunteers with necessary skills was a big problem. The denominator is CEO respondents in that survey, and “big problem” is the reported response level. Source: The State of Volunteer Engagement, p. 5
These management-capacity and challenge measures provide organizational context for the individual survey findings. The SCVO figures describe volunteers’ intentions and reported reasons; the Ontario survey records organizations’ challenges over a defined year; and the Do Good Institute reports nonprofit CEOs’ cohort retention and management responses. Because the measures, populations, and periods differ, they should be used as complementary views of volunteer engagement rather than combined into a single benchmark. Sources: The State of Volunteer Engagement, pp. 4–5, 19; Volunteer Experience: Analysis of the SCVO Workforce Survey; Ontario Nonprofit Network Member Survey 2024: Topline Report