More than 400,000 Idahoans volunteered in 2020-21

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - More than 408,000 Idahoans spent 705,000 hours as volunteers from September 2020 to September 2021, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Volunteering and Civic Life in America research, their time and effort was worth more than $991 million in economic value for the state of Idaho.

Idaho NonProfit Center CEO Kevin Bailey believes Idaho is fortunate to have citizens who are “motivated to make a difference in their communities through volunteerism, philanthropy and civic engagement.”

“We are grateful for the volunteers, donors and nonprofit staffers who give back to their local communities,” Bailey said. “Idaho relies heavily on nonprofits to deliver the quality of life that our state’s residents have come to expect."

The most recent results find more than half of Americans, or 124.7 million people, informally helped their neighbors at least once in the past year. Additionally, more than 23% of Americans, or 60.7 million people, formally volunteered with an organization, resulting in 4.1 billion hours of service with an estimated economic value of $122.9 billion.