Miller

A self-confessed optimist, Miller cited several reasons why he believes he is engaged in anything but wishful thinking as he presented the Addison Locke Roache Memorial Lecture recently at IUPUI.

Some 44 percent of adult Americans already volunteer at least once a year, says the man who now serves as chairman of the Points of Light Foundation. Miller is also chairman and president of SLM Discovery Ventures.

“Today, it is estimated that 84 million adults—44 percent of all adults—volunteer some 15 billion hours of their personal time,” he said. “That’s equivalent to more than nine million employees working full time with a market value of nearly $250 billion, according to the Independent Sector.

“Doubling the number of volunteer hours would have a tremendous impact on the quality of life in our communities,” he said.

Americans are inclined to volunteer, he contends, because volunteerism is part of their genetic makeup, stemming from pioneering days when people had to turn to each other to for help.

“Two-thirds of Americans think most of the country’s major social problems are due to the fact that we are disconnected from one another,” Miller continued. “If we double the number of people in volunteering, which is basically people who are connected, we would make real headway on issues like homelessness and drug abuse.”

Since Americans are ready to volunteer, particularly when they personally see the need to do so, the challenge is how to make volunteering more systemic for those who may volunteer their time only once or twice a year and how to engage those who have yet to volunteer.

Miller quickly rattled off volunteering scenarios for major segments of society:

• For seniors, it is about getting them engaged in community programs, which in many cases they likely would benefit from as they grew older. This would help establish levels of service activity that would benefit growing numbers of older Americans.

• For families, volunteering is a great way for them to grow together. Any project will do, and it creates a reason, purpose and time for the family to come together.

• For people who are homebound, the Internet could be used to enable them to “virtually volunteer,” providing a range of mentoring and teaching activities, and giving these individuals a real chance to contribute and connect again with the outside world.

• For schoolchildren, volunteer centers could be established in schools, so children would learn as part of the curriculum that volunteering is part of one’s life. Volunteering provides great teamwork opportunities as well as a sense of identity; volunteering projects could also become an important part of after-school programs.

There are challenges to increasing the number of volunteers, Miller acknowledges.

Among them, are people who say they don’t know how to volunteer or who to contact. Bad experiences are another obstacle, he added.

“Just showing up on the doorstep of Habitat for Humanity doesn’t necessarily ensure you’ve got yourself a great experience ahead. You may have great skills, but they may have nothing to do with constructing a home.”

Another challenge is getting nonprofit agencies to work together more often.

And it’s vitally important for nonprofits to become more professional at matching the right people with the right jobs and to create an environment where people want to volunteer, Miller said.

Those kinds of problems can be overcome once there is a better understanding regarding the “huge payout” that’s associated with volunteers, Miller said.

For every dollar a non-profit is able to spend on professional staff who can appropriately channel the skills and talents of volunteers, there is a $10 return in goods and services that would otherwise have to be provided, most likely by government.

“As a businessman, I can tell you there aren’t many opportunities where there is a chance to get a 10 to one return on an investment.”