Volunteer Risk Management (2026): Screening Gaps, Fraud Exposure & Volunteer Data

Volunteers keep most American charities running, and every one of them is a risk-management decision. This report pulls together the national figures that matter for that decision: how many people volunteer, what their hours are worth, how often organizations actually screen them, and how much fraud costs nonprofits when controls fail. It is part of our statistics hub on volunteer screening, and it is written for pastors, executive directors, and volunteer coordinators who need defensible numbers.

Key takeaways

The scale of formal volunteering

The most recent national survey shows that more than 28 percent of Americans, or more than 75.7 million people, formally volunteered for an organization between September 2022 and 2023. Those volunteers served an estimated 4.99 billion hours. Informal helping is even more widespread: 137.5 million people, or 54 percent of Americans, helped neighbors informally in the same period. For risk managers, the lesson is that a large share of helping happens outside any program that could screen or supervise it.

A rebound, but not back to 2019

The formal volunteering rate fell during the pandemic. The AmeriCorps research summary reports that it dropped from 30 percent in 2019 to 23 percent in 2021, the largest change since the survey began in 2002. The 2023 wave shows a partial recovery to 28.3 percent. The rebound is real, but the 2023 rate still sits below the pre-pandemic level, so staffing plans built on 2019 assumptions may be optimistic.

What volunteer hours are worth

Independent Sector, with the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland, estimated the value of a volunteer hour at $36.14 in 2025, a 3.9 percent increase from 2024. The AmeriCorps survey applied a dollar value to the 4.99 billion hours it measured, producing an economic value of $167.2 billion for the 2023 period. Using the current Independent Sector rate is the defensible choice for grant reports and annual impact statements, and it gives board members a concrete figure for what a screening program protects.

Who volunteers, and how

Volunteering is not one activity. AmeriCorps distinguishes in-person service from virtual and hybrid work, and the mix changes the risk profile. The table below summarizes the 2023 figures. Among formal volunteers, 82 percent served completely in person, averaging 64 hours, while over 13.4 million served virtually or in a hybrid format, averaging 95 hours. Youth and parents also stand out: people ages 16 to 17 had the highest formal volunteering rate, at 34.1 percent, which means youth-serving programs face heavy screening obligations.

Screening gaps: what organizations actually check

The clearest benchmark we have is a 2018 survey of 967 organizations by Sterling Volunteers. Just under half of responding organizations (47.17 percent) said they check all volunteers before they come on board, and one-third screen only some of the time. The same survey found that short-term, one-time, and infrequent volunteers were the least likely group to be screened, at 12 percent. That is a gap, because the people with the least history with an organization are the hardest to vet.

Which checks organizations run matters as much as whether they run any. The Sterling survey found that identity verification and sex offender searches were common but far from universal, and social media checks were rare. The bars below show the spread.

Identity verification is the cheapest gap to close. Our identity verification feature confirms that the person submitting a form is the person you are checking, and the run-checks workflow keeps that record in one place. For a broader policy framework, see our volunteer screening policy guide, and for the safety evidence behind screening decisions, read the volunteer safety benchmark.

Fraud exposure in a volunteer-heavy sector

Volunteer risk is not only about safety. Fraud is a growing consumer and organizational problem. Consumers reported a record $15.9 billion in losses in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024, based on about 3 million complaints. The FTC has also warned that underreporting is large: it estimated that the overall cost of fraud to consumers for 2024 could be as high as $195.9 billion. Older adults, a core constituency for many congregations and senior programs, are hit hardest: people age 50 and older reported $4.3 billion lost to fraud in 2025, compared with $2.3 billion among younger adults.

Consumer fraud losses reported to the FTC, 2023–2025 (bars scaled to $15.9B). Source: FTC 2023 release; AARP on FTC 2025 data;

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