Key Takeaways:
Points of Light unveiled a $100 million National Volunteer Strategy, a plan to nearly double the number of U.S. volunteers to 150 million by 2035.
The first phase invests in nonprofit infrastructure and shared standards to help organizations recruit, manage, and keep volunteers.
The group says the gap is not interest but connection. Americans want to volunteer and nonprofits need them, yet the systems linking the two are thin.
Points of Light, the nonprofit founded to promote national service, unveiled a $100 million plan it says will nearly double the number of volunteers in the United States to 150 million by 2035. The first phase, called the National Volunteer Strategy, spends less on recruiting individuals and more on fixing the nonprofit infrastructure that is supposed to put them to work, according to the Associated Press.
The premise is that the bottleneck is not willingness. Americans say they want to give their time, and nonprofits badly need the help, but the connective tissue between the two has worn thin. Many organizations lack the tools, training, and standards to bring volunteers in and keep them engaged, so interest leaks away before it turns into hours served.
The money goes toward volunteer managers, the often-overlooked staff who coordinate everyone else, and toward shared standards meant to make volunteering more consistent from one group to the next. Points of Light is treating volunteer engagement as a system to be built rather than a feeling to be summoned, the same infrastructure-first logic showing up across the nonprofit world right now.
Chief executive Jennifer Sirangelo framed the effort as bigger than hours and head counts, describing it as a way to build bridges and deepen empathy in a divided country, putting people back in the habit of working alongside neighbors who are not like them.
The timing is pointed. Federal support for the safety net is shrinking, which is part of why WYDE has tracked the summer hunger gap hitting families as food aid is cut, and why fresh energy keeps flowing toward the groups that hold communities together, including creators turning their audiences into donors. A volunteer base of 150 million would be a different kind of capital, the kind measured in time. Worth watching whether the infrastructure bet pays off.
People Also Ask
What is the National Volunteer Strategy?
It is the first phase of a $100 million Points of Light plan to nearly double the number of U.S. volunteers to 150 million by 2035, focused on strengthening nonprofit infrastructure.
Who is behind the volunteer plan?
Points of Light, a national service nonprofit led by chief executive Jennifer Sirangelo, announced the strategy at its annual conference in June 2026.
Why do nonprofits struggle to use volunteers?
Points of Light says interest in volunteering is high, but many nonprofits lack the staff, tools, and standards to recruit, manage, and retain volunteers, so willing people are never put to work.
How many Americans volunteer now?
Points of Light aims to reach 150 million U.S. volunteers by 2035, a target it describes as roughly double the current level.
Sources: Associated Press, Chronicle of Philanthropy