North Carolina’s formal volunteering rate was 24.9% among residents age 16 and older in 2023, below the national rate of 28.3%. At the same time, AmeriCorps programs reported hundreds of participants, thousands of service locations and more than $57 million in total investment for the April 20, 2023–April 18, 2024 reporting period. Together, these measures show both the scale of everyday volunteering and the infrastructure supporting organized service.
Contents
- How many North Carolinians volunteer
- North Carolina AmeriCorps participation
- Volunteer projects and service locations
- Funding and education awards
- North Carolina senior volunteer programs
- Volunteering trends and long-term service
How many North Carolinians volunteer
The latest statewide measure in this set comes from 2023. The United Health Foundation’s Volunteerism in North Carolina reports that 24.9% of North Carolina residents age 16 and older said they had volunteered during the prior 12 months. North Carolina ranked 41st among states on that 2023 formal-volunteering measure.
The comparison with the United States is important. North Carolina’s 24.9% rate was 3.4 percentage points below the U.S. rate of 28.3% in 2023. This is a participation measure: it describes the share of the population reporting volunteer activity in the prior year, rather than the number of projects, hours or organizations involved.
The same source reports a lower North Carolina rate in its 2021 measure. In that year, 22.8% of residents age 16 and older reported volunteering during the prior 12 months, and the state ranked 33rd among states. The U.S. rate was 23.2%, putting North Carolina 0.4 percentage points below the national figure.
| Measure | North Carolina | U.S. comparison or rank | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residents age 16+ reporting volunteering | 24.9% | 3.4 points below 28.3% | 2023 |
| State position on formal volunteering | — | 41st among states | 2023 |
| Residents age 16+ reporting volunteering | 22.8% | 0.4 points below 23.2% | 2021 |
| State position on volunteering | — | 33rd among states | 2021 |
These two snapshots should be read as separate reported measures, not as a complete time series. The 2023 result is 2.1 percentage points higher than the 2021 result, while the state’s reported rank moved from 33rd to 41st. The source labels the figures by measurement year; they do not by themselves explain why the rate or rank changed.
Participation also varied by age and income in 2023. Among North Carolina adults age 65 and older, 23.1% reported volunteering during the prior 12 months. The Volunteerism - Age 65+ in North Carolina measure ranked North Carolina 36th among states for volunteering by older adults.
Among residents age 16 and older with annual household income below $25,000, 14.5% reported volunteering in 2023. That figure comes from the Volunteerism by State: Less Than $25,000 measure. The age and income statistics describe defined subgroups, so they should not be treated as the statewide rate for all residents.
North Carolina AmeriCorps participation
AmeriCorps provides a different lens: organized national service reported through program categories and investment reports. In the National Service in North Carolina: 2023 Investment Report, programs in the state had 642 participants during April 20, 2023–April 18, 2024.
The report breaks that total into 128 AmeriCorps National participants, 430 AmeriCorps State participants, 66 AmeriCorps VISTA participants and 18 Public Health AmeriCorps participants. These are program counts for the investment-report period, not a count of every North Carolinian who volunteered in 2023.
The National Service in North Carolina: 2023 Year in Review uses a broader accounting frame. It counted 3,727 AmeriCorps members and volunteers in 2023, including 450 AmeriCorps program members and volunteers and 264 AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers across its listed senior programs. Because the investment report and Year in Review use different reporting frames, their totals should not be combined or treated as contradictory without additional methodology.
For comparison, the 2022 Year in Review counted 3,705 AmeriCorps members and volunteers and 297 AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers across its listed senior programs. The reported total member-and-volunteer count was therefore 3,705 in 2022 and 3,727 in 2023, while the reported AmeriCorps Seniors count was 297 in 2022 and 264 in 2023.
Volunteer projects and service locations
The 2023 investment report covered 73 AmeriCorps projects and 1,314 AmeriCorps service locations in North Carolina during April 20, 2023–April 18, 2024. A service location is a place connected with reported program activity; it is not necessarily a unique organization or a count of volunteers.
| AmeriCorps category | Projects | Service locations | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| AmeriCorps National | 24 | 377 | 128 |
| AmeriCorps State | 17 | 728 | 430 |
| AmeriCorps VISTA | 23 | 136 | 66 |
| Public Health AmeriCorps | 9 | 73 | 18 |
| Reported investment-report total | 73 | 1,314 | 642 |
AmeriCorps National operated 24 projects and had 377 service locations. AmeriCorps State operated 17 projects and had 728 locations. AmeriCorps VISTA operated 23 projects and had 136 locations. Public Health AmeriCorps operated 9 projects and had 73 locations. The category figures preserve the report’s program structure and period.
The 2023 Year in Review listed 714 service locations, a separate reported count from the 1,314 locations in the investment report. The difference reinforces the need to name the report and measurement period when citing a service-location statistic.
Funding and education awards
AmeriCorps reported total 2023 investment in North Carolina of $57,037,201 for April 20, 2023–April 18, 2024. The program-level federal funding figures were $2,323,531 for AmeriCorps National, $16,785,064 for AmeriCorps State, $1,896,579 for AmeriCorps VISTA and $1,229,321 for Public Health AmeriCorps.
The same report listed education awards connected with participants: $3,710,936 for AmeriCorps National, $3,926,713 for AmeriCorps State, $562,718 for AmeriCorps VISTA and $323,965 for Public Health AmeriCorps. These are reported award amounts, not a claim that every dollar was paid during the same period or that they represent the value of all volunteer labor.
The funding and award measures describe different parts of service financing. Federal funding identifies reported support for projects, while education awards identify reported awards associated with participants. Keeping those categories separate matters when community leaders assess program resources.
North Carolina senior volunteer programs
The investment report listed 25 AmeriCorps Seniors projects and 1,985 service locations in North Carolina during April 20, 2023–April 18, 2024. Its program breakdown included 496 Foster Grandparent service locations, 1,184 RSVP service locations, 233 Senior Companion service locations and 72 Senior Demonstration service locations.
Federal funding also varied across the senior programs. North Carolina’s Foster Grandparent program received $3,705,304, the RSVP program received $546,197 and the Senior Companion program received $1,698,308 during the reported 2023 investment period. The report’s senior-program counts are organized around service locations and project funding, while the Year in Review’s 264 AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers is a participant count; these measures answer different questions.
For community leadership planning, that distinction helps separate reach from participation. A program may report many service locations while counting participants through a separate administrative category. The figures show the extent of the service network, but they do not establish how many hours were served at each location.
Volunteering trends and long-term service
The 2023 Year in Review reported total North Carolina investment of $31,487,587. The 2022 Year in Review reported $29,404,868. These are year-specific Year in Review totals and should be kept distinct from the $57,037,201 reported in the 2023 investment report for April 20, 2023–April 18, 2024.
The 2022 Year in Review also reported 236 North Carolina AmeriCorps State participants, 65 AmeriCorps VISTA participants and 759 service locations. For two senior programs, it reported 1,602 RSVP service locations and 708 Foster Grandparent service locations.
The same 2022 report placed recent activity in a longer historical frame. It reported that more than 26,000 North Carolina residents had served through AmeriCorps since 1994, with approximately 40 million service hours by residents since 1994 and more than $99.6 million in education awards earned by residents since 1994. These are cumulative figures reported in 2022, not forecasts and not independently verified here.
Taken together, the measures distinguish three levels of community service: statewide self-reported volunteering, organized AmeriCorps participation and cumulative service through 2022. Each has a different geography, population definition, reporting period and unit of measurement. For leaders evaluating programs in North Carolina, those definitions are essential when comparing participation, locations, investment and long-term service.