Volunteers came back to nonprofits in 2023, after the pandemic tanked participation

From foster grandparents who volunteer at an early child care center to citizen scientists who collect water quality data in remote locations, nonprofit volunteers have come back after the pandemic.

A new survey released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps shows 28.3% or 75.8 million people in the U.S. volunteered with a nonprofit between Sept. 2022 and Sept. 2023. That is a rebound since COVID-19 public health shutdowns tanked participation by almost 7 percentage points to 23.2% in 2021, the last time the survey was conducted. It is not a full return to pre-pandemic rates of volunteerism.

The drop in volunteer participation was a wake up call for nonprofits, said AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, and a real test of whether volunteers, whose habits and routines were disrupted, would return.

“The fact that we went from a point in this country where we were telling people, ‘Don’t come, our doors are closed,' — The fact that that did not lead to a flatline or lead to a gradual increase, but to see more than 5% jump is pretty impressive," said Smith.

The survey on volunteering and civic life, conducted by the U.S. Census every two years, asks respondents if they volunteered at a nonprofit. It also asks if they informally helped friends, family or neighbors or gave to charity.

The free labor volunteers provide to nonprofits fuels a huge range of services across every kind of community in the U.S., with the survey estimating the value of a volunteer hour at $33.49, far more than the minimum wage in any state or major U.S. city.

At the Alpine Watershed Group, like many nonprofits, they describe volunteers as “foundational” to their work. Executive director Kimra McAfee said her organization has monitored the river and waters of California’s Alpine County for more than 20 years. Four times a year, volunteers go out to their sites to collect water quality samples, sometimes cross country skiing to get there, she said.

The survey also reveals differences in volunteer participation between states, with a handful like Utah and Vermont at the top with more than 40% participation and a couple of states like Rhode Island and Nevada dropping below 20% participation at the bottom.

Smith said states that top the list often have better institutional supports for nonprofits and volunteers, including paid time off.

The nonprofit After-School All-Stars Las Vegas has volunteers visit students to talk about their career paths or businesses, said executive director Jodi Manzella. Because her nonprofit works out of schools, they weren't able to invite volunteers to fully return until the last school year.

“I don’t see us falling at the bottom, but we are a booming state and a transitional state,” she said of Nevada with many people moving in and out especially of the Las Vegas area.

Compared to other adults, people between the ages of 45 and 54 volunteered at the highest rates overall, the survey found, and more women volunteered than men, continuing a long-term trend. People with higher incomes reported volunteering with a nonprofit at higher rates than people with lower incomes. Many more people, or 54.3% of people in the U.S., help out informally, which could include anything from babysitting for a family member to lending a tool to a neighbor.

A little more than half of the 15,000 volunteers at Crisis Text Line in 2023 were 18 to 25 years old, said CEO Dena Trujillo. Overall, the survey found 22.6% of a similar age group reported volunteering for a nonprofit.

Crisis Text Line acts like “mental health emergency room,” Trujillo said, with volunteers responding to people in crisis by text 24 hours a day. Volunteers go through 15 hours of training and then work under the supervision of mental health clinicians. People of all ages text the service looking for help with anxiety, depression and relationships, though the majority are 24 years of age or younger, she said.

Trujillo said besides finding purpose in immediately helping people who are in crisis, volunteers report that they feel more equipped to support their family and friends and to deescalate and manage situations in their own lives after completing the training.

“When I look at young people, quite frankly, I think the issue is that the volunteering has to match what is relevant to that young person’s life,” she said, with many seeing mental health and well-being as urgent issues.

The ability to text from their homes and at hours convenient for them makes volunteering accessible to a broad range of people, Trujillo said.

For the first time this year, the volunteerism survey asked people to report if their volunteering took place at least in part virtually and 18% of volunteers said it had. While it’s not possible to compare to previous years yet, Smith sees the embrace of virtual volunteering as a way to make more volunteer opportunities available to more people.

Another strategy organizations can use to find more volunteers is to draw from the communities they serve. The Federal Hill House in Providence, Rhode Island, runs early childcare programs, a senior center and a large food pantry. Executive Director Kimberly Fernandez said often the older people who help take care of babies in the morning will stay for lunch and an exercise class in the afternoon.

“Part of the volunteering that happens here is also part of the programming, right? So we don’t try to divide: ‘You are the service recipient and you’re the volunteer service provider,’” she said.

Many nonprofits are run exclusively by volunteers to respond to needs in their communities. The Lincoln Bike Kitchen in Nebraska repairs used bikes bikes and gives them away. Shari Weiss Shanks recently became the nonprofit's first executive director and said all kinds of people use the bikes to commute to work or school, filling a need for transportation and independence.

While they certainly love getting volunteers who have mechanical skills, she said there are a lot of different roles people can play depending on their interests.

“The one thing I would say about about volunteering is if you are angry or you aren’t finding a purpose or a cause, go volunteer for a nonprofit," she said. "It will change your life.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Volunteer Clayton Streich fixes a bicycle at Lincoln Bike Kitchen on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Shari Weiss Shanks, the executive director Lincoln Bike Kitchen, poses for a photo on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Volunteer Wayne Schafer, right, works on a bicycle while teaching new volunteer apprentice mechanic Paul Eisloeffel at Lincoln Bike Kitchen on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Volunteer Jaylund Asare, of Providence, R.I., center, assists Hungria Hernandez Diomedes, hands only at right, in a food pantry at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Madison Turner, of Providence, R.I. right, organizes food items in a food pantry at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Mirna Cruz Mangual, 59, of Providence, R.I., right, supervises three-year-old Yovanni Freeman, left, in an early childcare program at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Chris Hawn, of Providence, R.I., front, tears cardboard boxes in a food pantry at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Clayton Streich fixes a bicycle at Lincoln Bike Kitchen on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Volunteer Victoria Vasquez, 70, of Providence, R.I., center, supervises one-and-a-half year olds Scarlett Thomas, left, and Liam Echevarria Gaytan, right, in an early childcare program at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Charles Mena, of Providence, R.I. center, places food in a bag for customer Hungria Hernandez Diomedes, right, in a food pantry at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Gerry Friberg scraps a bike for parts in the donation annex of the Lincoln Bike Kitchen on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Volunteer and board member Kurt Glathar, left, works on a children's bicycle alongside fellow volunteer Simon Zacher at Lincoln Bike Kitchen on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

Volunteer Ydalina Luna Sosa, 62, of Providence, R.I., front left, uses a frog puppet for entertainment while supervising 10-month-old Leo Morgenweck, front right, in an early childcare program at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Volunteer Evangelista Baez, 72, of Providence, R.I., center, supervises three-year-olds Scarlett Mendoza, left, and Gabriel Kubbe, right, in an early childcare program at Federal Hill House, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil ’s federal police arrested Tuesday five officers accused of plotting a coup that included plans to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections and kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, authorities said.

The five also planned to kill Lula's running mate, Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The arrested included four special operations military personnel, one of whom is a retired brigadier general, and a federal police officer.

The police said they also carried out three search warrants along with other measures, including seizing the suspects' passports and preventing them from contacting others. It was not clear when charges would be officially raised against the five suspects.

“The objective was to prevent the inauguration of the legitimately elected government and undermine the free exercise of democracy and the authority of Brazil’s judiciary,” de Moraes, who authorized the arrests, said of the plot in his order.

“These actions, peaking between November and December 2022, were part of a broader plan to carry out a coup d’état,” he added.

Lula returned as Brazil’s president for a third, non-consecutive term after narrowly defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October 2022. Bolsonaro, who frequently cast doubt on the election results without providing evidence and never conceded, left for the United States days before Lula’s January 2023 inauguration.

In the aftermath of the elections, die-hard Bolsonaro supporters staged nationwide protests challenging the results, closing highways and camping outside military installations. That culminated in a Jan. 8, 2023 uprising, when thousands of demonstrators stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia a week after Lula’s inauguration, seeking to oust him from power.

Retired Brig. Gen. Mário Fernandes, one of the officers arrested Tuesday, played a key role in linking these pro-Bolsonaro protest camps to Bolsonaro's Cabinet, according to details of the investigation that were included in the judge’s order and that were seen by The Associated Press.

Fernandes served as interim general secretary in Bolsonaro’s Cabinet from October 2020 until the end of his term. Police said they found evidence that he outlined a plan to kill de Moraes, Lula and Alckmin and visited the protest camps outside military installations, including at the army headquarters in Brasilia. According to the police, there's evidence that Fernandes gave instructions and financial support to the protesters.

Fernandes' plan, according to the document, also considered different scenarios — such as using explosives or poison at an official event — to assassinate the judge.

Bolsonaro had long railed against the Supreme Court, focusing his ire on de Moraes. The former president's supporters consider de Moraes their chief enemy.

The judge led a five-year probe into fake news and threats against Supreme Court justices, which has led to the ban of some far-right allies and supporters from social media and even some prison terms.

De Moraes also presided over the nation’s top electoral court when it ruled Bolsonaro ineligible for office until 2030, finding that he had abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the validity of the 2022 election result.

Bolsonaro is also being investigated for a slew of potential crimes, including whether he was involved in inciting the capital uprising to oust his successor.

Fernandes’ plan also described a scenario of poisoning Lula. The federal police officer arrested Tuesday, Wladimir Matos Soares, allegedly provided the other military coup plotters with information about Lula’s security.

The document Tuesday contained no indication that any attempt to carry out an assassination on Lula or Alckmin was put into motion. However, investigators found messages and documents indicating that the plotters were monitoring and following de Moraes at the time.

According to text messages analyzed by investigators, one of the military officers arrested was involved in an operation that officials believe was likely aimed at capturing the Supreme Court justice. On Dec. 15, 2022, military personnel had even taken positions near de Moraes in a parking lot, but the messages indicated they decided to abort the plan last minute.

Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, appeared to seize on that, saying no assassination attempt actually took place and claimed that “as repugnant as it is to think about killing someone, it’s not a crime.”

However, Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes told local TV network Globonews on Tuesday afternoon that the alleged actions went beyond just plotting and that they were in the process of implementation.

A document that police previously seized from another arrested military officer, Lt. Col. Hélio Ferreira Lima, detailed a plan to overthrow the elected government, including orchestrating a probe into alleged election fraud and calling for new elections with a presidential decree backed by Congress.

Investigators had previously found another document outlining a so-called Crisis Cabinet of 11 military personnel and headed by two high-ranking generals from Bolsonaro's administration, who would assume power after an attempted coup.

Police have also found evidence that some of these documents were printed inside the presidential palace during Bolsonaro's term and that part of the plan was discussed at the residence of his running mate, former defense minister Gen. Braga Walter Braga Netto. Braga Netto's lawyers told local media they would wait to review the investigation before making any comments.

In March, two top Brazilian military leaders told police that Bolsonaro had presented them a plan for him to remain in power after losing the 2022 election. However, both refused to take part in the plan and warned Bolsonaro they would arrest him if he tried it, according to judicial documents released earlier this year.

Lula was informed of the arrests on Tuesday morning, according to media reports, as he was hosting the final day of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro where the Brazilian leader was to meet President Joe Biden and others. Lula made no mention of the arrests during his opening speech on the second day Tuesday of the summit.

The army later said none of the arrested suspects were involved in providing security for the G20 but declined further comment the ongoing investigation.

Last Wednesday, a man set off an explosion outside the Supreme Court in Brasilia, which de Moraes described as a consequence of frequent far-right attacks and hate speech targeting the country’s institutions.

Federal police are investigating the blast as terrorism, according to the force's director, Andrei Passos Rodrigues.

President Joe Biden and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meet at the G20 Leader's Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, Pool)

President Joe Biden and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meet at the G20 Leader's Summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, Pool)

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a bilateral meeting at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)