5 Reports You Should Read if You Lead with Purpose
- Rose Tatum
- Mar 31
- 4 min read
Curated research every grantor, nonprofit leader, and civic changemaker should have in their toolkit right now.
For: Grantors & Funders · Nonprofit Leaders · City & Civic Leaders · Employee Engagement Leads
01 | U.S. Surgeon General · 2023
Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation
The Surgeon General's landmark advisory on America's loneliness crisis — and why social connection is a public health imperative. Essential context for anyone designing programs that bring people together.
Critically for our sector, the report explicitly identifies volunteer organizations as a cornerstone of social infrastructure, and volunteering as one of the recommended pathways to rebuilding connection.
The first pillar of the Surgeon General's National Strategy calls for strengthening that infrastructure in local communities. If you design, fund, or lead programs that bring people together, this report is foundational reading and a powerful piece of evidence that investing in volunteer programs is, quite literally, a public health intervention.
02 | Do Good Institute · University of Maryland · 2023
The State of Volunteer Engagement: Insights from Nonprofit Leaders and Funders
This is the report every funder and nonprofit leader should have bookmarked. It is the first national study of its kind to examine the gap between how nonprofits value volunteers and how funders actually invest in them — and the gap is striking.
Only 21.6% of nonprofits reported investing more resources into volunteer engagement, while 56.7% of funders said they want to see that investment.
At the same time, nonprofits are facing the triple pressure of rising demand, fewer paid staff, and a still-recovering volunteer base. Volunteers are filling gaps that budgets simply can't.
The report also documents what funders want to see nonprofits do: use technology to support volunteers, train staff on volunteer management, evaluate volunteer impact, and recruit from new and underrepresented communities.
If you are making the case for why your organization needs investment in its volunteer program infrastructure, start here.
03 | United States Chamber of Connection w/ Goodera · 2024
Volunteering Reconnected: Transforming Service into a Catalyst for Social Connection
America contributes roughly a third as much civic effort as it did in 1950. Only 39% of Americans report being strongly connected. One in four say they have no close friends. And only 32% say most people can be trusted.
This report makes the case that volunteering is one of the most powerful, scalable mechanisms available to close that gap. But it argues that the way we design volunteer experiences has to change. Service can't just be transactional. It has to be relational, intentional, and built to generate real connection.
The report introduces a shared framework for how organizations, employers, and community builders can design volunteering that makes connection measurable and fundable.
For anyone leading a volunteer program or making the case for investment in one, this is essential reading. It gives you the language, the data, and the framework to position volunteering not just as mission support, but as a direct response to the defining public health and civic crisis of our time.
04 | Bonterra · September 2025
Meet the Moment: Navigating Funding Disruption
Based on a survey of 2,608 nonprofit professionals and 107 funders, this report documents the scale of what is happening right now: 52% of federally funded nonprofits are experiencing financial instability. Organizations are cutting staff, canceling programs, and delaying initiatives — even as demand for their services rises.
Funders acknowledge the crisis, but most haven't changed how they respond. In the middle of this disruption, the report makes the case for diversification — and one of the clearest paths to a more resilient organization is a well-developed volunteer program.
Volunteers extend capacity without adding payroll. They deepen community connection. And as the research shows, they become donors.
This is the report to read if you are trying to understand the moment your organization is operating in and make a compelling case to funders that investing in volunteer infrastructure is not a luxury. Right now, it is a survival strategy.
05 | United Nations Volunteers · 2026
State of the World's Volunteerism Report: Volunteering and Its Measurements
2.1 billion people — one in three working-age adults worldwide — volunteer every month. Yet most of that contribution is invisible in policy, absent from budgets, and missing from the data that drives investment decisions.
This landmark UN report, launched on International Volunteer Day 2025, makes the case for why measuring volunteerism is no longer optional. It introduces the Global Index of Volunteer Engagement (GIVE), a new framework that captures volunteering's value across four dimensions: to the individual, to the community, in economic terms, and through the enabling environment that supports it.
The core argument is simple but powerful: when volunteer contributions go unmeasured, they go unfunded. For anyone building the case for volunteer program investment — to a board, a funder, or a city council — this report gives you the language, the framework, and the global evidence to make it.
These five reports, taken together, tell a story that no leader in the social good sector can afford to ignore. The loneliness crisis is real, the funding landscape is fracturing, and the gap between what communities need and what organizations can deliver is widening.
But the evidence is equally clear: volunteering — when designed with intention and supported with proper infrastructure — is one of the most powerful tools we have to address all of it. It strengthens organizations, builds healthier and more connected communities, and transforms the individuals who show up to serve.
5 Reports You Should Read if You Lead with Purpose is your starting point for making that case with confidence.
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