Service to others is the payment you make for your space here on earth. - Mohammed Ali

I volunteered today. I met with two women that founded and operate a 501(c)(3) organization in Frederick County, Maryland. The organization rescues abused, neglected or abandoned horses and employs them as therapy horses for people with psychological and physical needs. Right now they are working on creating a program for soldiers with PTSD. So I've volunteered to work with them to write some grants so that they might get some funding. I'm not telling you this because I want applause (my motives aren't entirely unselfish) - I'm telling you this because non-profit organizations are EXTREMELY, or sometimes ENTIRELY, dependent on volunteers to remain durable and active.

According to the US Census, there are approximately 250 million people in the United States over the age of 19. If everyone in the United States over the age of 19 volunteered for 5 hours a month for one year, that would equal around 15 billion hours of service. That's 15 billion hours of service to our communities, to our country...to the causes that we believe in [imagine if we all also donated $5 a month to charity!!].

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that, between September 2006 and 2007, 60.8 million people volunteered for an organization at least once (that's about 26% of the population). Sadly, that number was a decrease from the year before and the year before that. I realize that people are busier than ever. But now that we are in the midst of an economic meltdown, people will likely be holding on to their pocketbooks even tighter. So how can the non-profit sector recover from the financial loss? It begins and ends with in-kind donations.

Think about giving of your time to an organization or cause that you care about. Idealist.org is a great place to find out more.