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About Daily Point of Light Awards

The Daily Point of Light Award, created by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, honors individuals and volunteer groups around the country who are helping to meet critical needs in their communities and creating change every day and has a bi-partisan presidential legacy over the past two decades. Points of Light Institute selects the awardees through a nominations process that is open to the general public.

Facts about American Volunteerism:

Volunteering Trends (1989 to Today)

23 million more Americans are volunteering today than in 1989.(1)

• Since 1989, the reported number of Americans volunteering has increased from 38.04 million to 61.80 million last year, an increase of more than 60%.
• The rate of volunteering since 1989 has increased by a third from, 20.4% of all Americans in 1989 to 26.4% last year.
  

More than twice as many youth are volunteering as volunteered in 1989.

• 8.24 million young people ages 16-24 volunteered last year, compared to 3.53 million in 1989.
• The volunteer rate for young people ages 16-24 has climbed over 60% from 13.4% in 1989 to 21.9% last year.
• About a third of twelfth grade students (33%) volunteered at least once per month in 2006, up from 24% measured in 1991.
• In 2008, 69.7% of students entering college believed it was very important to help others, the highest percentage since 1970, when 71.7% reported that they held this belief. In 1999, 60.8% of students entering college reported this belief.
• Becoming a community leader is also increasingly important to youth, with 35.2% of entering freshmen last year rating it "very important" or "essential."
  

Baby Boomers and Older Americans are both over 40% more likely to volunteer than the same age groups
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