Transformative Impact - Points of Light

Transformative Impact

When volunteering is rooted in community voice and shared ownership, it becomes a powerful force for change. Communities have greater ability to shape solutions that reflect their own needs, priorities, and strengths. Service helps meet immediate challenges, but its value extends further: it strengthens civic life, builds resilience, and contributes to lasting social change. Organizations and institutions work alongside communities as partners, not simply as providers.

Goals for Transformative Impact

Measure and Show the Difference Volunteering Makes

Evaluation ensures that the impact of volunteering is visible, credible, and actionable. It requires moving beyond basic outputs to capture meaningful outcomes – enabling organizations, funders, and policymakers to understand what works, improve effectiveness, and invest with confidence.

Emerging Opportunities for the Field
1. Collaborate Through a Volunteerism Research Network and Hub
2. Develop a Volunteer Outcomes and Impact Framework
3. Strengthen Volunteer Impact Measurement and Storytelling Across the Field
4. Integrate Volunteer Engagement in Public Measures of Organization Impact

Change How We Talk About and Value Volunteering

Culture shapes how people understand, value, and see themselves in service. It requires using language and storytelling that resonate with diverse communities, creating opportunities for individuals to move from passive to active participation, and normalizing volunteering as part of civic identity and leadership.

Emerging Opportunities for the Field
1. Explore New Narratives on Volunteering for Media and Public Campaigns
2. Ignite a Nationwide Movement for Volunteering
3. Equip Volunteers to Champion and Share the Value of Volunteering
4. Elevate Recognition for Volunteer Service and Leadership

Center Communities in How Solutions Are Built

Community-centered volunteering ensures that community voice, priorities, and leadership shape how volunteer efforts are designed and delivered. It requires shifting from top-down models to shared power – where solutions are co-created with communities, not for them.

Emerging Opportunities for the Field
1. Promote Adoption of Community-Centered Volunteer Engagement Practices
2. Resource Co-Created Volunteer Engagement Models
3. Recognize Organizations Modeling Effective Community-Centered Engagement

Invest in Place-Based and Rural Volunteering

Place-based volunteering recognizes that participation depends on local infrastructure, relationships, and context. Every community – especially those historically under-resourced – must have the organizations, networks, and support needed for volunteerism to take root, grow, and be sustained over time.

Emerging Opportunities for the Field
1. Launch Local Action Coalitions in Partnership with Community Institutions
2. Map Volunteer Infrastructure Assets and Gaps Across Regions
3. Strengthen Volunteer Infrastructure Organizations as Essential Civic Hubs

Toward Purposeful Volunteerism: A Theory of Change

Purposeful volunteering requires intention. This theory of change shows how, when designed well, volunteering creates positive outcomes for volunteers, organizations, communities, and society.

The National Volunteer Strategy is the roadmap for making those conditions a reality. Its framework and goals outline how we can work together to strengthen volunteering and create more opportunities for people to engage in purposeful service.

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Volunteering is impactful for individuals, communities, and society