Research Summary

Women Business Owners: Leaders in Volunteerism

Center for Women’s Business Research  ·  May 24, 1996

“The contributions of women business owners extend beyond the economic sector,” says Susan Peterson, Chair of the National Foundation for Women Business Owners. “Nearly six million women business owners volunteer, making significant contributions to the fabric of their communities.”

Other key findings from NFWBO’s report, Giving Something Back: Volunteerism Among Women Business Owners in the U.S., include:

Fully 78% of women business owners in the study spend time volunteering; compared to 48% of all adults in the U.S., 51% of all women, and 56% of all business owners.Regardless of their own personal volunteer activity, over half (59%) of women business owners encourage their employees to volunteer - and 12% actually support their employees’ volunteerism financially. However, fully 66% of women business owners who volunteer encourage their employees to do so as well.Fully half of women business owners volunteer for more than one charity - 28% split their volunteer time between two charities, 13% volunteer for three, and 9% volunteer for four or more charities.Having children appears to be a catalyst for a higher level of volunteer activity. Women business owners with children are among those most likely to volunteer and 58% of women business owners with children volunteer for more than one charity.Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the women business owners who volunteer spend time helping a community-related charity. Other charities that women business owners volunteer for include education-related (35%), religious (28%), health or disease-related (21%), and the arts (19%).

“Despite the increasing demands placed on them by their businesses and families, a majority of women business owners manage to participate in at least one volunteer activity,” notes Dick Falcone, AT&T Vice President Commercial Accounts. “Women business owners have integrated volunteerism into their lives and businesses, and urge others to do the same.”

In fact, women establish a pattern of volunteerism early in their business ownership. Three-quarters (75%) of women who have been in business less than five years volunteer. Volunteerism increases as the business grows and matures; 83% of woman who have been in business 20 or more years volunteer.

The National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO) is a non-profit research and leadership development foundation affiliated with the National Association of Women Business Owners. NFWBO supports the growth of women business owners and their organizations through gathering and sharing knowledge.

This report is the sixth and final in a series of Research Monographs prepared by NFWBO with support from AT&T and The MetLife Small Business Center. Other titles in the series include: The Characteristics and Contributions of Home-Based Women-Owned Businesses in the U.S.; Going Global: Women-Owned Businesses in the International Marketplace; The Use of Computer Technology in Women-Owned Business; Credibility, Creativity and Independence: The Greatest Challenges and Biggest Rewards of Business Ownership Among Women; Employee Benefits Offered by Women-Owned Businesses: A Framework for Compassion". Individual reports are available for $40.00 and a subscription to the entire series is available for $190.00.

Note: This report utilized data gathered from the 1994 membership survey of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), conducted in the winter of 1994/1995. The survey garnered 1,435 responses from a questionnaire mailed to nearly 5000 members of NAWBO. The sampling error for a survey of N=1,435 is ± 2.4% at the 95% confidence level. Additional data cited is from a 1994 study of volunteerism in the U.S., Giving and Volunteering in the United States, published by INDEPENDENT SECTOR.

Charts

Women Business Owners More Likely to Volunteer Than All Business Owners, All Women

Most Women Business Owners Volunteer For More Than One CharityCommunity Charities Top the List for VolunteeringMost Women Business Owners Also Encourage Their Employees to Volunteer

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