#5
Dare to Ask

Most people volunteer because they're asked by someone they know. Volunteering is an extension of one's family, work, and social life. After retirement, people are less likely to be asked to volunteer and, consequently, are less likely to do so.

Traditional ways of recruiting volunteers - through libraries, newspapers and "senior fairs" - often fall . But when four organizations in Cleveland teamed up to tap their own extended social networks through e-mail and phone calls, they quickly recruited a .a records-management specialist, an auditor and more than a dozen other professionals.

Roughly two in five volunteers first got involved with an organization by approaching it on their own, according to a 2004 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But a slightly higher number were asked to volunteer by someone in the organization or by a friend or relative. Studies indicate that a high number of people would be willing to volunteer if they were simply asked. In a networked society, work the network.