Generosity

Seattle is first in the nation when it comes to the number of residents—over 65%– who donate $25+ to charity annually. We are also first in private foundation revenue per capita. Highly visible philanthropic institutions foster a positive culture and training ground for personal giving, and generous individuals inspire their professional and peer networks to give. This virtuous cycle stems from a long and continuing history of philanthropic activism and innovation in greater Seattle. It is now part of the region’s DNA.

This video explores the history of philanthropy in our region.

Seattle Foundation is fueling our region’s virtuous cycle of generosity with its annual GiveBIG campaign, one of the largest in the country. The campaign uses viral promotion, financial incentives, partnerships and competition to motivate giving. Participation provides new and renewing donors a sense of pride and agency as part of a community that can make things happen.

Volunteering

While greater Seattle ranks twelfth among the nation’s 51 metro areas for volunteering, like the country at large, we’re in a declining trend. 31.1% of regional residents volunteer, half the number who make philanthropic gifts. As philanthropy in our region is a rising trend, it begs the question of whether Seattleites have more money than time to give.

Volunteer Rate of Greater Seattle Residents by Year

Volunteering by Organization Type in Greater Seattle

Volunteer Activities in Greater Seattle

Engaged employees: a bottom line investment

Promoting employee engagement is good for business. Engaged employees are more loyal, work harder and stay at their jobs longer.

In our region, times are good and competition to recruit and retain the best and brightest workers is global and fierce. Businesses that invest in their employees’ personal and professional development, leadership training and community engagement have an important competitive edge. But even in challenging times, volunteering is linked to stronger economic resilience for communities and more rapid re-hiring for unemployed workers.

United Way of King County’s Corporate Volunteer Council is working to professionalize the field of employer-based volunteer management and create closer bonds with regional nonprofits.

America’s Charities reports that employees most committed to their organizations put in 57% more effort on the job and are 87% less likely to resign—than employees who consider themselves disengaged.

Building civic pathways

Both volunteering and philanthropy are strongest in regional residents’ peak earning years, from age 30 to 64. Like many other civic health metrics, they increase with education and income. Women give and volunteer at higher rates than men.

Researchers report that giving and volunteering are better leveraged when they are linked. Integrated programs yield better outcomes when it comes to boosting participation and results.

While greater Seattle offers many different community engagement programs with a range of opportunities for becoming informed, leadership development, volunteering and giving, they are not connected with one another in an integrated portfolio of offerings. There is no “one stop shopping place” for community engagement, nor does one program lead organically to the next opportunity. Creating a linked and well-promoted map of civic engagement pathways would be a great asset to regional civic health.

Explore the demographic disparities in greater Seattle’s civic health

Click on the icons below and filter by indicators to change the bar chart

Source: National Conference on Citizenship analysis of the Census Current Population Survey data

Tech civic meetups

Greater Seattle is fortunate to be a power house of technology industries with so much to offer regional civic health: a highly educated workforce, tools to democratize information and foster social networks, technology expertise and resources typically out of reach for non-profits. While there are examples of promising and powerful collaborations between technology companies, workers, non-profits, government, universities and civic and social entrepreneurs, the full impact of these synergies has not yet been realized.

Washington Technology Industry Association

With support from Microsoft and Comcast, Washington Technology Industry Association is piloting Ion, a program that connects volunteers from government, tech, non-profits, and education to co-create human centered, technology-enabled ways to improve the quality of life of people in our region. Cross-sector and cross cultural relationships form through individuals solving problems together.

Learn more: These organizations are also helping develop connections and projects that address community needs through technology-enabled support and cross-sector collaboration.

• Open Seattle
• Data for Good
• Third Place Technologies
• America’s Charities

Obstacles and solutions

Following are recommendations to improve work and prosperity in Greater Seattle through civic engagement.