April is National Volunteer Month and American volunteers have a strong impact on both the U.S. economy and small business recovery, while benefiting from the good they do as volunteers, according to statistics gathered by SCORE, mentors to America's small businesses.

Volunteers make a big impact:

Volunteering has a positive impact of the US economy as a whole and small business recovery. See the rewards that you an receive from volunteering according to statistics gathered by SCORE.

One out of four, or 77.4 million Americans, volunteer.

• Volunteerism has an estimated economic value of $167 billion.

Volunteers contribute to small business recovery nationwide. In 2020 alone, SCORE volunteers:

• Donated nearly four million hours of service.

• Helped start 45,027 new businesses.

• Supported creation of 119,562 jobs.

• Mentored 143,651 small business clients, resulting in many reporting higher revenues and increased business growth.

Volunteerism benefits volunteers individually:

• Those who volunteer regularly have a 27% better chance of gaining employment.

• 60% of hiring managers see volunteering as a valuable asset when recruiting.

• 92% of human resource executives agree that contributing to a nonprofit can improve an employee's leadership skills.

Volunteers can be any age with many in the workforce:  

• Americans volunteer across all age groups and stages of employment, with just over half (51%) employed full time.

• 38% of SCORE volunteers are from minority or underserved business communities, serving a diverse range of clients (60% women, 46% minorities. 9% veterans).

"SCORE is proud to be built on the power of volunteers. Our mentors and experts have helped 11 million small business owners since our founding in 1964," said Doug Nohe, SCORE's vice president of field operations. "We are actively recruiting new volunteers for a variety of roles to serve our very diverse community of clients. Volunteer today."

Click here to learn more about the impact of volunteerism and how you can help small business recovery by volunteering with SCORE.