Current Population Survey (CPS) Volunteer and Civic Life Supplement

The Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement was conducted as a supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a monthly labor force survey conducted in approximately 56,000 interviewed households across the country. The Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement questions were asked of persons age 16 years old or older.

Questions were asked about participation in volunteer activities, types of organizations volunteered for, and the types of activities for volunteer service. Questions were also asked about whether or not donations of money, assets, or property valued at 25 dollars or more were made in the past year to charitable or religious organizations. Additional questions were asked about interactions with family, friends, neighbors, and people from other backgrounds; political engagement; group membership and participation.

Previous to 2017, this information came from two CPS supplements: the CPS Volunteer Supplement and the CPS Civic Engagement Supplement. These two surveys were merged to become the CPS Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement.

The project review timeframes above do not apply to applications that request access to confidential data assets commingled with data that are either not owned, or are only co-owned, by the statistical agency(s) or unit(s) and require approval from third parties not subject to this policy (e.g., state and local government agencies).