Image by Joel Muniz from Unsplash

Idealist and VolunteerMatch, two nonprofits dominant in the space of digital volunteer recruitment, are merging, according to an announcement this week.

The merger is sure to impact the landscape of nonprofit volunteer recruitment at a time when the future of volunteerism is in flux, after rates of volunteering plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, then seemed to rebound more recently.

Idealist, founded in 1995, attracts tens of thousands of visitors daily, nearly two million of whom have created accounts on the site, and has connected volunteers with over 150,000 organizations.

The merger is sure to impact the landscape of nonprofit volunteer recruitment.

Meanwhile, VolunteerMatch, founded in 1998, calls itself “the largest network dedicated to connecting nonprofits with individual and corporate volunteers.”

Indeed, VolunteerMatch has been the underlying technology of volunteer postings across the country, notes Jan Masaoka, co-chair of the Philanthropy Project.

“A lot of times, you don’t realize you’re using VolunteerMatch,” Masaoka told NPQ. “So, for example, if you have a local volunteer center, and it might say, ‘Here’s all these lists of volunteer opportunities we have,’ VolunteerMatch is the back engine for that.”

As one merged organization, the companies “will create the world’s most powerful platform for individuals, nonprofits, and socially responsible businesses to connect for good,” a press release said.

Volunteers “hold up the foundation of civil society.”

Once the merger is complete, the two organizations will be known as simply Idealist, and will be led by Idealist Founder and Executive Director Ami Dar.

Earlier this week, Dar announced the merger on LinkedIn, posting:

Some happy news. After several months of flirting and dating, Idealist and VolunteerMatch are merging. For real. (The combined organization will be called Idealist and I will lead it.)

Some practical details: as of now, nothing changes; both sites will continue working as they always have. Over the next few months, we’ll build one unified platform, accessible through both URLs, where any social impact organization can find all the people it needs—staff, interns, and volunteers.

But one step at a time. Today we are simply happy.

For organizations using the platforms, the merger should not immediately affect users’ experience, the press release said, noting: “Organizations and individuals will be able to continue to access the platform at Idealist.org and VolunteerMatch.org, as well as through their respective API and syndication partners.”

Volunteers “hold up the foundation of civil society,” notes nonprofit watchdog Independent Sector, which maintains an ongoing measure of the average hourly value of volunteer time ($33.49, as of last spring) to nonprofits, many of which depend on volunteers to function.