In Chicago-area suburbs, volunteers are now filling positions that used to be held by municipal employees. From painting buildings to installing computers, and even taking fingerprints at the police station, non-paid workers are helping out in ways that would have been unimaginable before the economic downturn.

In Jacksonville, Fla., more than 500 volunteers work in a variety of city government offices, while in Hampton, Va., staff positions are being filled by student volunteers. Across the country, communities are turning to volunteers to help make ends meet.

The solution offers benefits to the volunteers, too. They gain real-world experience, new skills, and work references to add to their resumes. And municipalities are able to continue providing much-needed services to their communities that would otherwise have been cut.

Volunteer workers are free, but that doesn’t mean they are fully qualified for the jobs they do. And they’re not always as committed to the job as paid workers are. There are no penalties for not performing, and little incentive to go the extra mile. A city clerk said that a volunteer, who worked nine to 12 hours a week answering the phone and filing records, was a huge asset, but didn’t want to stay long. “She got bored and went home,” he said.

A representative of a local public worker labor union warned that evidence doesn’t support volunteers as long-term solutions, saying they won’t likely maintain essential services over time. “It is very difficult to screen volunteers for competence and integrity, and even harder to ensure accountability,” he said. The labor union is also opposed to laying off workers and eliminating middle-class jobs.

Others find that volunteers often lack proper training, professionalism and reliability, which could lead to errors—and make cities and towns more vulnerable to lawsuits. To avoid that problem, some municipalities place volunteers only in non-sensitive roles, while fully screening volunteers for criminal records and credit history.

Still, volunteers working in libraries, police departments, mayors’ offices and other city and town service providers are a reflection of a new reality. Budget crunches have forced municipalities to cut workers, and citizens still need services.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its “Volunteering in America” report this week, which revealed that overall volunteerism declined in 2010 by .5 percent.

But in some regions, the economic climate has fostered a booming number of volunteers for charitable organizations. The BLS report indicates that about 13 million of the 62.8 million adults who donated time to organizations from September 2009 to September 2010 were unemployed or working part time.

It makes sense that unemployed people and part-time workers would be more inclined to volunteer because they have more time. The spike has been beneficial to many organizations. In Kansas City, the Humane Society has seen a big increased in volunteers who came knocking on the door. They didn’t have to recruit any of this new group, because they are all unemployed and looking for productive ways to fill their time.

Former workaholics who can’t sit home being unemployed are turning to charities as an outlet for their energy. Others are reaching out to nonprofits to increase their networking opportunities, update their skills and find job leads. One nonprofit executive director said there is only one problem with volunteers who find jobs through their volunteer activities—they tend to go away.

In the meantime, nonprofits are receiving hundreds of hours of valuable time, along with outreach and marketing advice, financial planning, foreign language interpretation services and a host of professional services they could not otherwise afford.

It’s a win-win for the volunteers, as well. When they do line up a job interview, they might find employers are often impressed to see the gaps in their resumes filled with volunteer activities.

So if you have an influx of unemployed folks wanting to volunteer with your organization, consider it a stroke of luck that may or may not last, depending on the economy. Proper orientation, training, evaluations and engagement will go a long way to ensuring your new volunteers stick around—even if they do find a job!

Last week we reported on the year-end picture for charitable giving: traditional holiday gifts to non profits are likely to be way down in 2009 over 2008. But the study revealed some other interesting statistics, too. Using the data wisely to change your non profit’s year end strategy could be an effective way to boost income.

This year, successful non profits are using the recession as a starting point to re-establish relationships and appeal to new and existing donors. The difference is in the message: avoiding the same, stale, year-end letter is essential. Donors and potential supporters are weary and wary this time of year. Everyone knows that non profits need help more than ever—but most people cannot give to every one of the dozens of appeals they receive this time of year.

So here’s some statistics you can use in your year-end holiday appeal: the same charitable giving study reveals that fully three-quarters of Americans surveyed would prefer to receive gifts that help others, rather than traditional holiday clothing, and electronics. And, an overwhelming majority—95%—want the nation’s holiday focus to be on helping children. A message that speaks to the heart of the recipient could go a long way to standing out from the crowd—and being more effective. The fact is that your donors might not know that most of the folks on their holiday gift list would rather see them give a needy organization a donation than give them a present.

So don’t send out the same message this year to your supporters and donors. You can help make gift-giving much easier—and maybe even increase your donations—simply by pointing out that giving gifts of charity and helping children in need is what everyone on their list really wants this year.

2009 has been a tough year for non profits and charities all over the United States. And unfortunately, the traditional year-end bump that most receive will not likely happen this year.

As the economy sputters back to life, unemployment is higher than ever—and wallets are snapping shut. Doing without is the new trend, and giving to charities is just not possible for countless Americans.  For those whose incomes have been slashed and are out of work, the incentive of a tax deduction for charitable giving is not at all important.

Giving to a charity as an alternative to buying a gift is not as widespread as last year. A new report commissioned by World Vision says that only 38% of Americans are more likely to give to charity as a gift to another this year—in 2008, that figure was 49%.

Practicality has replaced philanthropy, as holiday gift-givers focus on providing treats to those who have done without them all year, or on giving basic necessities to friends and family who have not been able to afford them.

The good news is that most of those surveyed  for the report plan to increase giving when they can—a full 74% said “yes” when asked if they would increase charitable contributions when the economy improves.

In this economic downturn, non profits have experienced a double-whammy: the need for their services has increased while donors’ ability to give has been significantly cut. The same number of people are donating to charity, but they are giving fewer dollars. Even the nation’s most successful charities expect a 9% decline in income for 2009.  The American Heart Association ended its fiscal year on June 30 with donations down by almost 12%.

Luckily, the AHA saw an increase in both  the number of individual donors and the number of volunteers—a sign that folks still want to help, even if they can only give small amounts of cash or their time.