The organization also partners with businesses to provide tools and services to help companies, brands, campuses and government manage volunteer programs and support corporate social responsibility initiatives.

[4] Nonprofit organizations may elect a free basic account or opt for more robust recruiting tools by becoming VolunteerMatch Members.

Inspired by the potential of the web and the success of NetDay, VolunteerMatch.org was launched on April 25, 1998, as a merger between Impact Online, Inc. (a California nonprofit organization started by MBAs Mark Benning, Joanne Ernst, Steve Glikbarg, and Cindy Shove) and Volunteer America (a project co-founded by Jay Backstrand and Craig Jacoby).

[11] Its early growth was fueled by attention from the mainstream media (particularly around the topic of virtual volunteering) and its success in competitions sponsored by industry and academic institutions.

[citation needed] In 1998, it was a final selection for inclusion in the Smithsonian Institution Permanent Research Collection and was featured in an article in USA Today.

The organization's growth has also been spurred by an increased interest in disaster-related volunteering and service following natural and man-made disasters,[citation needed] including the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

With initial funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies,[13] it conducted research in 2006 that was published the following year as a report, Great Expectations: Boomers and the Future of Volunteering.

"[25] On September 14, 2017, UnitedHealthcare and VolunteerMatch released a follow-up to their original study, which revealed that 75 percent of U.S. adults feel physically healthier by volunteering.

VolunteerMatch, a group that matches volunteers to charities on the USA Freedom Corps web page, reports that referrals have increased by more than 70 percent over last year.

"[33] VolunteerMatch provides some services similar to those of UK-based Worldwide Helpers, though the latter organization focuses only on projects that are low-cost to the volunteer.