Charities Tap Skills of Jobless Professionals

The trend is showing up nationwide. Similar reports are coming from New York, where traffic on Web-based volunteer-matching services is up 30 percent. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program in Philadelphia has 25 percent more requests from potential mentors.

"Volunteering in the nonprofit world is a good balance for me after spending so many years in corporate America," said Michael Gilman of San Francisco, who was laid off six months ago from his job as a senior business manager in Hewlett-Packard's Web services and software division in Palo Alto.