Purpose. The purpose of this article is to characterize the particularity of volunteering in the United States by examining the history of its formation and development. Methodology. Application of the potential of the historical approach in the sociological study of аmerican volunteering. Results. The article undertakes an attempt to outline the periodization of the history of volunteering in the United States. It carries out an analysis of the manifestations of the essential characteristics of the аmerican volunteering in different historical periods and gives an account of the particularities of its institutionalization in the past and their stabilization in the present. Practical implications. Study and summarizing of the experience of different countries for successful development and effective usage of the potential of volunteering for strategic planning and tactical implementation of the social policy of the Russian Federation.