“There's not a single Canadian who isn't touched by volunteering in some meaningful way through the course of their lives. A decline in volunteering will affect every one of us.”  – Linda Graff

What The Data Tell Us

• Nearly 8 million Canadians, or about one-quarter of Canada’s adults, volunteer each year and contribute more than a billion person hours to community life.
• Volunteering rates have remained relatively constant over the last twenty years, but the number of hours being offered is dropping among the greatest majority of those who volunteer.
• There are early signs that volunteering rates may be moving into decline.
• When about one million volunteers quit between 1997 and 2000, the total number of volunteer hours didn’t decline. A small number of typically older volunteers made up the difference by working longer and harder.  But how long can they sustain that level of involvement?
• At present, 67% of all volunteering is done by only 5% of Canadian adults.  A huge amount of work rests on the shoulders of a very few.  Those very few are typically aged and nearing their end of active volunteer involvement.  It’s a precarious and fragile workforce responsible for the community life we both enjoy and expect.
• There are signs that volunteering could decline by as much as 1 to -2% per year.  Over a decade that could represent a serious loss of precious resources.  And it will occur just as the largest age cohort of our population reaches an age when they will begin shifting from providing volunteer effort to consuming ever greater social, health and community services.
• Historically, people have started to move away from volunteering at about age 55, and the drop in participation rate increases sharply as people reach their mid- to late-60's.  If baby boomers, who have been volunteering so much over the last three decades, follow those patterns the loss of volunteers in this country will be great, and so will the consequences.
• It is expected that baby boomers will not undertake the routine maintenance and administrative roles that now-older volunteers are filling for us. Many nonprofit organizations – arts, social, health, and faith charities for example – will lose their leaders and sustainers.  The people who have been sustaining the local chapters, organizing the fundraisers, and leading organizations will be gone.
• Evidence of decline is already visible.  Organizations in small and rural communities where populations are disproportionately older report trouble finding enough volunteers to keep their doors open.  Many service clubs and civic organizations are in significant decline.   Some have already closed their doors.  Boards across the country are having more trouble recruiting new members, particularly new younger members.  Like canaries in mines, we believe these are harbingers of a seriously damaging pattern beginning to sweep over this country.
• Signs of a more generalized decline in caring are evident.  Canadians are connecting less with others, reaching out less often to help others.  When they do volunteer, they often engage in the creation of amenities and services that tend to benefit themselves rather than others.  What does that mean?  It may well suggest that our civility and our community mindedness are eroding.

About the Research

The Who Cares? dialogue is substantially based on research undertaken in the Nonprofit Sector Knowledge Base Project, directed by Dr. Reed.  This multi-year initiative has produced more than 50 published studies on diverse aspects of volunteering, charitable giving, and civic participation in Canada.  A selection of these studies is available below.

The shifting nature and general weakening of volunteering in Canada which are both showing up in the statistical research, are noticeable on the ground.  Linda Graff has been working with nonprofit organizations and managers of volunteers for nearly 30 years.   She talks with tens of thousands of them every year and the trends are clear.  Long-term volunteers are in serious decline.  Younger volunteers won’t take on long-term commitments.  They want interesting, productive work that clearly makes a difference.  They need to know that their precious spare time is being well used.  Board positions which are administrative and long-term are among the hardest to fill.  The substance of the Graff-Reed Conversations is already being felt in nonprofit organizations and public service agencies across the Country.

For More Information

1.  Selected Reports from the Nonprofit Sector Knowledge Base Project

Dow, Warren.  (2004).  Strategic Information for Community Organizations on Volunteering and Donating in Atlantic Canada.  Ottawa: Volunteer Canada.

Dow, Warren.  (2004).  Strategic Information for Community Organizations on Volunteering and Donating in British Columbia.  Ottawa: Volunteer Canada.

Dow, Warren.  (2004).  Strategic Information for Community Organizations on Volunteering and Donating in the Canadian Prairies.  Ottawa: Volunteer Canada.

Dow, Warren.  (2004).  Strategic Information for Community Organizations on Volunteering and Donating in Ontario.  Ottawa: Volunteer Canada.

Dow, Warren.  (2004).  Strategic Information for Community Organizations on Volunteering and Donating in Quebec.  Ottawa: Volunteer Canada.

Reed, Paul B. (2001). Interpreting the Signals: Change, Uncertainty, and The State of the Voluntary Sector in Canada. Ottawa: Statistics Canada and Carleton University

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee. (2006). The Social Dynamics of Contributory Behaviours: A Synopsis of Key Findings from a Multi-Year National Study. Ottawa:
Statistics Canada and Carleton University

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee. (2002). Volunteers Are Not All The Same: Heterogeneity in the Voluntary Sector. Prepared for presentation at the 31st ARNOVA Annual Conference, Montréal,
Québec, November 14-16.

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee.  (2002).  Is There a Distinctive Pattern of Values Associated with Giving and Volunteering?:  The Canadian Case.  Presented at the 31st ARNOVA Annual Conference, Montréal, Québec, November 14-16.

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee. (2000). Volunteering in Canada in the 1990s: Change and Stasis A Research Report. Ottawa: Statistics Canada and Carleton
University.

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee.  (2001). The Civic Core in Canada: Disproportionality in Charitable Giving, Volunteering, and Civic Participation.  Ottawa:  Statistics Canada and Carleton University.

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee.  (2000).  Distinguishing Characteristics of Active Volunteers in Canada.  Ottawa:  Statistics Canada and Carleton University.

Reed, Paul B. and L. Kevin Selbee.  (2000).  Formal and Informal Volunteering and Giving:  Regional and Community Patterns in Canada.  A Research Report.  Ottawa:  Statistics Canada and Carleton University.

Reed, Paul B. and Valerie J. Howe.  (2000, Revised).  Voluntary Organizations in Ontario in the 1990s.  Ottawa:  Statistics Canada and Carleton University.

Scott, Katherine, Kevin Selbee, and Paul Reed.  (2005).  Making Connections:  Social and Civic Engagement among Canadian Immigrants.  Ottawa: Canadian Council on Social Development.

Selbee, L. Kevin and Paul B. Reed.  (2006).  Patterns of Volunteering, Giving, and Participating Among Occupational Groups in Canada.  Ottawa:  Carleton University and Statistics Canada. Prepared for Volunteer Canada and the Canadian Medical Foundation.

Selbee, L. Kevin and Paul B. Reed.  (2000).  Patterns of Volunteering Over the Life Cycle.  Ottawa:  Statistics Canada.

2.  Selected Commentary From Linda Graff on Changes in Volunteering

Canadian Government Budget-cutting Raises Issues (Excerpt), e-Volunteerism.  Vol. VII, Issue 1, Oct-Dec, 2006

Another Rant: What Hasn’t Changed

Genetic Engineering of the Volunteer Movement

Be Careful What We Wish For!  The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Volunteering

Charlatans and Other Silliness: Knowing and Caring Enough To Measure the Actual Value of Volunteering

 

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