Volunteerism   

Research Highlights

• Canadians volunteered the equivalent of 1 million full-time jobs in 2004
• 11% of Canadians accounted for over 70% of all volunteer hours.
• Seniors tend to volunteer the most hours, but have the lowest participation rates.
• Youth have the highest volunteer participation rates, but tend to dedicate fewer hours.

And in Guelph & Wellington…

• Volunteers are being asked to work more challenging clients.  
• Volunteers are in short supply and many are unable to make long-term or susbstantial time commitments.
  

                                        
                                          
The Importance of Volunteerism
Non-profit and voluntary organizations are an important fabric of Canadian life, often addressing the needs and interests of citizens that the government and the private sector do not. 
 
Volunteers established the earliest hospitals, orphanages, homes for the aged, and other social welfare agencies in Canada.  Some of Canada’s best-known voluntary organizations have been in existence for a century or more. These include the YMCA (established in 1851), St. John Ambulance Association (1877), Canadian Red Cross Society (1896), Victorian Order of Nurses (1897), and the United Way (1917).  These and countless other voluntary organizations continue to depend on volunteers for organizational leadership, fundraising, and service delivery.
 
While many agencies are professionally staffed, over 54% of Ontario’s 161,000 non-profit and voluntary organizations have no paid staff and rely exclusively on volunteers to carry out their mandates ¹. 
 
According to the 2004 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (2006), 11.8 million Canadians over the age of 15 volunteered over 2 billion hours of their time to charitable and voluntary organizations in 2004 — the equivalent of 1 million full-time jobs ².  If those organizations had to hire people to do the work undertaken by volunteers, a conservative estimate of the total payroll cost would be over $20 billion.
 

Volunteer Participation Rates
The national volunteer participation rate was 45% in 2004.  Participation rates were highest among youth, those with university degrees, those with household incomes over $100,000, and those who attended religious services weekly. 

On average Canadian volunteers gave 168 hours of their time in 2004, although 11% of Canadians accounted for 77% of volunteer hours ³.  The average number of hours volunteered was highest among seniors, those with lower levels of household income, and those who attended religious services weekly. 

The Benefits of Volunteering
It goes without saying that volunteers help make a difference in someone’s life.   But it is also important to recognize that volunteering has a myriad of benefits for volunteers as well as the recipients of service.  Research indicates that volunteering can improve health, self-worth and confidence, help overcome social isolation, improve interpersonal skills, and provide opportunities for learning new job skills. ⁴

Where do Canadians volunteer?
Most volunteering is directed toward four types of organizations.  More than one in ten Canadians volunteer their time with sports and recreation, social services and education and research, while one in ten give their time to religious organizations.  In terms of the number of hours committed, about one fifth of all volunteer hours was contributed to sports and recreation (18%) and to social services (17%).  16% of hours was contributed to religious organizations and 11% to education and research organizations ⁵.

Reasons people do and don’t volunteer 
People volunteer for many reasons, including belief in a cause, a personal attachment to a cause, a desire to apply their skills, or because they were asked to by a friend.   
 
Reasons for not volunteering vary according to age, income, and employment status.   But, in general, they include a lack of time, an unwillingness to make a year-round commitment, and a lack of knowledge of how to get involved.

Almost all volunteers (92%) agreed that making a contribution to their community was an important reason for their volunteering.

Youth and Volunteering
Young Canadians, aged 15 to 24, have a higher rate of volunteering (55%) than any other age group.  Two-thirds of 15 to 19 year olds volunteered, compared to 43% of 20 to 24 year olds, however the elder youths contributed more hours on average.

Mandatory community service is relatively common among young Canadians – 15% of volunteers aged 15 to 19 and 9% of those aged 20 to 24 were required to volunteer for the organization to which they contributed the most hours.  Mandatory community service can be demanded through the criminal courts or through the education system.

As of September 1, 1999 every student beginning secondary school in Ontario is required to complete 40 hours of community involvement as part of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).  This requirement is intended to encourage students to develop an understanding of the various roles they can play in their community and to appreciate the value of community service.  This program contributes to the high youth volunteer participation rate.

Youth tend to be motivated to volunteer by different factors than other volunteers.  They were more likely to agree that they volunteered to improve their job opportunities, to explore their own strengths, and because their friends volunteer than were other survey respondents.

Seniors and Volunteering
The National Survey found that the percentage of Canadians who volunteer generally decreases with age while the average number of hours volunteered generally rises with age.

Seniors aged 65 and over have the lowest volunteer participation rates of all groups, at 32% in 2004 ⁶.  Seniors, who do volunteer, give generously of their time.  In fact, the average number of hours volunteered annually is the highest among those 65 and older – an average 245 hours in 2004 ⁷.

Older adults have a lifetime of knowledge and skills to share as they move from the workplace to retirement.  For many newly retired people, volunteering helps make the transition a positive experience by providing opportunities to create and maintain relationships, to use their valuable skills, to give back to their communities and to mentor others.

The National Survey shows that there is a reliance on a small minority of the population to provide the bulk of volunteer work.  Whereas a greater proportion of younger adults are involved in volunteering, older adults tend to spend more time in this work.  Any decline in the number among this group of contributors could have serious consequences.

Volunteering and Charitable Giving
There is a growing reliance on a small minority of the population to provide the bulk of volunteer work.  This trend holds true of philanthropy in general.  While organizations like the United Way continue to raise more money each year, it is due to the fact that existing donors are giving more. 
 
Volunteering and donating are mutually dependent.  Volunteers are more likely to donate to charities than non-volunteers - 91% of volunteers made charitable donations, compared to 73% of non-volunteers (2000).

Community Supports & Services
Volunteer Centre of Guelph/Wellington is a non-profit organization that promotes and enhances volunteerism by matching people with meaningful opportunities. They provide education and training opportunities for volunteers and voluntary sector managers; host a lending library of volunteer-based information and resources; and advocate and promote volunteers and volunteerism in our community through celebrations such as National Volunteer Week. 

* The United Way of Guelph and Wellington funds and supports the Volunteer Centre

What are the social service issues in Guelph & Wellington?

• Recruiting and retaining volunteers
• Volunteers are being asked to work with more challenging clients
• Volunteers are in short supply and few are willing to make long-term or substantial time commitments
• There have been difficulties in providing the mandatory number of volunteer positions for youth enrolled in secondary schools, particularly on short notice.
• There are increasing concerns about risk management/liability issues
• There is a need to find more personalized and meaningful ways to support and recognize the work of volunteers

1. Statistics Canada (2006).  Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating.  Ottawa, Ontario: Statistics Canada – Catalogue no. 71-542-XIE.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Graff, L. (1991).  Volunteer for the Health of It: Report of the findings from a health promotion grant funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health.  Etobicoke, Ontario: Volunteer Ontario - The centre for volunteerism. 
5. Statistics Canada (2006).  Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 2004 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating.  Ottawa, Ontario: Statistics Canada – Catalogue no. 71-542-XIE.
6. Graff, L. (1991).  Volunteer for the Health of It: Report of the findings from a health promotion grant funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health.  Etobicoke, Ontario: Volunteer Ontario - The centre for volunteerism.
7. Ibid