For Alice Hietala, Canada’s national decline in volunteerism looks like another cancelled dinner for at-risk youth in St. John’s, N.L.
“There are always gaps,” said Hietala, who manages volunteers at Thrive, a charity that works with at-risk youth.
Across Canada, many volunteer-run organizations are grappling with a decline in volunteerism, a recent report from Statistics Canada says.
The decline worries, but doesn’t surprise, Hietala.
She has seen a lack of volunteers affect Thrive’s ability to offer not just dinners, but also weekly walks where trained volunteers help people struggling with homelessness or substance abuse.
“Volunteers are pretty crucial to the work of Thrive,” she said.
Hietala and others who work with volunteers say many Canadians still want to volunteer. But many are too strapped for time, or organizations lack the resources to support volunteers.
“Life for everybody, generally, has gotten really, really difficult,” said Hietala.
“We have lots of people who want to volunteer, and they can come in once or twice,” she said. “Then life becomes too much, and [steady volunteering is] not sustainable for them.”
Declining social cohesion
Recent Statistics Canada data show a marked decline in volunteerism in recent years.
In 2023, 73 per cent of Canadians volunteered, down from 79 per cent in 2018. This volunteer rate includes both formal volunteering with charities or non-profits, and informal volunteering, such as helping friends, family or neighbours.
In that same period, the total number of hours that Canadians volunteered dropped 18 per cent.
“We are at a critical juncture,” the organizations Volunteer Canada and Imagine Canada, which both support non-profits, wrote in a public response to the Statistics Canada data.
Calling the data “sobering,” the organizations stressed the need for a “renewed commitment to generosity.” Governments, businesses, communities and individuals need to “work together to strengthen the systems and foundations that support our charitable and nonprofit sector.”
Numerous studies have shown volunteering increases a person’s mental and physical well-being as well as life satisfaction.
Some worry the drop in volunteerism points to declining social cohesion in Canada.
“This decline in volunteerism … is really a symptom of a broader malaise in civil society,” said Dale Eisler, an honorary fellow at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan.
Civil society — including service clubs, religious organizations and other groups not connected to politics or business — is “the connecting tissue between people that gives them a sense of belonging to the broader community,” Eisler said.
The decline in civil society is occurring as individuals’ trust in institutions and each other is also declining, says Eisler.
In Windsor, Ont., James Braakman calls the decline in volunteerism a “shame.”
In 2022, Braakman helped found the Windsor Essex Bike Community. The non-profit has designed, built and now maintains nearly eight kilometres of mountain bike trails.
Braakman, who moved to Windsor shortly before starting the non-profit, has seen how volunteering can bring people together.
“So [many] good things can happen if volunteers are utilized in a proper way, with a proper organization or a proper plan.”
Relationships with volunteers
But pandemic-related changes in work have dramatically affected who is able to volunteer, and who is available to organize volunteers.
The return to in-person work has left many working parents relying on grandparents for child care. That impacts the availability of volunteers, since older adults — often retirees — volunteer the most, says Heather Johnson, who has managed volunteers for more than two decades.
The pandemic also disrupted the workforce of professionals who recruit, train and retain volunteers.
One in two managers of volunteers in Ontario lost their jobs during COVID or was assigned to a different job, says Johnson, who was previously president of PAVRO, an organization that represents professionals who manage volunteers.
Johnson knows. Eight weeks into the pandemic, she learned she was being laid off from her role at the Canadian Cancer Society — hours after she interviewed a potential volunteer.
Without people managing volunteers, it can be harder to retain them.
“Volunteer management is the building of relationships for individuals who want to give their time as volunteers,” said Johnson.
Relationships are crucial when working with volunteers, she says. “Volunteering is something that people choose to do,” she noted, drawing a contrast with employees.
Many professional volunteer managers who lost their jobs either retired or took jobs in the for-profit sector, says Johnson. Those who remain often work part-time or juggle many responsibilities. This means potential volunteers may have to wait longer to hear about volunteer opportunities.
“[The shortage of staff] contributes to people not formally volunteering, because they just can’t find a role,” said Johnson.
Thrive, in St. John’s, N.L., has only recently had someone on staff who manages volunteers. Hietala, who has been in the role for just over a year, says the position is crucial.
Volunteer managers free up frontline staff to do their jobs, she says. They also give volunteers security because they know someone is there to respond to their needs.
“It takes the burden off of all the other folks within the organization who are doing the work of the organization,” she said.
In Hietala’s experience, when people see an organization at work, it can ignite their interest in volunteering. Thrive’s weekly outreach walks are often where they meet people interested in volunteering.
“I think it’s effective in giving people a clear vision of themselves as volunteers in the role.”
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