A new report from United Way Centraide Canada highlights a concerning reality: non-profit organizations are being called upon to meet growing needs while facing increasing pressure on their capacity to respond.
The Volunteer Bureau of Montreal (VBM) shares this concern and welcomes the report as an important contribution to a better understanding of the realities facing the sector.
This capacity to respond depends first and foremost on paid staff, who need sustainable working conditions and adequate resources. But the report also highlights another essential dimension of the community sector: its volunteer capacity.
Drawing on Statistics Canada data, the report notably highlights the decline in volunteering in social services over the past decade. The resulting loss of capacity is estimated at $7 billion annually, the equivalent of approximately 115,000 full-time positions.
For the VBM, this finding is an important reminder: volunteer capacity cannot be taken for granted. It must be built.
Recognizing this contribution does not mean turning to volunteering as a solution to organizational underfunding or labour shortages. Volunteers do not replace paid staff. When volunteer engagement is well structured, well supported and aligned with the actual needs of communities, it is a distinct and essential component of the capacity of organizations and communities to take action.
Organizations themselves must also have the time, tools and resources needed to welcome, guide and support volunteers.
That is why strengthening volunteer engagement also means strengthening the organizations that make it possible.
Training for volunteer resource managers, organizational support, practices adapted to evolving forms of engagement, skills-based volunteering, governance and partnerships: this infrastructure is essential to ensuring that volunteer engagement can generate meaningful and lasting impact.
The United Way Centraide Canada report also emphasizes the importance of making better use of existing data to understand the pressures facing the sector and inform decisions and investments. This reflection should also encourage us to deepen our understanding of how volunteer capacity is evolving: How are forms of engagement changing? What do organizations need? What barriers do they face? And what conditions must we collectively put in place to support volunteer engagement?
These questions go beyond individual organizations. They call for the knowledge, experiences and perspectives of different stakeholders across the sector to be brought together.
For the VBM, this reflection must be an integral part of discussions about the future and resilience of the community sector. Better supporting the sector’s capacity to act requires a stronger understanding of all the forces that sustain it — paid staff, volunteers and organizational capacity — as well as our collective ability to create the conditions that allow each to contribute fully.
