From April 19 to 25, 2026, Volunteer Week invites us to recognize the full richness of volunteer engagement. Under the theme “Mission: Volunteerism!”, this week shines a light on a vibrant collective force in our communities: people who get involved, each in their own way, to make a difference around them.

At VBM, this week is also an opportunity to go a little further and open up a conversation about what volunteer engagement can look like today. Despite its value, volunteering is still often surrounded by misconceptions. It is frequently imagined in only one way, with only one type of commitment, one profile of volunteer, or one way of contributing.

But the reality is much richer.

Through the short interviews we will be sharing this week on inclusive volunteering and more unconventional or diverse forms of volunteering, we want to make space for that diversity. We want to highlight journeys, experiences, and ways of getting involved that broaden our perspective and remind us that volunteering is at its best when it is accessible, flexible, and open.

Myth 1: You need to have a lot of time to volunteer

This is probably one of the most common myths. Volunteering is still often associated with a major, ongoing commitment that can feel almost impossible to balance with an already busy life.

Reality: Every contribution matters

Volunteering can take many different forms. It can be occasional, ongoing, short-term, linked to a specific event, or part of a longer-term commitment. It can happen in person or remotely, through hands-on support, listening, accompaniment, or organization.

Getting involved does not always mean giving a large amount of time. It can also mean offering a bit of availability at a given moment, in a role that fits one’s reality. In that sense, making volunteering more accessible also means recognizing that there are many ways to participate.

Myth 2: Volunteering is for some people, but not for everyone

Some people may feel that volunteering is not for them. Because they live with limitations, because they do not see themselves reflected in the usual models, or because they worry that their reality, background, or needs will not have a place.

Reality: Volunteering should be open to a wide range of realities

Inclusive volunteering is based on a simple but essential idea: the more environments adapt, the more they allow a greater number of people to contribute fully. The goal is not to ask people to fit into a rigid framework, but to think about how volunteer experiences can be welcoming, flexible, and accessible.

That can mean rethinking certain ways of doing things, adapting a role, offering more flexibility, taking expressed needs into account, or recognizing each person’s strengths and contributions in different ways.

Making more room for inclusion is not about “doing someone a favour.” It is about enriching volunteering itself. It means allowing more people to take part in community life and bringing forward a diversity of voices, talents, and experiences.

Myth 3: Volunteering is always pretty much the same thing

We often think of volunteering through well-known roles that are valuable and essential, but that represent only part of the picture. This perception can make it seem as though volunteer opportunities are limited or that people have to fit into an already defined mold.

Reality: Volunteering can be surprising, creative, and highly diverse

Volunteering now takes many forms, some of them unexpected. It can be relational, logistical, creative, digital, intergenerational, event-based, community-focused, or neighbourhood-based. It can involve highly visible tasks or quieter contributions that are just as essential.

This is also what we want to highlight through our content on unconventional or more diverse forms of volunteering: there are countless ways to get involved, and many of them go beyond the usual representations.

Sometimes, all it takes is discovering a different role to finally recognize oneself in a volunteer opportunity.

Myth 4: In volunteering, you only give

Volunteering is often presented through the lens of selflessness and giving. That dimension is real and important, but it does not tell the whole story.

Reality: Volunteering is also a space for connection, learning, and meaning

Volunteering is, of course, a way to contribute to something larger than oneself. But it is also a meaningful human experience. It means building relationships, developing skills, gaining confidence, discovering a new environment, feeling useful, and belonging to a collective project.

Volunteering strengthens communities, but it also enriches the people who take part in it. It creates bridges. It brings different realities closer together. It allows mutual support, dignity, listening, and collective empowerment to circulate.

Rethinking volunteering, together

While Volunteer Week is a moment of recognition, it can also be a moment for reflection. An opportunity to ask how, collectively, we can value a form of volunteering that is more inclusive, more accessible, and more representative of the diversity of our communities.

At VBM, we believe volunteering has everything to gain by becoming more open. By making room for different life paths. By recognizing a wider range of ways to get involved. By creating conditions that allow more people to participate, in their own way.

It is in this spirit that we will be sharing interviews and perspectives throughout the week on inclusive volunteering and diverse forms of volunteer engagement. Because when we challenge certain myths, we also open the door to more possibilities, greater participation, and stronger solidarity.

What if this were the right time to get involved?

Volunteer Week is a wonderful opportunity to discover volunteering in a new light.

Perhaps volunteer engagement does not look the way one imagined. Perhaps there is a way to get involved that fits one’s reality, strengths, pace, and interests.

VBM invites anyone who is curious to reflect on the myths that still surround volunteering and to discover the many ways to become part of this collective momentum.

Getting involved is sometimes more accessible, and more inspiring than we think.