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The Manitoba Co-Operator | July 12, 2012
By Lorraine Stevenson
CO-OPERATOR STAFF
COUNTRY CROSSROADS
If you feel you’ve put in about a billion hours
volunteering, you’re not far off the mark.
You and everyone else working for free, that
is.
In 2010, just under half of all Canadians
reported having done some form of volunteer
work, according to a recent Statistics Canada
report.
Collectively, the logged nearly 2.1 billion
hours of volunteer time that year — the equivalent
of 1.1 million full-time jobs, according to
the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and
Participating.
The numbers of volunteers putting in time
coaching, serving on boards and committees,
cooking and delivering food is also increasing
— up about 12.5 per cent since 2004, says
Volunteering in Canada.
But take with a grain of salt its other assertion
— that the total hours of volunteers are dropping
off slightly, says Noreen Mian, program manager
at Volunteer Manitoba.
This study looks only at time logged in formal
volunteer programs, or where volunteer co-ordinators
track people’s hours, she points out.
The vast numbers of hours put in at the grassroots
level, where no records are kept, would
choke a statistician.
“People are volunteering. There is a real spirit
of volunteerism,” says Mian. “We just can’t
account for all the informal hours that are put in
in churches, schools, and other organizations are
run by volunteers.”
The most common volunteer activities recognized
by Statistics Canada are fundraising
and organizing events. In 2010, 45 per cent of
volunteers were involved in some form of fundraising,
and almost as many participated in
organizing or supervising events. About onethird
sat on a committee or board, or provided
teaching, educating or mentoring. About one-
quarter of volunteers reported collecting, serving
or delivering food. Coaching, refereeing or officiating
was reported by 18 per cent of volunteers.
Volunteer firefighters, first aid and search and
rescue was the smallest category — six per cent
of volunteers.
The study also explored why people volunteer
and why some more so than others. The vast
majority (93 per cent) said making a contribution
to their community was the major motivator,
with many saying personal connections to
something was key.
But there are many barriers that keep people
from it, too.
No spare time was cited as the biggest barrier,
with about two-thirds in the survey saying they’d
not done any formal volunteering for lack of it.
People don’t get asked either. Forty-five per
cent of those who hadn’t volunteered reported
not being involved because no one had
approached them. The rest (27 per cent) said
they either weren’t interested or weren’t happy
about a past experience.
Volunteer rates are consistently higher
in rural areas, with the highest rates found in
Saskatchewan at 58 per cent of adults aged 15
and over having done some sort of volunteer
work in 2010.
Sports and recreation benefitted most.
33
CONNECTING RURAL COMMUNITIES
Study says volunteers are putting in
the hours — billions of them each year
Statistics Canada study shows strong spirit of volunteerism in Canada,
but its data only scratches the surface
On a sunny morning in mid-May Don and Dorothy McKay of Elm Creek were planting dozens of annuals to beautify
their community’s local cemetery. Statistics Canada’s study, reporting Canadians’ 2.07 billion hours volunteering in 2010
doesn’t account for the vast volume of time volunteers put in without a record kept of their hours. PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON
“We just can’t account for all
the informal hours that are put
in in churches, schools, and
other organizations are run by
volunteers.”
NOREEN MIAN
Volunteer Manitoba
Churches and other religious organizations get
fewer hours, but the study also notes that religion
plays an important role in formal volunteering:
65 per cent of Canadians who attended
weekly religious services also did volunteering,
compared to 44 per cent of those who did not.
Church-goers and others of religious background
put in 40 per cent more hours than other
types of volunteers.
Few do most of the work
The study also supports a common lament — a
few do most of the work.
Ten per cent of volunteers in 2010 accounted
for an astonishing 53 per cent of all the volunteer
hours put in, the study noted.
Their dedication amounts to more than 390
hours, or the equivalent of 10 weeks at a full-time
job. Another 15 per cent of volunteers logged
between 161 and 390 hours.
An outmigration of youth in rural areas typically
results in a few people doing the lion’s share
of volunteering, said Mian.
And they’re getting worn down.
“What we’re seeing in rural communities right
now is burnout, big time,” she said.
One of the major problems in attracting volunteers
results from a mismatch between what
groups offer and what volunteers want out of the
experience, Volunteer Canada found in a 2010
study. For example, many would-be volunteers
seek out group activities, but few organizations
can’t offer these experiences. Many also possess
professional skills but are actually looking
for volunteer tasks that involve something different
from their work life. Volunteers want to
contribute their talents on a shorter-term basis,
but organizations usually have specific jobs to
do, and seek long-term commitments, the study
found.
lorraine@fbcpublishing.com
Facts and figures on
volunteering in Canada
• Over 13.3 million people, or nearly one in two
Canadians aged 15 and over, did volunteer
work in 2010.
• A small proportion of these volunteers do most
of the work, with the most dedicated putting in
the equivalent of 10 full weeks each year.
• Younger Canadians are more likely to volunteer
than older one but devote fewer hours.
• Religion plays an important role in formal
volunteering. Higher levels of education and
income also push up volunteering.
• Lack of time is the most commonly reported
barrier to volunteering. Another is not being
asked.
Source: Statistics Canada Canadian Social Trends
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