Volunteering Trends and Individual Social …...•Individual Social Responsibility has become an integral part of peoples’ daily lives, encompassing a broad range of considerations

Volunteering Trendsand

Individual Social Responsibility

VOLUNTEER CANADA | VOLUNTEER.CA BÉNÉVOLES CANADA | BENEVOLES.CA

About Volunteer Canada


Volunteer Canada is the national voice for volunteerism in Canada. Since 1977, we have been committed to increasing and supporting volunteerism and civic participation. We collaborate

closely with volunteer centres and organizations in the nonprofit, private and public spheres to promote and broaden volunteering. Our programs, research, tools, resources and national

initiatives provide leadership on issues and trends in Canada’s volunteer landscape.

Our VisionInvolved Canadians build

strong and connected communities to create a

vibrant Canada

Our MissionTo provide national leadership and

expertise on volunteerism to increase the participation, quality, and diversity

of volunteer experiences

Contents

Some General Trends

Volunteer Canada’s Recent Study

Public Opinion Poll : Key Findings

Individual Social Responsibility (ISR)

What does this mean for managers of volunteers?


Recent Trends

What have you noticed?

• Changes to the profile of who is/is not volunteering?

• Are expectations changing?

• Different ways of getting involved?

• Shifts in areas of interest or expertise?

• New challenges in recruitment?


Recent Trends

What we have noticed

• More people are offering their skills

• Increase in corporate or employer supported volunteering

• Increase in episodic volunteering (projects, events, short-term activities)

• Decrease in long-term commitment

• More newcomers – immigrants and refugees – want to volunteer

• More volunteers want to be recognized informally and see the results of their actions


Latest National Survey (2013)


1997 2000 2004 2007 2010 2013

Volunteer rate percentage

31.4 26.7 45 46 47 44

Average annual volunteer hours

149 162 168 166 156 154

Number of volunteers (thousands)

7,472 6,513 11,809 12,478 13,282 12,716

(Canadians 15 years of age and older). From Statistics Canada, Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013

Latest National Survey (2013)

Other interesting stats:

• Most significant drop in the volunteer rate and number of volunteer hours is amongst those aged from 35-44 years

• More people are supported to volunteer by their employers (ESV)

• Total number of volunteer hours remains fairly constant –therefore fewer people contributing more hours (mostly 55+)

• Increasing number of people are volunteering informally

Statistics Canada: Giving, Volunteering and Participating 2013 and Volunteering and Charitable Giving in Canada


https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/150130/dq150130b-eng.htm

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2015001-eng.pdf

Volunteer Canada’s Recent Study (2017)

• Follow-up to the 2013 study on Volunteer Recognition

• How do we recognize volunteering in 2017?

• Public opinion poll (Ipsos Public Affairs)

• Study of the literature on volunteering and how it is viewed in other parts of the world

• Expand the definition of volunteering

Recognizing Volunteering in 2017: Summary Report


Putting our most recent study in context, as you may be aware, Statistics Canada carries out survey every few years on Canadians’ habits with regard to giving, volunteering and participating.

https://volunteer.ca/vdemo/engagingvolunteers_docs/RecognizingVolunteeringIn2017_VolunteerCanada.pdf

Public Opinion Poll: Key Findings*

There is a need and an interest at the community level

• 87% believe volunteers are necessary to society and the economy would suffer without them

• 65% feel a personal responsibility to help others in need

• 54% want a voice in shaping community

• 61% agree the need for volunteers is driven by inadequate government services

• 64% agree there are community activities that do not happen due to lack of volunteers

*1200 Canadians aged 16 and over


Public Opinion Poll: Key Findings* cont’d

Canadians are more active than we might think

• 39% say they volunteer (infrequently to often)

• another 45% say they help friends or participate in activities related

to school or other recreational activities that they do not consider volunteering.

*1200 Canadians aged 16 and over


Expanding the Definition of Volunteering

• 2011 Governor General’s Round Table on the Future of Volunteering

• Call from participants to expand the definition of volunteering

o Include informal ways people are involved

o Include emerging organic movements

o Change the name?

• Consensus – be more inclusive of all expressions of engagement in our understanding and promotion of volunteering



• Emergence of sharing economy creates disruptions in the business world

• Similarly, increased informal volunteering and organic movements create disruptions within the non-profit/charitable sector.


• An expanded view of volunteering is recognized in the Spectrum of Engagement in the 2012 edition of theCanadian Code for Volunteer Involvement


• Trina Isaacson discusses a range of ways to express our social values in Beyond Giving and Volunteering (2013)

o People are both demanding and innovating new ways to use time and money

o Social media and technology are influencing interactions between Canadians and community organizations

o Volunteers increasingly demand short-term, episodic, skilled roles

o Four key areas where individuals choose to advance social good outside of formal volunteering: consumerism; technology/data; investing; business practices


http://www.ncfacanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Beyond-giving-and-volunteering-full-report.pdf

Shifts Observed Outside Canada

The Community Life Survey each year measures four types of community engagement in the UK: formal volunteering, informal volunteering, charitable giving and social action


Charities Aid Foundation’s (CAF) World Giving Index ranks the people’s generosity in 160 countries, offering another way to conceptualize/understand civic engagement. Defines generosity as helping strangers, donating to organizations, volunteering in organizations

In the Netherlands, Dr. van den Bos explores the evolution volunteering and offers a new vocabulary – formal and informal volunteering = Systems World and the Life World. (2016)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/314432/2012-2013-giving-time-and-money-report.pdf

https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2016-publications/caf-world-giving-index-2016

http://www.csvnet.it/component/phocadownload/category/29-volontariato-in-europa?download=322:using-volunteering-infrastructure-to-build-civil-society

Canadians are Engaged

12.7 million Canadians volunteer through organizations

BUT…

We know that this does not reflect the whole picture of their generosity or how they express their values


They also, and increasingly…

• Raise awareness, advocate for social change

• Raise money through social media to support causes, events, individuals and organizations they believe in

• Organize events, participate in food drives, disaster relief

• Mobilize people around issues important to them

• Create “Do it yourself” projects and organizations

• “Help out” – by being good neighbours, helping sick and frail, supporting community efforts


AND

• Make informed decisions about their consumption and transportations habits, their investments, their employment to reflect their social and environmental concerns.


Individual Social Responsibility (ISR)

• Individual Social Responsibility has become an integral part of peoples’ daily lives, encompassing a broad range of considerations including environmental footprint (e.g. recycling, composting, transportation), purchasing, where to work (e.g. based on employer’s CSR), charitable donations, vacation choices, etc.


• ISR is putting values into action, connecting and contributing to community, all forms of engagement for social good, ranging from formal volunteering through organizational structures to spontaneous actions.

Exercise

• Individual reflection and observation

o Can you think of an example of when you have personally expressed your own Individual Social Responsibility?

o Are their some examples of people in my community expressing their Individual Social Responsibility?

• Share and discuss at your tables


Understanding the Results of the Study

• Observed trends are continuing

• Complemented by many other ways that Canadians want to and can be involved in their communities

• Facilitated by ever evolving technology

• Need to understand that people can and do make choices thatreflect their values and their desire to effect change


Some Questions

• How does ISR intersect with the other trends we have observed?

• Evidence of ISR is all around us

o Calls to sign petitions, contribute to crowdfunding, support various community efforts, joint meet-ups

o Spontaneous responses to emergency situations

o Individuals making choices in how they live their lives and spend their money

• What are the implications for nonprofits and volunteer recruitment and retention?


• Informal volunteering has always existed

• Most community organizations were founded by individuals who were informal volunteers

• Formal and formal volunteering have been functioning side by and will continue to do so

• What’s different now: change in people’s habits and expectations, aided by developments in technology and communications

Volunteer Management and ISR


Volunteer Management Role

• Includes planning, and designing volunteer roles

• Recruitment, retention, recognition

• Keeping an eye on the evolution of people’s motivations to give their time, energy and talents (trends)

o Often the volunteer manager is the only person in the organization doing this

o Responsibility to communicate the most recent trends to colleagues and management


What does this mean for your practice?

• There will always be a need for formal volunteering

• Organizations can continue to recruit individuals for services that require structure, regularity and constancy

• Using data from the study can provide insights, help to access a wider audience of potential volunteers

• And lead to more focused recruitment and promotion strategies to reach people already aware of the issues or problems involved, but are by-passing organizations in their efforts to help


Targeted Recruitment

• Targeting is more than specifying skills, qualities and availability

• More than choosing the location or the media where we can reach people with this profile

• Also about what you include in your message

• Basic recruitment message message includes:

o Your mission, the problem you are trying to solve/change you are trying to bring about (inspiring)

o Specific requirements of the position (clear)


Targeted Recruitment cont’d

• Add something related to motivation– appeal to an element of ISR

o The values expressed (environmental, humanistic, social justice)

o The skills or knowledge to be shared

o The impact the volunteer will have

o What they will learn or understand as a result

o Who they will meet

• You can create separate messages for the same volunteer position, appealing to volunteers with different motivations


Other strategies

• Use social media – not all the platforms, choose one or two and get good at using them

• Flexible roles where possible (buddy system, short term, seasonal, group, virtual)

• Know you volunteers – lots of opportunities for feedback, two-way communication, consult them when possible

• Informal recognition – share impact

• Be organized, but avoid heavy bureaucracy

• Partner with other organizations that have similar or complementary missions


You can leverage the informal side of ISR by getting in on the action:

• Support spontaneous actions and advocacy – join campaigns, join FB and other groups

• Contact organizers, view them as allies, join forces for the benefit of all

• Develop new activities, tapping into the energy and will to contribute to positive change that are reflected in this study

• Partner with other organizations in any of the above

What else could this mean for you?


Exercise

• Using some of the following questions, discuss how your organization is faring faced with this new volunteer landscape

o Are you experiencing stable results in your recruitment and retention strategies?

o What are the barriers to changing how you recruit volunteers?

o Do you think your volunteers are satisfied with how they are recognized for their efforts? Do you know why volunteers leave your organization?

o Which, if any, of the strategies suggested would it be possible for you to implement?


Embrace whole range of ISR?

• If so, how to put this new way of thinking into action?

• If not, how to consolidate expertise in formal volunteering and better target recruitment?

• In both cases, this study offers clues for strategic decision-making and planning

• While there are risks involved, there are opportunities as well

Time for Strategic Decisions!


The greatest risk, however, is to simply ignore these findings and continue doing things in the same way.

Biggest Risk


Questions


For More Information


Online Resources:www.volunteer.cawww.benevoles.ca

Contact: [email protected]

Thank you!

http://www.volunteer.ca/

http://www.benevoles.ca/

mailto:[email protected]

Volunteering Trends and Individual Social …...•Individual Social Responsibility has become an integral part of peoples’ daily lives, encompassing a broad range of considerations

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