Latest News | July 2022

As a team we have been seeing the stories in the news- ‘volunteer numbers down!’ ‘Festival desperate for volunteers!’ ‘Organization closing due to lack of volunteers!’ so we thought we would take a moment and share some things we are observing. 

We are not seeing a decline or an unusual spike in volunteer postings in any of our regions served. Instead, what we are seeing is a fast shift in volunteer interest - opportunities that are rooted in social justice or environment fill nearly instantly. Most opportunities take 2 weeks to fill but there is far more demand for social justice/environmental than there are opportunities out there. 

We can attribute these changes to a couple things:

• Demographic shift- >30 years old is our largest user group, and we have seen a reduction in the over 65 folks. This has been an ongoing shift since 2019.
• Increase in grassroots postings. The growth in volunteer postings from these types of organizations is up 30%. 

Our musings are that boomers are potentially relying on existing community connections for their volunteerism. Volunteers seem to have also shifted towards choosing roles that align with their interest and values rather than skills. Ultimately belonging is what volunteers are craving and the opportunities/organizations that are meeting that need that look different today than they did in 2019. 

This summer marks the return of lots of events, very exciting!

The Tall Ships Festival is back in Brockville (https://www.tallshipsbrockville.com),

Outhouse Races are back in Cochrane (https://www.cochranetimes.com/entertainment/local-arts/outhouse-races-set-for-late-summer-return-after-two-year-hiatus),

And ... everything else seems to be returning to towns and cities across the country. The commonality in these events that we all get to enjoy going back to is - volunteers. They are organized by volunteers, facilitated by volunteers and taken down by volunteers. There is often one volunteer or a committee of them tasked with organizing all the other volunteers- what an awesome role! Here are some things to keep in mind:

People are craving community - our latest research says people are looking for quality time together with other people so it's more about that than maybe fulfilling a specific role or sharing a skill set. This season of volunteerism is about reconnecting with the world not just about the job that needs to get done. Something to consider when you get to the perks of volunteering section of your posting. 

Your community is full of prospective volunteers - the past couple of years has seen tremendous change and transition. Many people have made physical moves into new and smaller communities, many others have made the transition into less commute time. Bottom line - a whole bunch of prospective people who have never been involved before. We know people move into new places and google - "volunteer in ______" so if you have an opportunity to be the place that shows up for people desiring to belonging seems like that would be a great plan! Plus it prevents burn out for those people who have been involved year after year, and means you don't have to call in favours with friends for that last minute shift.

We are always happy to help - if you are struggling to recruit volunteers for your event send us an email! We will happily review your posting and offer our insights info@volunteerconnector.org 

Following on from last week's Guest Blog - Part 2 of 3, here is the continuation in Part 3 of 3 ... 

STEP 2 – Get Set. Start looking.

Finding volunteer opportunities that will be a good fit for you is the next step. Of course, you can go directly to an organization’s website and see their list of opportunities. As well there are excellent databases (such as VolunteerConnector) where you can see a substantial number of opportunities listed all in one place! I caution you to keep focused (see Step 1-A) because it can be easy to drift down the volunteer opportunity rabbit hole only to emerge exhausted hours later and to walk away from your phone or computer thinking, “I’ll just look more later”, only to never come back (remember, we humans are impulsive!)

Many post secondary institutes have their own listings, so don’t forget about those if you want to increase your chance of volunteering with other students. More and more, businesses exercise corporate social responsibility and provide their staff with opportunities to volunteer as a group, so keep an eye out for notices from HR. Talk to friends or colleagues about where they happily volunteer for ideas.

STEP 3 – Go!

All that self reflection, answering all those questions, pouring over databases, and talking to other people has paid off – you have found an organization with whom you want to work. Now you just have to connect with them. Apply. Ask questions. Go to the interview. Attend the training. And get ready for a great experience!

Amanda Sokol from https://www.goosetroop.com