VOLUNTEERS
A Perspective of Privilege:
Volunteer Engagement is a Non-Priority
T
BY JOANNE McKIERNAN
he data confirms it — 2020 has changed our sector in almost every way. We’ve learned 35 percent of charities in Canada have seen a significant increase in demand due to COVID-19, while 2 in 3 have lost more than 30 percent of the revenue that allows them to deliver regular, necessary services. At a time when demands are this great, and donations have dipped, more than half of interested volunteers during the pandemic haven’t heard back from non-profits. Why have we dismissed and ignored millions of volunteers in Canada when we need them most? The easy answer — safety concerns. The hard answer — a consistent dismissal, at the leadership level, of the necessity of investing in volunteerism. As a reminder, our social services are reliant on volunteers, the equivalent of more than 850,000 full-time jobs in 2018. Although Canada has yet to define an hourly rate for volunteers, in the United States, an hour of a volunteer’s foundationmag.ca
June/July 2020
FOUNDATION Magazine
29
