{"id":4775,"date":"2025-10-09T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cicp-pcpob\/?p=4775"},"modified":"2025-08-19T14:29:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T18:29:39","slug":"the-volunteer-void","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cicp-pcpob\/2025\/the-volunteer-void\/","title":{"rendered":"The Volunteer Void: Why Charities Are Struggling to Find Help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The Volunteer Void: Why Charities Are Struggling to Find Help\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
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\u201cWe used to get a healthy sized cohort of volunteers every year… but post-pandemic we have struggled to rebuild that system.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This quote from a Canadian charity captures a growing crisis of declining volunteerism in the charitable sector. Across the country, organizations that once relied on a steady stream of helping hands are now scrambling to fill volunteer roles. Volunteer opportunities are unpaid and can vary significantly from one-time event support to full-time staff positions at small charities that do not employ staff. According to recent data<\/a> from the Charity Insights Canada Project (CICP), approximately half of charities report not having enough volunteers to meet their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s behind this shift? From aging demographics and economic pressures to changing attitudes and post-pandemic realities, the landscape of volunteering is being reshaped and charities are feeling the strain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteerism in Decline<\/strong>
In our survey, 45% of charities said they lacked enough volunteers-but that figure rises to 51% when removing those unsure or charities who are not working with volunteers. This mirrors a national decline: CanadaHelps<\/a> reports that volunteer participation fell from 36% in 2013 to just 24% in 2023. Volunteer Canada<\/a> is also monitoring the decline and is developing a national volunteer strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even charities that have seen an increase in volunteer numbers aren\u2019t immune. Among the 27% of organizations that reported growth in volunteer numbers in our recent survey, nearly half (45.5%) still said they lacked sufficient help. The following breakdown shows how volunteer sufficiency varies based on changes in volunteer numbers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change in Number of Volunteers<\/strong><\/td>Have Sufficient Volunteers<\/strong><\/td>Do Not Have Sufficient Volunteers<\/strong><\/td>Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Increased<\/td>54.5%<\/td>45.5%<\/td>100.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Stayed about the same<\/td>59%<\/td>41%<\/td>100.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Decreased<\/td>17%<\/td>83%<\/td>100.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is Driving the Decline in Volunteering?<\/strong>
Top challenges of volunteer recruitment identified from previous CICP surveys<\/a> include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n