Are we ready? The voluntary sector and volunteers in this economic downturn

It occurred to me this week, as I was reading 98 (yes 98!) nominations for the provincial June Callwood Outstanding Volunteer Achievement Award, to consider how these outstanding volunteers might be impacted by the current economic situation in Ontario.

Are they volunteering less or more? Are they less committed to their cause? Are they being pulled in multiple directions for competing organizations, interests and time? Are they struggling financially? I daresay that our shared economic situation has only heightened their resolve and capacity to continue to play a leadership role in making their communities strong.

I would suggest that, in times of economic certainty, the impact on the voluntary sector is different than the impact on the volunteers that hold us together - volunteers that govern us, provide direct services, support our committees, raise dollars for us.

The voluntary sector may struggle with a resource famine, and have to consider cutting costs or services. We may be required to be more collaborative or creative. We may be approaching this period with a set of dark glasses on, trying to think about how we can and will survive, knowing that some community benefit organizations will not. On the other hand, our volunteers may find it easier to give more, not less, in such a situation.

There is certainly a growing consensus that we could be reaching a crisis in volunteerism in the coming years. More services will be needed to prepare for the aging population and less baby boomers are volunteering in the same numbers as the previous generation. We have all been to recent workshops or heard commentary on how critical it is for us to engage youth and new Canadians as volunteers to ensure a bright future for our province.

The reality on the ground in communities across this province is that the rising unemployment rate, the desire to create new opportunities for oneself, and to survive this economic crunch means that there is a huge new potential audience of volunteers for us to recruit.

We know that applications to certain post secondary institutions and programs are increasing - what better time than the present to head back to school, to learn, and re-tool one's resume for the new job market, whatever it will look like.

In the voluntary sector, we need to ride this wave as well. There is no better time than now to jump out of our box(es) and create meaningful volunteer opportunities for those seeking work, those who are under-employed, those who are new to our communities. By doing so, by creating meaningful (twice for emphasis - not just envelope stuffing!) one time or episodic opportunities (that often go against the grain of our formalized volunteer program structure which lends itself nicely to the Monday afternoon volunteer that answers the phone each week), we will be capturing the minds, hearts and enthusiasm of a new generation of volunteers. And yes, we will also earn their long term volunteer commitment and even their financial contributions as they become ambassadors for our organizations.

We have a unique opportunity at this juncture. We can engage a new constituency, who may have different motivations for volunteering and we can embrace their insight and creativity. We can be mindful of how the "glass half empty" syndrome affects our planning and how the competitive framework we might all feel we are in might actually turn away prospective volunteers.

We are all here to make our communities stronger, however we define community. We should keep our eye on this prize, and not be focused solely on the health of our individual organizations, which can only lead us into a "hunkering down" mentality. We can show leadership and create new models of volunteer engagement. Are we ready? Not necessarily, but we are all in the business of creating change together. Now is the time.