National shortage of volunteers is hitting non-profits in Waterloo region

A national shortage of volunteers isaffecting how and what programs and services organizations, charitiesand not-for-profits deliver and those impacts are beingfelt inWaterloo region.

According to numbers recently shared by Volunteer Canada, as ofNovember 2022 up to 65 per cent of organizations in the country are struggling due to a volunteer shortage, with up to 35 per cent of them having to reduce or cancel services as a result.

The executive director of Volunteer Waterloo Region, worries the region will soonfeelthe impactof those service cancellations, something already happening inlarger centres like Toronto, Vancouver andOttawa.

"We're not that behind from being a big centre in Waterloo region, so I think we're going to feel it in the next little while," Jane Henning said.

Volunteer Waterloo Region is a hub that helps connect people with volunteer opportunities, serving over 160 organizations, charities and not-for-profits in the region.

"It's harder to recruit volunteers," she said, noting that she's also noticed a 20 per cent decrease inwebsite traffic.

Hennig said retaining volunteers is also a challenge. Some organizations have not reinstated programs, in anticipation they won't have the volunteers to run them, she said.

The pandemic haschanged how people volunteer, said Hennig,and many people don't want to commit long term or don't feel safe to return full-time because of COVID-19.

She adds burnout in the not-for-profitindustry is also playing a role in the shortage.

"There is a lot of burnoutand fatigue from volunteers, but also with staff staff in the sector because they are having to pick up on the work that volunteers would have done in the past," Hennig said.

"I think this is going to affect so many of the services in the community."

Local not-for-profits tryto adapt

Hennig said staff at Volunteer Waterloo Regionare working with the organizations they serve to come up with ways to adapt to the volunteer shortage.

Over at CarizonFamily and Community Services, volunteer coordinator Katie McArthursaid their volunteer roster hasdwindled from 173 peoplepre-COVID, to just 85 as of November 2022.

A big chunk of those volunteers helprun Carizon's tutoring and homework support programs.Staff are now brainstorming ideasto recruit and retain volunteers, but also to get more students to join.

"It makes it difficult because if we don't have the students coming in, the volunteers aren't going to stay and vice versa," McArthursaid.

She said they are looking at introducing smaller work groups, where a couple of volunteers would not onlyfocus on supportingfive students at a time, but also facilitate it.

"It might help generate a little more interest too andkeeping the volunteers in charge," she said. "It gives them more of a leadership role."

Julie Phillips, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Waterloo Region said her organization is in a very similar situation to itsB.C. branch in Surrey, where they've had to pause youth intake due to a lack of volunteers.

Pre-COVID, the Waterloo region group served over 1,300 children and youth with more than 550 volunteers on hand. Now, they have 375volunteers serving 600 children and youth, with another 200 on a wait list.

"There's a gap. We have far too many children on a wait list than we do mentors," she said.

"Right now the child enrolment is closed so we can catch up with someone that backlog and get get some of these kids off the wait list."

She said they are expanding programs like Big Bunch, which provides children and youth with mentoring supports in a group-based setting, to hopefully get more children off the wait list.

Both Phillips and McArthur said they are "incredibly grateful" for the volunteers they currently have, but acknowledge the way and timepeople want to volunteer has changed.

Some have moved outside the regionand would like to continue virtually, others said the pandemic drained how much they could volunteer and for others, it gave them an opportunity to donate more time.

Hennigsaid she's hopeful things will improve because there will always be people who want to give back to the community.

"We're always going to have volunteers. People want to give back to the community and be engaged," she said.