Some statistics arrive quietly and linger. When the results of Statistics Canada’s Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating were released in June 2025, one line did exactly that: the share of Canadians volunteering for charities and nonprofits fell from 41 per cent in 2018 to 32 per cent in 2023.
Behind that nine-point decline sits a larger arithmetic. Total volunteer hours dropped from roughly 1.7 billion to 1.2 billion — a reduction of more than a quarter, equivalent to some 451,000 full-time positions. Donations eased as well, from $14.0 billion to $13.4 billion, with roughly three million fewer donors than five years earlier.
What the numbers do not say
It would be easy to read this as evidence that Canadians care less. I do not believe that interpretation survives contact with reality. Informal helping — shovelling a neighbour’s driveway, driving a friend to an appointment — also declined, from 74 to 66 per cent, yet it remains the instinct of two in three Canadians. The disposition to help is intact. What has changed is the architecture through which that help is offered.
People today carry fragmented schedules, longer commutes and heavier caregiving loads. Many want to contribute a specific skill for a defined period, not commit to an open-ended weekly shift. Organisations that still recruit as they did in 2005 are, in effect, broadcasting on a frequency fewer people can hear.
Designing for the volunteer we actually have
The response, therefore, is not exhortation but design. Three principles seem to me decisive:
- Shorter, clearer commitments. A well-scoped three-hour task will attract people who would never accept an indefinite role.
- Skills over slots. An accountant who reviews a budget for one afternoon may create more value than a year of general help — and she is far more likely to say yes.
- Remote by default where possible. Much of the work that sustains an organisation — design, bookkeeping, IT, mentoring — can be done from anywhere.
A shared problem deserves a shared solution
No single small charity can redesign the volunteer market on its own. Collectively, however, organisations can pool recruitment, share screening, and route skilled people to where they are most needed. That is precisely the kind of infrastructure the sector has lacked, and it is why the matching of volunteers to causes sits at the centre of our work.
The survey measured fewer hands. It did not measure less heart. Our task is to build the bridges that let the heart find its way back to the work.
This article is commentary and personal reflection, not news reporting. Facts and figures are drawn from the publicly available sources listed below; the views expressed are the author’s own.
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