If we want volunteering to be a vibrant, inclusive part of Canadian life – and not something that “just happens” – we need to invest in its enablers, Volunteer Toronto’s Cara Eaton writes.
Canada is home to just over 200 volunteer centres – 200 local institutions mandated to make volunteering happen. Two hundred organizations with wisdom on how to reduce social isolation, increase civic engagement, settle newcomers, improve health outcomes for seniors, and kick-start young people’s careers. They understand that volunteering looks different in every community – and that engaging labour for the world’s second-largest non-profit sector takes more than good intentions. It takes infrastructure. So why do we treat volunteering as something that “just happens”?
Volunteer Toronto has been doing this work for 100 years, our roots reaching back as far as the great depression. We’ve been focused on enabling volunteerism since Canada’s charitable sector was formed. And in Canada’s largest urban hub, this work isn’t optional. People need a clear path when they want to volunteer. Non-profits need help recruiting volunteers to keep our community services going – and to do it ethically, not as exploitation.
In Toronto, we manage this work on a large scale. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people turn to us for opportunities to get involved, and thousands of non-profits access our services and programs. In 2024, organizations in our network reported engaging nearly 70,000 volunteers, contributing 1.85 million hours of service. That’s $59 million worth of unpaid labour. It’s clear we are more than a website or bulletin board. We’re infrastructure.
Volunteerism isn’t enabled the same way everywhere
But how volunteerism is enabled varies across the country. I grew up in a small town where there was no volunteer centre. When I first told my parents I was working at Volunteer Toronto, they assumed I was volunteering myself. “It’s in the name, so you don’t get paid – right?” The assumption wasn’t surprising. The relationship my parents had with volunteering was one entirely rooted in direct connections. They didn’t often see themselves as “volunteers”; they were simply “involved.” Organizing events, leading service clubs, training others, and peeling carrots for the local bar’s annual community meal – they were driven by their own desire to do something bigger, to make their tight-knit community stronger, to share moments with other people, and to make necessary connections that led to career opportunities in a small town. What my parents didn’t realize is that they were also enablers. They made volunteering happen for others. They helped build the conditions that allow people to contribute, connect, and belong.
Volunteering can’t be a defining part of our civic life . . . unless we understand and support what it takes to make it real.
Some communities have volunteer centres. Others have service clubs or churches, recreation centres, or grassroots networks. Maybe there’s a volunteer manager – or someone called an organizer or advocate who plays that role without the title. The infrastructure looks different everywhere. But every community has enablers. That’s our diversity. What unites us is the desire to participate. How it happens can be beautifully unique and meaningful. Some might say magical.
But we do a disservice to those enablers when we pretend engagement just happens. When we thank only the volunteer, and not the person – or the infrastructure – that created the opportunity. We see this assumption all the time when companies ask for a turnkey volunteer day but aren’t willing to pay for the labour – often a volunteer manager’s time – required to design and deliver it. Volunteering can’t be a defining part of our civic life, or our way of enabling a significant portion of our non-profit sector, unless we understand and support what it takes to make it real.
Divestment from enabling volunteerism has consequences
So, what happens as formal volunteering rates continue to decline? At Volunteer Toronto, we know it’s not because people don’t care. Many want to step up, but some need to prioritize paid work, and we can’t fault them for that. The pool of willing volunteers is shifting, but the decline also reflects something deeper: a long-standing disinvestment in the infrastructure that enables volunteerism. At one time, Ontario had 30 volunteer centres; now there are only 15, many closing because of unstable or insufficient funding. This is a stark contrast to the 1990s era of investment in volunteerism that fostered innovation – enough to give birth to a national enabler, Volunteer Canada, which started right here in Ontario. But over the past 20 years, youth engagement programs like the province’s Change the World initiative – once a foundational funding stream for young volunteers – have been eliminated. Priorities have shifted toward emergency-only volunteerism, leaving everyday engagement under-supported. During the pandemic, volunteer managers were laid off across the sector. Toronto’s long-standing professional association for volunteer administrators shuttered. Non-profits are reporting a skills gap in volunteer engagement, noting that staff often don’t have the time, tools, or training to meaningfully involve volunteers. Meanwhile, volunteer centres – especially those serving smaller towns and rural areas – are doing more with less. They face growing demand, rising costs, and less certainty about whether they’ll still be funded next year. The infrastructure that supports volunteerism is holding on – but often feels forgotten. This decline isn’t just unfortunate; it’s strategic negligence. When we let systems erode, we weaken the very mechanisms that allow people to connect, contribute, and care.
When we invest in enablers, everyone benefits
Enablers are the secret to civic engagement, the magicians behind the community activation wand that when wielded makes participation possible. When non-profits have dedicated volunteer managers, they engage 16 times more volunteers than those without. When governments fund local volunteer centres, communities and non-profits are better resourced with skilled, committed people. When grassroots leaders are uplifted with microgrants or training, our neighbourhoods come alive – reducing isolation and building resilience before the next crisis. We don’t need to invent something new. We just need to invest in the people and infrastructure already enabling connection so that volunteerism and civic participation can resurge in the unique ways each community needs.
Volunteer centres know what it takes to enable volunteerism, and we know when the system is starting to strain. That’s why, during National Volunteer Week (April 27 to May 3), Volunteer Toronto released a new data snapshot on the state of volunteering in our city. It’s part of what we do every day: not just helping people connect to causes, but collecting and translating real-time information into insights the sector can act on. Through our data, we can see which causes are consistently under-resourced, and which ones are headed in the same direction. For example, meal-delivery programs have faced systemic volunteer shortages for more than five years – long before headlines caught up. Based on what we’re seeing now, senior-serving organizations and long-term care homes could be next.
We also hear from the people trying to get involved. The number one complaint we hear from would-be volunteers? “I never heard back.” That’s not a signal of disinterest; it’s a sign that many non-profits no longer have the capacity to follow up, let alone cultivate long-term engagement. And we lose people before they’ve even had a chance to contribute.
When enablers are resourced to do the work with care, new connections form and communities animate.
On the informal volunteerism side, our grassroots micrograntees told us that engaging people who’ve never participated before took far more time and energy than expected – but that it can be done by building trust through the right approach to engagement. When enablers are resourced to do the work with care, new connections form and communities animate. But that kind of engagement doesn’t happen without time, strategy, and support.
At Volunteer Toronto, we track month-over-month trends in volunteerism – by neighbourhood, cause area, motivation, and demographics – giving us one of the clearest, most current pictures of how volunteering is actually unfolding across the city. Unlike point-in-time surveys or Statistics Canada data released every five years, our insights reflect what’s happening in real time, in our own communities. For example, in 2024, food-security and poverty-relief organizations engaged the highest number of volunteers. But already in 2025, the most pressing needs for new volunteers are emerging in health, education, and arts and culture.
The road ahead
We’re on the front lines of making volunteerism possible – and what we’re seeing is clear. If we want volunteering to be a vibrant, inclusive part of Canadian life, we need to invest in its enablers.
Volunteer centres. Volunteer managers. Grassroots leaders. Organizers, like my parents. These are the people who cast the spell of connection. Without them, the magic doesn’t happen. If we let this infrastructure erode, our social fabric will fray. Our communities will feel smaller and our services will suffer. That’s not the future we need. We need a future where everyone is enabled to participate. Everyone is invited to belong. And everyone can help build the strong, connected communities we all deserve.
