Volunteering Trends: What we are seeing and what comes next

Key insights from 2023 General Social Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (GSSGVP)[1]

Volunteering plays an essential role in building strong, caring, and connected communities. The 2023 GSSGVP provides the most recent national and provincial data on how Canadians give their time, both formally, through organizations, and informally, through helping individuals directly.

Volunteer participation is changing

Across Ontario, fewer adults are formally volunteering with organizations compared to five years ago. But Halton’s population strengths mean local organizations can still attract and keep strong volunteers, if they adapt to how volunteering is changing.

Key Trends

Fewer Ontarians are formally volunteering

• Volunteer rate: 41.5% (2018) → 32.1% (2023)

• Total formal volunteer hours: 612 million hours → 483 million ( -21%)

• Estimated volunteers (Age 15 yrs+): about 4.98 million → 4.21 million (-770,000 volunteers)

• Nonprofit organizations are facing more pressure recruiting formal volunteers, especially for long-term roles

Older adults now contribute the largest share of volunteer hours

Ontario data show adults aged 55-74 are the backbone of formal volunteering:

• 55-64: 15.6% (2018) →19.1% (2023) of total formal volunteer hours

• 64-74: 15.2% →16.9%

• Combined 55-74: 30.8% → 36%

Halton has a large and growing 55-74 adults (21% of total 2021 population) which is ideal for steady, skill-based, or leadership roles. However, the 25-34 age group experienced the largest decline in participation as volunteers between 2018 and 2023 going from 15.7% to 11.1%.

Higher-income residents give the most volunteer hours

Families making $140,000 or more contribute the largest number of hours in Ontario.

Although this group of residents saw their volunteer rate dropped from 52.1% (2028) to 39.4% (2023), the number of volunteer hours increased from 24.5% of all volunteer hours in 2018 to 33.8% in 2023. This means that a smaller number of people in this income category gave more time, with the volunteer hours climbed from 150 million to 163 million. Over 38% of Halton’s households earned over $150,000 in 2020 compared to 24% for Ontario, meaning statistically speaking, there are more residents likely in Halton to give more time than the Ontario average.

In contrast, lower and middle-income households saw declining rates of volunteerism between 2018 and 2023. We know that economic pressures impact peoples capacity to give time.

Adults without children at home volunteer most

The volunteer rates dropped for families with and without children. However, individuals without children at home contributed: 85.6% of total hours in 2018 and this increased to 91.4% in 2023.

Engaging parents as volunteers means thinking about their time pressures, They may prefer flexible, one-day, remote, volunteering connected to their children's activities and /or family-friendly volunteer options.

Education matters – post-secondary graduates are key contributors

• The share of total volunteer hours by education groups shows:

• Increases in volunteering amongst those with a post-secondary diploma (increasing from 29.8% in 2018 to 32% in 2023).

• Those with a university degree are still the largest contributor of volunteer hours, although showing a decline between 2018 (40.3%) and 2023 *38.7%).:

• Those with less than high school diploma showed a 4.1% decrease in volunteer hours between 2018 (10.8%) and 2023 (6.7%).

The 2023 data shows that Skill-based, governance, mentoring, and professional roles are especially appealing to those with higher levels of education, who make up a large portion of Halton’s population.

What Halton nonprofit organizations can do

Make volunteering flexible – offer short shifts, seasonal roles, and options that fit busy schedules

Engage youth and younger adults – provide micro-volunteering, skill-building roles, or weekend projects

• 1-2 hour “drop-in” volunteer shifts (e.g., sorting donations, packing kits)

• Seasonal roles such as holiday events tax clinics, summer programs, fall clean-ups

Lower the barriers to support parents and lower-income residents to find ways to be engaged

• Family -friendly volunteer events where children can participate

• Volunteer-from-home options for parents with limited mobility or time

• Weekend or early-evening shifts that align better with family schedules

• Volunteer opportunities connected to their children's activities

• Ensuring there are no cost barriers to participation

  
  

Welcome informal helpers; many residents help neighbours but do not volunteer formally. Some suggestions for the growing number of people who prefer informal engagement as volunteers,

• “Try-it” volunteer days with no long-term commitment,

• Outreach that says “help once, help again if you want: - removing pressure, or

• Tasks that require no training” setting up chairs, greeting, distributing materials.

Strengthen relationships with older adults; adults aged 55-74 now contribute 36% of all formal hours. These residents can be anchors for long-term volunteer roles, including,

• Mentorship roles that use their experience -reading buddies, coaching, career mentoring,

• Leadership positions: board service, committee work, program coordination, and

• Skill-based roles: finance support, administrative help, event planning, tutoring.

Halton’s demographics include large numbers of residents with higher education levels, strong incomes, and many active older adults. How can nonprofits and community organizations position the community to leverage and encourage volunteerism, knowing that these demographics are able to provide the most time, even as formal volunteering declines across Ontario?

By adapting to residents’ changing schedules and expectations, Halton nonprofit organizations may be able to attract new volunteers and keep long-standing ones engaged.

Stay tuned for the release of a Community Development Halton, youth-led research project on volunteerism. Coming in February!

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[1] Statistics Canada, General Social Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 2023 https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=4430