ABSTRACT

Impact of CAP Sites on Volunteerism Abstract

In September-October, 2001, GPI Atlantic constructed a survey designed to assess the value of the voluntary work generated by British Columbia’s rural CAP sites. In November, 2001, that survey was administered to 133 rural CAP sites in B.C.

1. Information beyond the Mandate of this Study

The survey process produced valuable and unanticipated information on a wide range of issues beyond the mandate of this project:

1. The survey researchers were able to update the rural CAP site database, to establish new contact information for CAP site coordinators, to record concerns about funding and communications issues, and to learn a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of current CAP site administration. Some of this information is recorded in chapter 2 of this report and in Appendix One, and will provide Industry Canada with practical tools for more efficient administration of the Community Access Program.
   
   
2. In addition, the survey results themselves provide important information beyond the mandate of this study about the demographic profile of CAP site coordinators; the services and training offered at rural CAP sites; the clientele served; the profound and subtle impacts of CAP sites on communities; and more. In particular, detailed responses to the final open-ended question in the survey provide particularly revealing insights, and are reproduced verbatim in Appendix One.
   
   Although some of this information is briefly summarized in chapters 3, 4, and 6, the survey results constitute a rich and detailed databank on rural CAP sites, with considerable new information that warrants further analysis and investigation. GPI Atlantic strongly recommends that this particular study be viewed simply as a first step in that process. The full survey instrument is reproduced in Appendix Two.
   
   
3. Thirdly, the researchers have recorded important lessons learned from the process of administering the survey itself (See Appendix One). For example, the electronic survey tool was found to have great strengths, but it also created considerable challenges, both in the administration of the survey and in the recording of data. In the end, all results were entered manually without benefit of a double entry process, and they therefore require checking before they are publicly released. It is hoped that the lessons learned will assist Industry Canada in any follow-up survey or study of the important and provocative issues raised in this survey.

GPI Atlantic suggests that all three forms of information mentioned above, though unanticipated and beyond the mandate of this particular project, are as valuable to Industry Canada as the results reported for this study.

2. Impact of CAP Sites on Volunteerism

Chapters 1 and 3 of this report provide the conceptual background for the study. In particular, it is noted that the true and full value of CAP sites is not recorded or accounted for in Canada’s conventional measures of progress. On the contrary, CAP funding is conventionally considered as a cost in government ledgers (and thus subject to potential cuts in an era of fiscal restraint), rather than as an investment in social capital that produces a significant return to the market economy. The contribution of CAP volunteers, for example, remains invisible in the conventional accounts, and (until now) there has been no empirical information on the subject.

The Genuine Progress Index, by contrast, provides a more comprehensive and accurate method of assessment and evaluation, as it does account for the value of voluntary and other unpaid work, of equity and social inclusion, of educational attainment, of community strength, and of other aspects of human and social capital. These purposes and functions are seminal to the purpose and mandate of the Community Access Program.

It is believed that this study provides the first empirical information on the value of voluntary work generated by CAP sites in Canada. Although these results, detailed in chapter 5, are from rural CAP sites in British Columbia, Industry Canada may choose to extrapolate them for the country as a whole.

• CAP site coordinators and volunteers contribute about 630,000 volunteer hours each year to British Columbia’s rural CAP sites, providing an estimated $9.5 million in services to the British Columbia economy.
  
  
• This includes more than 120,000 volunteer hours provided by CAP site coordinators, worth $1.8 million annually. On average, each CAP site coordinator provides 308 hours annually on a voluntary basis, worth $4,600 a year. This contribution is not evenly distributed, as some coordinators are fully paid, and others work completely on a voluntary basis.
  
  
• Fully one-third of all coordinator hours at British Columbia’s rural CAP sites are provided on a voluntary basis. These coordinators contribute an additional 65,000 volunteer hours annually to other causes, for a total voluntary work contribution of $2.8 million a year. They also pay out about $124,000 a year out of their own pockets for expenses directly connected with their CAP site work.
  
  
• Most CAP site coordinators are middle-aged women, many of whom carry a significant additional burden of paid and unpaid work and child-care. The survey results warn of a potential time crunch for many coordinators, particularly those with a high rate of volunteerism. Nearly 20% of respondents are overworked, time-stressed, or burned out often or most of the time, and an additional 36% feel that way occasionally. GPI Atlantic recommends that Industry Canada explore flexible and family-friendly work hours for CAP site coordinators to accommodate these pressures.
  
  
• It is noteworthy that an overwhelming majority of CAP site coordinators are satisfied with their work (86%); regard it as one of the most important things they do (88%); and are motivated by a desire to help others (97%).
  
  
• CAP sites make an additional indirect contribution to the market economy by providing training in technical, computer and office skills; management and organization; communications; teaching; fundraising; and interpersonal skills; as well as work experience and specialized knowledge of particular subject areas. CAP volunteers acquire a wide range of skills that improves their future employment prospects. The multiple tasks performed and skills acquired by CAP site coordinators and volunteers are detailed in chapter 5.
  
  
• 40% of B.C.’s rural CAP sites employ youth paid through CAP Youth Initiative grants. Compared to older staff, these youth perform more tasks requiring high levels of computer skills.
  
  
• While 46% of CAP volunteers are 45 and older, 46% of CAP site users are 25 and younger. A remarkably high proportion of rural CAP site users are unemployed or under-employed; and there is a high rate of usage by First Nations communities. In all, the survey evidence shows that CAP sites promote access, equity, and inclusion.
  
  
• The survey results demonstrate that CAP sites are a significant investment in education, training, information technology dissemination, job access, and community building. This investment not only provides a direct return to the market economy but may also produce considerable indirect savings to justice, health, and social service budgets.
  
  

The survey results provide considerable additional evidence on the impact of the Community Access Program not only on volunteerism but on other components of social capital. It is hoped that they will provide a more comprehensive basis and approach for assessing the value of the program than has existed to date. In addition, the GPI method demonstrated in this study can be used to evaluate investments in future CAP funding from a full-benefit / full-cost accounting perspective, and thus to provide a more stable financial basis for a service that has clearly provided remarkable benefits for the Canadian economy and society.