PRESS RELEASE

Volunteer sector risks burnout

Halifax, Jan. 8, 2003 - There is a risk of burnout in Atlantic Canada’s volunteer sector as declining numbers force remaining volunteers to work harder, says an analysis prepared by GPI Atlantic, The Economic Value of Civic & Voluntary Work in Atlantic Canada: 2003 Update.

Statistics Canada data show 74,000 Atlantic Canadians stopped volunteering between 1997 and 2000. However, the remaining volunteers increased their contribution, putting in more hours per capita (total annual hours divided by total population) than any region in the country.

That means there is a risk of burnout for the region’s remaining volunteers, says GPI Atlantic’s executive director, Dr. Ronald Colman, who analyzed existing data from Statistics Canada to prepare the report.

"The latest trends indicate a dangerous situation," says the report. "While Atlantic Canadians can be justly proud of the remarkable strength of the voluntary sector in this region – we must recognize that a growing responsibility and burden rests on ever fewer shoulders. A smaller number of dedicated volunteers is being spread increasingly thin, and the danger of volunteer burnout is real."

GPI Atlantic, of Nova Scotia, is a non-profit research institute founded in 1997 to develop an index of sustainable development and well-being -- a Genuine Progress Index.

Only PEI gained volunteers between 1997 and 2000, with an increase of 2,000 (5.2 per cent). Annual hours worked per capita are 53.3, up from 35.5.

New Brunswick lost 34,000 volunteers (16.3 per cent). Hours worked per capita are 43.7, down from 44.8.

Newfoundland lost 12,000 volunteers (8 per cent). Hours worked per capita are 53.2, up from 36.7.

Nova Scotia lost 30,000 volunteers (10.7 per cent). Hours worked per capita are 50.1, up from 42.3.

The decline in volunteering cost Canada $2 billion in lost services in 2000.

According to the report "volunteers contribute the equivalent of $53 billion worth of services to the Canadian economy; including $2 billion in Nova Scotia, $1.5 billion in New Brunswick, $1.3 billion in Newfoundland; and $300 million in PEI."

The beneficiaries of these services include young people, the ill, the elderly, and the disabled. The failure of policy-makers to account for factors such as voluntarism now leads to seemingly inexplicable declines in our quality of life later, says Colman.

"If we continue to exclude voluntary work from Canada’s core measures of well-being and progress, then declines in volunteer services will not be predicted, and will only manifest later in a gradual, subtle, and unexplained deterioration in the health and quality of life of Canadians. If, on the other hand, voluntary work is carefully monitored in a core set of measures of progress, as the Genuine Progress Index does, then the trends of recent years are not at all surprising, and were, indeed, entirely predictable."