Canadian Volunteers have Heart in Right Place
The worthiness of the cause & personal connections top motivators for volunteerism, according to Investors Group survey
Winnipeg, MB – April 15, 2005: Volunteers are attracted to help causes and organizations by the personal satisfaction they gain rather than by rewards or recognition, according to an Investors Group public opinion poll conducted by Decima Research.
Volunteering time to support a cause that matters to them was very important to 62 per cent of survey respondents, while 50 per cent said volunteering for an organization that helped a family member or someone they knew was also very important. Meanwhile, only 7 per cent said being publicly honored for volunteering was very important.
"Volunteering is no vanity project in this country," said Richard Irish, Vice President, Community Affairs for Investors Group. "Canadians who roll up their sleeves to help, do so because they believe in the cause and, often, because they have personal connections to the issues."
National Volunteer Week runs April 17-23, 2005. A project of Volunteer Canada, National Volunteer Week is a special time set aside in April each year to honour and recognize Canadians who donate time and energy to their fellow citizens. National Volunteer Week also raises awareness of the vital contribution volunteers make to our communities and our country. Investors Group is a presenting sponsor of Volunteer Week.
Canadians who are members of the "baby-boom" generation are very involved in volunteering and are more likely than younger Canadians to volunteer more than once a month. Survey results showed that 41 per cent of respondents aged 45 to 54 and 47 per cent of those 55 and older volunteered more than once a month compared to 27 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 34.
"Baby boomers plan to be quite active in their retirement and volunteering plays a large role in their plans based on our first hand retirement planning experience and our recent research," said Irish. "This growing source of skilled volunteer power could be very important to organizations who are currently struggling to find the number and type of volunteers they need."
The top challenges facing non-profit and voluntary organizations are directly linked to volunteering according to the most recent National Survey of Non-Profit and Voluntary Organizations. The top challenges include difficulty planning for the future, difficulty recruiting the type of volunteers the organization needs, difficulty obtaining Board members, and difficulty retaining volunteers.
Meanwhile the Investors Group survey showed that demonstration of the positive results of past volunteer efforts is a powerful tool for encouraging volunteer involvement. Seeing good results from past volunteering was a very important factor in the decision to volunteer for 41 per cent of those who participated in the survey. In addition, 48 per cent said seeing or reading stories about people who have been helped would make them more likely to volunteer, while 66 per cent said stories about people or groups who could benefit would increase the likelihood that they will volunteer.
The majority of Canadians (77 per cent) said they would volunteer about the same amount of time this year as they did last year. Among those who volunteered, fund raising (36 per cent) and organizing events or activities (35 per cent) were the most common roles. Forty-five per cent said they volunteered through work and 77 per cent of those who volunteered said the experience left them with positive feelings ranging from good to fantastic.
"Focusing on the many benefits of volunteering - for volunteers and for those being helped - is an important function of National Volunteer Week," Irish said. "By helping Canadians see the tremendous community and individual benefits, we hope that more volunteers will get involved with more organizations and important causes from coast-to-coast."
The survey results are based on a Decima TeleVox national telephone survey conducted with a representative sample of 2,025 adult Canadians between October 7-18, 2004. A sample of this size will provide results that can be considered accurate for the population overall to within plus or minus 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Investors Group is a national leader in delivering personalized financial solutions to more than one million Canadians, through a network of approximately 3,500 Consultants located in over 100 Financial Planning Centres. In addition to an exclusive family of mutual funds, managed asset and other investment vehicles, Investors Group offers a wide range of mortgage, insurance, brokerage and banking services. Investors Group is a member of the IGM Financial Inc. (TSX: IGM) group of companies.
| For more information contact: | |
|---|---|
| Ron Arnst Media Relations (204) 956-3364 ron.arnst@investorsgroup.com |
Mike Van Soelen Environics Communications (416) 969-2717 mvansoelen@environicspr.com |
